Competition: Good or Bad?
Competition is something that everyone has experienced in his or her life; it is human nature. In school, students compete with classmates to finish first or to make better grades. In a workplace, colleagues compete to receive promotions and raises. In the business world, companies compete to create the top products. Competition is a part of everyday life, and it is healthy. It helps people to improve, it leads to better products and results, and it promotes growth. Competition helps people to improve.
For someone to win, someone else has to lose. If a person views loss with a positive attitude, they can use that as a way to learn from their mistakes and try harder. By taking the competition out of it, it will take away a reason for a person to improve. Communism is a real example of what happens when society erases competition. Communist countries treat their people equally, and there are no social classes. The State owns everything; the people own nothing except for the clothes on their back. This results in people being less goal-oriented.
Why work hard for something when in the end, they will earn nothing? Competition leads to better products and results. Competition between companies often leads to more options, lower prices, and better quality of products. It is good in the marketplace not only for businesses, but consumers as well. It benefits businesses by driving companies to be more creative and to make improvements. It benefits customers by keeping the prices low and the quality of the products high. Apple and Android are examples of two competing companies.
Both sell phones, tablets, and other electronic devices. They are constantly trying to better their products in creative and new ways in order to sell them. As a result, consumers have more options to choose from. Competition promotes growth. Without competition and rivals, I would not have taken the chances or learned the lessons that I have. One of my favorite quotes comes from Vince Lombardi, a former football player and coach for the Green Bay Packers. He said, “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to is. ” This quote drove me to better myself in school.
Before, I was careless about my grades and I waited until the last minute to do everything, but after applying that quote to my life, I am more conscientious about my grades and college. The satisfaction of getting a higher grade on a test than someone else definitely motivates me to keep working as hard as I possibly can. Many people believe that competition is bad because it leads to a focus on winning at all costs. They also believe that competition lowers self-esteem because someone has to lose. In some cases, this may be true.
However, competition must be kept in perspective. It cannot get carried away with the idea of needing to win. Competition is healthy and can produce excellence, even when a person loses, but it must be kept under control. Competition helps people to better themselves, leads to better products and results, and promotes growth. Competition is a force that drives people to succeed. Without it, it would be harder to motivate people. When kept in perspective, competition is an amazing way to achieve goals, and it can bring out the strongest in a person.
