(IJCH) A Happy Pocket Full of SBD (Personal Development Series) #2 - "The Single Best Way to Compete is NOT TO..."

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IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (meaning: My warped, personal opinions and musings)

From the Author

Salutations. I am JaiChai. And if I haven't had the pleasure to make your acquaintance, it's always nice to meet a fellow Steemian.

The title of this article series comes from a delightful set of books by David Cameron Gikandi called "The Happy Pocket Trilogy" .

In our first article of this series "(IJCH) A Happy Pocket Full of SBD - (Personal Development)", we discussed the importance of establishing and periodically revisiting your own, special, intimate "Why".

Now it's time to move on to the second in the "Happy Pocket Full of SBD" series.

Setting the Stage - Introduction and Rationale

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The title "The Single Best Way to Compete is NOT TO..." may appear strange and nonsensical to a lot of people. If you're one of those people, don't worry. It all becomes more clear as you progress through this article.

The "NOT TO..." in the title means that I will be suggesting a "NOT TO" for you to consider; including the rationale behind my suggestion. Then I will provide a "TO" (i.e., mental/physical action item) to substitute in its place.

After learning the simple concepts presented here and acting on the "TO", I am confident that you'll be much more capable of reaching your personal goals.

The action item leads to success "The Happy Pocket Way" (meaning: The success you gain from this method is earned in an ethical manner, happily - without undue stress, anxiety or guilt).

Competition - The Legacy Model

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First off, in order to operationalize the word "compete", we need to define what "competition" is.

Here is the traditional definition from Wikipedia:

Competition is, in general, a contest or rivalry between two or more entities, organisms, animals, individuals, economic groups or social groups, etc., for territory, for a niche, for scarce resources, goods, for mates, for prestige, recognition, for awards for group or social status, or for leadership, and profit. It arises whenever at least two parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared, where one's gain is the other's loss (a zero-sum game).

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition)

I'd venture to guess that almost everyone would agree with that definition.

Most likely, we all grew up with this model of competition. And as adults, we see everyone and every organization or business competing to get this or that prize, award, salary, title, etc.

In short, the sum total of all our activities to gain whatever represents success in our minds is what it means to "compete".

In this zero-sum game, the general belief is, "Every piece of the 'success pie' that another person gets, leaves less for me."

Consequently, there's a persistent fear of losing out to someone else and a nagging voice in our heads telling us that we have to remain in a constant flurry of activities to successfully beat our competition - ironically, the same people that are supposed to be our cohorts too.

Doesn't this wreak of conflict of interest?

Here's the "NOT TO" and the "TO":

I urge you NOT TO ACCEPT this model of competition any longer.

Instead, I suggest you TO EMBRACE a new model, a different paradigm of "competition" and the paradoxical, best way to "compete".

Why adopt a Different Paradigm?

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The biggest reason that I suggest discarding the traditional (I like to say "legacy") paradigm of competition is because it's based on the Scarcity Mentality - a zero-sum game.

People who operate from a Scarcity Mentality are forced to contend with a host of unnecessary mental anguish and stress related physical ailments.

Why?

Because it takes enormous amounts of energy to be continually "On Guard".

The fear of being overtaken by the next guy leads to chronic mental and physical torture. And over time, the continual stress and anxiety inevitably takes its toll and performance increasingly diminishes.

A cognitive dissonance between the "Dog Eat Dog", "Screw Them Before They Screw You" mentality vs. organizational pressure to be a "team player" eventually takes the joy out of most activities that were supposed to enhance one's ability to compete.

Additionally, when the blatant inequities found in most financial and social rewards systems becomes apparent to the individual, the most common ways to cope are: try harder, or lay low and wait for retirement, or to complain and risk being labeled a dissident, or to simply quit and leave (all the while wondering if it was the right thing to do).

Do any of those situations sound appealing to you?

The new paradigm is based on the Abundance Mentality, which science just now is beginning to prove.

"Empty Space is Not Empty"

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The old notions of our bodies, objects, stars and the universe being comprised of 99.9% empty space has been effectively debunked.

Quantum physics and the unified string theory has conducted countless experiments proving that everything, including the space in a vacuum is brimming with energy - quantum particles that pop into and out of discrete points of space and time, but actually exist in all places (as potentialities, as infinite possibilities).

I absolutely love the subject of quantum physics, but must defer further discussion about this fascinating topic in a later article.

The main reason I mention it here is to persuade you NOT TO cling to the old, Scarcity Mentality based model of competition and TO accept the new, paradigm that's grounded in the Abundance Mentality - the real nature of our ever-expanding universe.

"The Best Way to Compete is NOT TO..."

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To Reiterate:

The sum total of all our activities to gain whatever represents success in our minds is what it means to "compete".

And if you have accepted the proposed, new paradigm, a mindset based on Abundance Mentality, you can now understand this:

"If the best way to compete means more success for you, then clearly the Best Way to compete is NOT TO. CREATE INSTEAD. In other words, do not "compete" (the old way); CREATE INSTEAD. Let others compete with you..."

By JaiChai

Thanks for stopping by.

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About the Author

He is a retired U.S. Military veteran. Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.

In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he freefall parachuted out of airplanes and performed diving ops in very deep, open ocean water.

He spends his days on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.

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