Competitiveness is a positive quality for people in most societies. How does competitiveness affect individuals? Is it a positive or negative trend?
From battling over fertile lands to racing to colonize other planets. Competitiveness is an inherit human trait which has driven the course of history since the dawn of time. In the grand scheme of events, it is but this one quality that has shifted the paradigm a few times. But how does it affect on an individual level? some say its quite the trailblazer while other might argue that it seeds ground for unwanted problems.
There was a time when being competitive was considered a necessity. Be it school, job or running a company. Nobody could escape the rat race and all of us were instilled from childhood to perform better than our peers. Though this ideology did produce good result in yielding desired output, it also created this toxic dependence on continuously outdoing or at least trying to outdo our fellow workmates.
Nowadays, the work ethics are swiftly changing as we get more aware and less attached to the consumer culture. People are stepping outside their hamster wheel and are learning to settle with less. The realization that more is not always better is gaining momentum and as it does, the popularity of pitting oneself against each other is losing ground.
Although, some healthy competition is harmless, in my opinion it overall has quite a negative impact on individuals. The constant strain of measuring oneself to others is not only physically taxing but emotionally draining as well. We are nowhere close to achieving the utopian dream but living in a society which is not driven by competitiveness but coherence seems more harmonious and honestly makes much more sense.