Men and Competitiveness: How to Be Competitive in a Healthy Way?

In our modern world, especially in the last few years when we are all experiencing the great turbulences in global economy, the pressure on our working places becomes huge as well as the struggle to maintain our existence on certain levels. In these times of tremendous fluctuations, the sense of insecurity becomes number one motivational factor that can lead to unhealthy competition and bad relationships, not only with our co-workers, but also with our family members and a romantic partner. To avoid a trap of over competitive behavior, we have to distinguish a healthy competition from unhealthy one. We can recognize these differences by simply asking ourselves the following questions: is the general quality of life, which involves our personal and family relationship, benefits from our behavior? Or, how our co-workers, our mutual relationships, and our team benefit from our actions? If the only benefit we can notice is material and status-oriented, then there is a huge chance that our behavior is overly competitive and belongs to domain of unhealthy competitiveness. In this case, it is a good time to take our time and reconsider our goals and our definition of success. The article “Healthy versus Harmful Competition” suggests 4 ways to maintain our competition on a healthy level.

1. Strive for personal bests. It’s good to take note of the habits of your office’s star employees so you can imitate those behaviors. But
it can be dangerous to measure your goals solely against the performance of others. As track and field participants often say, run your own race. Be
self-motivated, and continually challenge yourself to improve.

2. Stop shielding your turf. Being passionate about your job and taking ownership of your projects are positive qualities, but there is
such a thing as being too protective of your work. Don’t be so territorial that you isolate yourself from fellow team members. Be generous and share your
knowledge.
Likewise, be willing to ask for feedback and assistance. A co-worker with a fresh pair of eyes or different point of view might help you identify a
solution you hadn’t considered.

3. Find a mentor. Working one-on-one with a more experienced professional offers many benefits. A mentor can help you stretch your skills
while also helping you understand the nuances of organizational politics. Hearing firsthand how others have dealt with difficult teammates or sensitive
situations can be invaluable.

4. Monitor your motives. It’s all too easy for friendly competition to take a toxic turn. It’s one thing if you and a co-worker push each
other to raise your respective games. But if you’re becoming more interested in outshining a colleague than helping your company or department reach its
objectives, it’s time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Rivalries help no one when they turn rancorous. Remember: You’re all on the
same team.

You can use competition to fuel your fire, but it’s tricky. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Competition has been shown to be useful up to
a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.”

Competitiveness, whether in a business, academic or personal area can be a huge driving force, but if it is directed against the needs, feelings, and rights of others it can harm relationships, depriving us of support from other people when we need it most. If we look closer at our motives, we can find the enormous driving force in our authenticity. Instead to strive for some unrealistic goals, set from other people and their expectations, we can choose to trust ourselves and establish the goals based on our own sense of purpose. From that point, we can build our careers on a healthier basis, the basis of cooperation and collaboration with others. We can be astonished by powerful effect that contribution of other people can have on our motivation.