The IMBALANCE Between Competition & Collaboration
There are nearly 8 billion People on this Planet, living in PROBABLE harmony with Numerous Animals and Wildlife. While other animals are running the ancient race, living a Life of Survival of the Fittest- we humans, the apex of all the animals, are living our Lives in a RAT RACE. It is a race where we all are running-some for gaining and accumulating Wealth and Fame, while some are in a Race of Love, and whatnot. Everyone is blindly running in this race(this is not a blog on Rat Race, nor on my Opinions of all this, this might be a topic for some future blog), but this is where we all are making the BIGGEST MISTAKE. You see, when you run a race, everyone around you is nothing but a COMPETITION-and all you ever care about is two things-either You Overtake Him/Her(or pray that he/she is left behind you for any reason).
But is this how life is meant to be lived? Are we doing things Correctly? Even though chasing things, is the chase done in the most efficient way to Maximize the OUTCOMES? Curious? Let’s explore.
HOW IT ALL STARTS: ALL BEING ROOTED IN YOU!
In this fast-paced world, the Competition is Less, yet the competition within the selected ones is getting more and more fierce. When we see such an IMAGE OF THE WORLD, it is an Instinctive response by any person to be competitive-and honestly, I BELIEVE THAT YOU MUST BE COMPETITIVE. YOU MUST BE A PERSON THAT IS ALWAYS GIVING HIS BEST; LIKE, IF YOU ARE IN A COMPETITION, YOUR AIM IS NOTHING BUT WINNING! But, here is where the problem arises if we don’t keep a HEALTHY COMPETITION! Yes, there is nothing bad in Competition-be a competitive personality(matter of fact, I am very competitive and love to surround myself with people who have a competitive vibe like me), but healthy competition is where a person wants to win by his/her own exceptional hard work. Nowadays, this has become scarce- people want to win and JUST WIN. This is the difference between A HEALTHY COMPETITION and UNHEALTHY COMPETITION.
HEALTHY COMPETITION
every person who is competing wishes-MAY THE BEST MAN WIN-and if it’s not me, then I will have to raise my own standards for the next time when I emerge as THE BEST MAN!
UNHEALTHY COMPETITION
All wish that REGARDLESS OF ANYTHING, ONLY I WIN. Be it by my competency, or by the very fact that I pray bad for my competition that brings me victory.
“ This difference and its Oblivion is what ruins the world! ”
The world is becoming less and less competitive(as in, there are very few serious participants in the race now), but in the small percentage of people, the intensity of this Competition is very high(although fewer racers, yet the ones there, are peak performers). In this less, yet highly high-intensity competition, many people are keeping the wrong mentality of having an Unhealthy Competition; which creates a big problem when they have surpassed the competition phase and have to start collaborating; working as a team for these people becomes extremely difficult. Can’t get a grasp? Let me explain using some of my personal Experiences.
MY OVERVIEW OF THIS
For the past 4years, I have been an ACTUAL SCIENCE Student of Bharat (also known as India)-studying PCM from school(grade 9th Onwards), then preparing intensively for all the Competitive Exams(there are some strings attached here though story for some other day) and Board Examinations, now, finally Pursuing my Bachelor’s Degree at a Renowned Engineering College in Mumbai. While doing all this, I found one thing common-something that I caught that people around me were doing. You see, in these Four Years, the surroundings you are in(i.e., I was in) are extremely COMPETITIVE.
In order to ace things, YOU NEED TO BE BETTER THAN THE ONE SITTING NEXT TO YOU, and in all this, there is only COMPETITION and NO COLLABORATION or COOPERATION. Being in such a Competition where almost everyone prioritizes self-victory over anything, but after this competition phase is over, the biggest problem arises. Almost all carry the same mentality ahead and still consider each other a COMPETITION.
When the time comes, and they have to work in a team, they lack the feeling of teamwork and co-operating together. They stay back from sharing their ideas, stay back from suggesting better opinions and whatnot, just because they still see their team-mate as an OPPONENT-thinking that he would get ahead of them(but fail to realize that in such scenarios, it was the group that went ahead-not the individual).
I do not say that the world around is a Fantasy World where everyone around you is an Ideal Person; always there to help you, and there won’t be any Person-To-Person Competition; this all will be there, but, along with this, you do need to understand how to maintain a Perfect Balance between being Competitive, and being Collaborative.
