I love competition. Thrive on it. But I think the key difference to how I approach competition compared to some others is that I most enjoy competing against myself. I think a good illustration of this can be seen in how I play basketball.
When I play basketball, I’m always giving 100%, not because I want to win, but because I want to play my best. The winning is just an added bonus.
I tend to lose track of the score during games. When I think of it, I could care less about the score. I measure how well a game went by how well I felt my team played as a whole, and how I contributed to the team.
Losing a well-fought game, where everyone on my team was giving his all and playing together, brings me more satisfaction than winning a crappily-played game.
I secretly enjoy being on a supposedly inferior team (short people, newbies, etc.) because it’s an added challenge. I tend to play even better when the odds are “stacked” against me. Plus, winning as underdogs just feels good. Especially if the opposing team was cocky going into the game.
I don’t like calling fouls. I hate court drama and whiners. I just want to play the game, and bickering does nothing to make the game better or more fun.
When I tie my approach to playing basketball back to my life, I can see that I enjoy the process of getting to the final goal. As long as I believe in the goal that I’m trying to achieve, I will go at it with absolute dedication and efficiency. Achieving the end goal is just the icing on the cake.
Play some ball at randomtidbitsofthought.wordpress.com.
