Naturally some of us are more competitive than others, but the vast majority of us have a good degree of competition hardwired into us. If you think you are not competitive in the least, ask yourself: have you ever felt a twinge of desire, jealousy or envy when looking at another person’s accomplishments or lifestyle? If you said yes, you are competitive otherwise you wouldn’t care what others have.
Now before I offend anyone let me make it clear that I am not equating healthy desire or competition with vulgar jealousy. There’s a fine line between unhealthy jealousy and a competitive spirit that pushes you towards obtaining the same as another individual has. Let’s break this down into a specific example:
First we have Joe, an average guy that struggles to pay the bills each month. One evening while watching television he catches The Apprentice, sees Donald Trump and starts thinking to himself: “I wish I had what he had. It’s not fair that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth while I sit here at risk of losing my home.”
Across the town we have Mary, another individual that is barely able to keep up with the...