Competitiveness: find your inner drive

It was bedtime for our children. Instead of sleeping peacefully, when my husband and I peeked into his bedroom, they were playing an imaginary game of baseball. It could have been the World Series considering his exuberance. Tommy, who is three years old, would jump on his bed excitedly, baseball in hand, yelling, “Oh yeah, oh yeah! Jack, we won the game! We won the game, Jack! Yes baby!”. My husband gives me a knowing look and says, “Jack, Tom. We get it. We know the feeling.”

Ah, what a sweet feeling to win. It’s not the reason we compete, but it’s a real satisfaction to win. It is not the message that we have taught our boys. On the contrary, we are always emphasizing cooperation, participation and teamwork. I can hear myself commenting after a youth soccer game: “It doesn’t matter who won the game. Bottom line: did everyone have fun?” No matter how many times you repeat these words, the reality is that we cannot help but appreciate the enthusiasm our young people show towards sport and competition.

Whether it has positive or negative connotations towards competition, simply put, competitiveness is the internal drive. Competition provides the intensity, strength, and persistence to improve and “go deeper” than you would in training. In competition, an athlete will do what he has to do to win the race. From this point of view, we can consider competitiveness as something instinctive and that helps to improve the performance of an individual. Competitiveness is the drive athletes use to push themselves. In fact, competitiveness, in its most basic form, is what all human beings resort to in order to survive and get through everyday life. Competitiveness is the fire within you. It is the spark of creativity and art.

A professional cyclist once told me a story about a friend of hers who lacked high aspirations. “I don’t know why you would go through all that pain,” the friend told the pro cyclist one day, “why you would want to be a pro cyclist, all the traveling and physical pain you have to endure.” . Because it is? I can’t imagine what it’s worth.” The pro cyclist’s knee-jerk response was, “Have you ever won anything?” She then explained to his friend that all the hard times in his career have been worth it.

Another pro cyclist, who is now retired, gave me her take on competitiveness: “Part of it is the endorphin rush. I felt good after putting in a really good effort and did well in a race. When I raced, I was happy with cycling. I loved the sport, the atmosphere, the intensity and the competitiveness. I had my bad days and I hated the bike. But the love for everything else was overwhelming. I was in this rush and I wanted to race. I wanted to be a part of it. I don’t know of a better way to describe it. It was almost like one of my main needs became riding a bike. I needed food, I needed sleep, and I needed to ride a bike. I literally couldn’t live without it.”

What mentality are you? The second example makes it clear that competitiveness is not just about winning. It’s all about passion. Passion to excel, exceed, persevere and achieve. It doesn’t have to be against someone. It is the passion to be the best one can be, and not be satisfied with anything less. Whatever your way of thinking, competitiveness can be a positive part of cycling and your life.