A SHORT & SIMPLE EXAMPLE TO BALANCE OUT THINGS
For two years, every student studied hard to qualify for the Entrance Exam of their Dream College. So, it was natural and instinctive to be more competitive and less collaborative, as, at the end of the day, others are, but my Competition and I would rather love to have an unfair advantage over them. After clearing the exams, when the same competition meets me in the college, this is where the problem starts. A college is a place where you HIGHLY REQUIRE COLLABORATION and via this, you can grow. Since you have been qualified in a college which has the best of the best filtered out already, it becomes logically unreasonable to have HARD WORK as the sole pillar to support your victory.
Thus, Collaboration is what becomes the First Pillar, followed by Hard-Work(as you do need hard work no matter what just that, here, the game changes a bit and you need to change the gears). Since your group collaborates, you get and make the most of the resources, the competition is now narrowed from the 1000 best students, to a group handful-the best amongst the best. From here, you can start the Competitive Attitude, which would be good for the group members as well-seeing one go ahead, others will have the motivation to give their best and surpass their present selves.
(NOTE:- This again, is the reason why Groups may become toxic and lose their collaborative strength as some people, who cannot shift the gears on time, fail to realize this. They might see that, in their group of 15, they are coming 14th; but fail to realize that their group was the best, and that, in the overall race of 1000 best students, they are the 13th Rank! This mere miss of realization is what disrupts the equilibria between Collaboration and Competition).
I say this because I have experienced this in my Social Groups as well, and even now, while I was giving some Interviews for my College Clubs and all, this was something that I noticed and felt that this was one of the topics that people hardly realized, and scarcely ever thought of.
The Rat Race and chasing self-victory has been made the only goal which has clouded other human behaviours. We all speak this without even realizing, nor understanding the true meaning of- “Humans are Social Animals”.
We say this but never seem to understand that when we say social, we actually mean THEY GROW TOGETHER. THE REASON FOR HUMANS BEING THE APEX IS NOT BECAUSE THEY WANTED SELF-VICTORY; BUT THE FACT THAT THEY WANTED TO GROW ALL TOGETHER! Just think what would the world look like if the man who accidentally produced fire never shared it with others, with the feeling that if XYZ also gets to know this, then I might be left back. Or what if the Wright Brothers kept their flight a secret? In short, all the great inventors and people who made the great discoveries, kept their discoveries and inventions a secret, could we be what we are today? Just think!
COMING TO THE POINT
Thus, to sum things up in short-we all have been wrongly wired to see the world as a COMPETITION, and never have we been told that to succeed, you don’t need to be an EXTREMELY COMPETITIVE person, but rather, be someone who knows and understands the balance between Competitive and Collaborative.
From school Onward, we have been brainwashed to run in a race-the rat race where we have been told that everyone around us is a competition, and all you need in order to succeed is to LEAVE THEM BEHIND! But, this is not how the world actually works(this is what I am learning now. There is NO RIGHT OR WRONG-its just that, in the perspective of mine, and the field of view that I have, this is what I can see. There are chances I might one day oppose the same thing, only because I GREW MY FIELD). In order to grow, we need to not only be Competitive, but also be Collaborative, and the ones who understand the proper proportion of this, who can maintain this Equilibrium and the ones who understand when to be in what state, are the ones who grow(note, I say GROW and NOT WIN and this is purposely-because, there is no Winning or Losing in the game of life. It’s just GROWING. You grow by Succeeding in a task, only to take another-or you lose to GROW above the present self and surpass the present).
World is Cruel; this is the reality that you have to accept first(and if you are reading this, instinctively, you know this and have accepted it). In this world, where nobody is spared, you need to find ways to surpass the masses and emerge as SOMEBODY, before you become NOBODY!
But, rather than being the lone boat against the “Upheaveled” Waves of the Vast Ocean of Life, try to form a Flight. A Flight of Trustworthy Warships that would cut down the large waves together! Yes, every warship would have its own drawbacks, its own fights, but, when they all are together, they would at least ensure an overall survival, and in most cases, an OVERALL VICTORY OVER THE REST who rather thought to sail their lone boats!
So yes, with this, the Blog has come to an end, will catch you all back with the Next Blog-till then, Keep Learning, and Keep Growing😄
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#The Blog was Originally Published by me on 28th September 2023 on My Website
