Competition or Competence?

Competition or Competence?

There are many different opinions and views on the question competition or competence. For me it was the easy decision of competence. I believe competence is much more important than competition.

You have to be competent in something before you can be competitive in it. If you want to play professional football, you must be competent in it and have skill, knowledge, and experience in the sport before you jump into it. No matter how competitive you are, if you are not already competent in something you will not be successful.

When you are competent, more gets accomplished. Alfie Kohn said, “Trying to be number one and trying to do a task well are two different things.” When you are focused on being number one all the time, you are not focused on doing the task at hand well. In your job, if you are always trying to be number one, the amount and quality of your work will be affected in a bad way.

Being highly competent will be better for you in the long run than being highly competitive. Competition, even friendly competition, has been known to ruin friendships and even lives. You can become so focused on being highly competitive; you will stop at nothing to win, or to be the best, but there is always someone better than you. This will ruin you life, and also you friendships when you stop spending time with them to compete.

Being highly competitive does have a few benefits. If you are highly competitive in a sport in can keep you in shape. It is also fun to compete, but not so much that it ruins your life and friendships. It can earn you fame. It pushes and drives you to do better, but if you push and drive yourself to do better to hard, it will ruin your life.

You need to be competent even before you can compete, you get more accomplished, and it is better for you to be competent. I believe competence is much more important than competition. I would much rather be highly competent than highly competitive.