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question, and I said a ballplayer, and they laughed a
little more. By the 11th grade, no one was laughing.”
Our country has gone through a difficult period of
time since World War II. We no longer value heroes
and individual achievement as we once did. “Competi-
tion” has become a bad word. But competition, if con-
fronted enthusiastically, can be the greatest self-moti-
vating experience in the world.
What some people fear in the idea of competition, I
suppose, is that we will become obsessed with succeed-
ing at somebody else’s expense. That we’ll take too much
pleasure in defeating and therefore “being better” than
somebody else. Many times during conversations with
my children’s teachers, I am told how the school has
progressively removed grades and awards from some
activities “so that the kids don’t feel they have to com-
pare themselves to each other.” They are proud of how
they’ve softened their educational programs so that
there’s less stress and competition. But what they are
doing is not softening the program—they are softening
the children.
If you are interested in self-motivation, self-creation,
and being the best you can be, there is nothing better
than competition. It teaches you the valuable lesson that
no matter how good you are, there is always somebody
better than you are. That’s the lesson in humility you
need, the lesson those teachers are misguidedly trying
to teach by removing grades.
It teaches you that by trying to beat somebody else,
you reach for more inside of yourself. Trying to beat
somebody else simply puts the “game” back into life. If
it’s done optimistically, it gives energy to both competi-
tors. It teaches sportsmanship. And it gives you a bench-
mark for measuring your own growth.