“Never compete with someone who has nothing to lose.” – Baltasar Gracian
Being overly competitive is a blessing and a curse. It can lead you to on the right path to doing some amazing things, you see others doing more or pushing themselves further and you believe that you can do that too.
On the other hand, it can lead to extreme burn out and exhaustion. To all of the overly competitive people there, here is a shocking piece of information. Not everyone is competing with you, in fact, more often than not they aren’t, you are not even on their radar.
It is a good thing to be able to feed off of other people’s hunger and drive, but only to a certain extent.
If you get to the point where competing is hurting yourself and especially if the people you are competing with do not even know you are competing with them, then you need to take a step back. Once you take a step back you can see the big picture and understand why you are doing what you are doing.
To figure out what you are doing you have to figure out what drives you, if you are competitive it is most likely going to be other people’s success. Seeing other people do more, do better, have more, whatever it may be. Seeing it, and then thinking “I want that” I want to be able to lift that weight, I want that car, I want that amount of money in the bank.
This is where the trap comes in. These people that I am talking about are usually so far off in the distance. The people you are comparing yourself to and competing with are not competing with you, they are not even looking back to see you or worrying about if you are going to catch up with them. They are where you are, looking forward, wanting more, and going after it.
It is a cycle, no matter where you are in life, if you are competitive you are going to be yearning for more and doing whatever you can to go after it. You find a goal and you fixate on it and then you reach it and you see something bigger.
This is not a bad thing, but it is not always a good thing. You have to check yourself before you wreck yourself in these situations. So check, and then check again and if all looks good then and only then is when you can go.