Lately I’ve been really dedicated to working out and recently I noticed something interesting at the gym. My gym is most definitely not a meat market. A very large percentage of the patrons are there because they care about their health and not for dating purposes or to see and be seen.
However, on occasion, I’ve noticed that as I ride the stationary bicycle, someone will hop on to the one next to me and I pick up my pace a little. It’s not a conscious decision, really, but my other than conscious wanting to show off a little. It could be a desire not to be outdone.
I have noticed the opposite as well. If I get onto a machine next to someone who is already working out, sometimes their speed increases. I chalk this up to a high desire for competition. Competition is a drive that we can either embrace or deny. Me? I embrace it. When I was in sales, I loved to constantly challenge myself to do double or triple what the people around me were selling.
You see competition in everyday life most intensely where there are extremely limited resources. (Just look to the animal kingdom as they compete for water, food, mates.) Humans, especially in the...