Healthy Competition

                We occasionally hear that competition is good. The extent to which that is true is referred to as “healthy competition.” When competition digresses from this path, it becomes detrimental. So what does it mean to have healthy competition?

                A healthy competition strives for progress above “victory.” This means that a competitor does not work to sabotage his opponent, but instead praises his rival on his successes. The goal of a rival is to give yourself a standard to exceed. They give the idea that if they are better, you can eventually surpass them. If you watch the tennis world, they continually praise their opponents at the end of the match. Before, Federer was at the top only to be surpassed by Nadal after many tournaments and then defeated by Djokovic. The top three spots change between these men quite often, which makes it exciting to watch.

                A healthy competition is important in life as it gives you the will power to improve by giving you a reachable standard that only grows. It gives a satisfaction of not only being the best, but how it is was obtained. Now if only all competition was healthy.