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Today, we are here with a storyline. Now that sounds unusual right? Let's dive in!
"That was wrong", the quiz master announced.
"I'm sorry", I muttered in guilt to my partner almost immediately. I can't remember if she responded.
We had a hot argument before finally deciding to go with my answer which the quiz master just announced to be wrong. It was a question on Maths, and she was smarter at Maths. That, I knew by fact, and was enough reason for me to agree with her.
But at that moment, No! I was convinced with my answer. She was convinced with hers too but we eventually went ahead to present mine after I persuaded her to trust my answer. We didn't have the luxury of time to properly solve the question again to see who was actually wrong— we had just few seconds to present the best answer.
And now, her answer was the right one. So, we failed the question because we presented the answer I arrived at.
The figures on the scoreboard bordered me less than the fact that we failed a question we could have got right if only I had listened to her.
Here is something interesting: Even if we got every next question wrong till the end of the quiz, and if every other contestant got all their questions right, we were still going to retain the lead position on the scoreboard. Our leading gap was ridiculously large!
For that reason, that was not the type of competitions I loved to attend. Clearly, other contestants we competed against weren't tough enough.
The quiz ended not long afterwards, and we came first place. We had predicted that immediately we stepped into the school's premise, due to many reasons. One was the absence of some other schools we always had a hard time competing against when we meet at competitions.
The school that invited us were marking their annual science week, with a lot of events lined up. They invited my school, plus about five others for a science quiz— on Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Maths. In the invitation letter they sent, they requested for five representatives from each school (two contestants and three onlookers). The two main representatives from each school worked as a team to provide answers to the questions.
As we headed back, my partner and I discussed the question I made us fail, we solved it again and I saw the mistake that led to my wrong answer. I promised her that I would listen to her next time.
But there was no next time.
That was the last one competition we represented my school in.
And yes, my partner and I both got medals and a plaque for my school as prizes for winning. That was the only medal I got from a competition. In other competitions, we got other forms of prizes.
I loved competitions and I still do. For me, they are excellent opportunities to know how well I have mastered my topics and challenge my mental abilities. Getting to represent my school often was strictly based on merit and not my choice.
In my second year of secondary school, I contested in the first competition I represened my school in.
It was a French debating competition. While we were preparing, we memorized paragraphs of the debate to be presented to the audience on the D-day. Commiting the lines of the debate to memory wasn't any serious work, but making us sound like native French speakers was what our teacher worked hard to achieve. We came second place eventually.
That was the only oratory contest I represented my school in. I wasn't a big fan of debates or spelling bees (I wasn't really good at those. I decided to channel more efforts to my area of strength instead), so I didn't participate in such contests.
For academic contests however, I was always at the forefront. Blessed with the privilege of attending a school that got invitations to about two competitions in a week, I represented in about thirty competitions during my six years stay— contesting in many, onlooking in others. We won a good number and as expected, many others weren't associated with victory.
Apart from the role representing in many competitions played in being opportunities to assess how well I have mastered my topics, they made academics more interesting, engaging and of course, rewarding. For that, I looked forward to every invitation we got.
NOW, SHOULD YOU COMPETE TOO OR STAY NEUTRAL?
We are often told that it is a terrible thing to compete against others, because you end up comparing yourself to someone else which makes you keep thinking you are not good enough.
See, to stay sane always, out of stress and pressure, you might want to consider staying out of competitions. I am not restricting this to competitions that involves rewards, this could be you competiting against your smart friends.
But since being competitive has numerous advantages, such as increasing your confidence, then why stay out of competition when there is a pressure-free way to go about it?
The healthy approach is to compete against yourself instead!
Competing against yourself means you are paying attention to self-improvement while still aiming for the star prize. You are not competing with the destructive wish to get ahead by the failure of others, but competing to enjoy and learn from the process.
In my own instance, competitions were tremendous motivation boosts for excellence in academics and mental toughness builders. For every competition I didn't perform well, it was a call-to-action to study harder so as to do better with the questions in the next one. Losing simply implies that I failed too many questions, so it is reasonable to improve on that, instead of just setting unhealthy goals to beat the winner the next time.
But even with that, competitions are not always roses, I once lost three competitions in a row, even though I put in so much efforts to improve on every next occasion. Apart from being smart, other factors like luck play strong roles.
While the goal of competing against students from other schools was to win, my ability to answer all questions correctly, indicating a proper mastery of topics was a greater priority to me.
That was why in the story I related above, I was still worried about the question, even though we were leading.
Okay, I hope the message here in this article sinks well— that you should get rid of the "just win" mindset, and have a strong desire for improvement while competing. Set to become healthily competitive? Best wishes!
Now, over to you! What are your thoughts on being competitive? Perhaps you have been convinced to believe that being competitive is a terrible thing for decent people. I will love to hear from you.
Until next time, stay good.
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