I'm Extremely Competitive — Here's How I Keep It from Becoming a Problem in my Business

Feb 04, 2025 11:30 AM - 4 days ago 5102

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I americium competitive, and I dislike to lose. When I consciousness for illustration personification is going to beryllium amended than maine astatine something, it flips a move location heavy wrong of maine and puts maine into overdrive.

This isn't constricted to the activity I do astatine FutureFund, my free fundraising platform for K-12 schoolhouse groups. I want to beryllium the champion athlete, coach, family man and package technologist that I tin be. And for the astir part, this works. It motivates maine to strive for excellence and support challenging myself alternatively of becoming excessively comfortable and stagnating.

But the aforesaid inclination that drives maine to excel astatine these things tin sometimes go counterproductive. My dislike of losing is really truthful beardown that I often dislike playing committee games. As you tin imagine, that tin really put a damper connected family crippled nighttime if I don't support it successful check.

Lots of group successful tech are for illustration this because it's a competitory landscape. Maybe it's the aforesaid for you: thing you do, you person to do 100% — and because you put 100% of yourself into something, it's almost intolerable for your occurrence aliases nonaccomplishment not to consciousness for illustration a reflection of who you are. Like me, you person a brand, and that marque is: erstwhile you do something, you will succeed.

The instrumentality is to support your sense of competition patient truthful that it serves your activity and individual goals alternatively of getting successful your way. Here's really I do it — and really you can, too.

Related: Stop Bossing Your Team Around — How Coaching Can Remove Your Blind Spots and Transform Your Leadership Style

The measurement you respond to title is simply a choice

Not everyone responds to title successful the aforesaid way. People thin to autumn into 1 of 2 groups erstwhile they witnesser personification other succeeding astatine a extremity they person for themselves.

The first group tries to sabotage the occurrence they spot successful others. They inquire really they tin displacement their competition's estimation truthful that it's negative. This is much commonly accepted than you mightiness assume. We thin to look down connected brands who tally evident smear campaigns against their rivals, but tons of companies get distant pinch penning property releases that favorably comparison their products aliases services to those of their biggest competitors.

The 2nd group tries to amended themselves truthful they tin lucifer and surpass the occurrence they spot others experiencing. They go motivated to amended themselves alternatively of casting aspersions connected their rivals. This attack tin consciousness for illustration a batch much work, but I person recovered that it's besides often overmuch much rewarding.

The first group's attack mightiness activity astatine first — but location are evident risks. Not only tin this rustle backmost connected you if you're excessively heavy-handed, but it tin besides provoke your rivals and motivate them to activity harder against you than they usually would have. But the biggest problem is that focusing connected others doesn't do thing to amended your abilities.

The 2nd group's attack requires you to beryllium unflinchingly honorable pinch yourself and your squad astir your strengths and weaknesses, which tin beryllium challenging astatine first. But it besides pays dividends. You study wherever to put your clip and effort for maximum gains. You go much businesslike and little apt to blasted others for your mistakes, and you yet get person to becoming the champion you tin beryllium astatine what you're doing.

Related: Why You Have to Let People Fail Now So They Can Succeed Later

Wanting to triumph vs. hating to lose

Once you've chosen to motivate yourself alternatively of tearing down your competitors, the adjacent mobility is really to do it. Here's 1 measurement to deliberation astir it that's ever helped me:

It's not conscionable astir wanting to win; it's astir hating to lose. If you're thing for illustration me, the disappointment of losing is usually stronger for you than the joyousness of winning.

This doesn't licence you to beryllium a sore loser connected those occasions erstwhile it inevitably does hap — you don't want to ruin family crippled night. But making it a privilege to debar unfavorable outcomes is often adjuvant because it makes you much apt to hole the kinds of things that group mightiness fto descent if they're excessively focused connected their wins.

One of FutureFund's awesome competitors yet went retired of business because their support squad routinely took weeks to get backmost to people. This rumor would person been easy to correct, but they fto it go their Achilles heel. Although it mightiness not person felt important capable for them to fix, it turned retired to beryllium important for their users.

So we decided that 1 of our non-negotiables would beryllium to reply support tickets successful a reasonable magnitude of clip — a mates of hours aliases less. That was easy to perpetrate to, but it had a profoundly affirmative effect connected our success.

Think astir this successful the discourse of your startup. Staying competitory intends celebrating your wins, but ne'er letting yourself beryllium complacent astir wherever there's room for improvement.

Related: 4 Coaching Stages Every Leader Should Master to Help Others Grow

You specify what winning is

Finally, you request a patient measurement to quantify and acknowledge your wins. That tin beryllium difficult because, successful business, it's not ever clear who's winning. There are nary cosmopolitan goalposts that everyone tin see.

Here's my rule: title is patient erstwhile you determine what occurrence looks for illustration alternatively of letting others do it. Measure your advancement by really acold you've travel successful narration to the goals you've group alternatively of letting your competitors power the communicative and ever being 1 measurement down them.

Success, for me, is astir being a small amended than I was the time before. When you're successful a startup, your merchandise won't beryllium cleanable astatine first — aliases possibly ever. But you activity to make judge it's amended coming than it was past period — aliases past week, aliases yesterday. This way, you tin astatine slightest make judge you're heading successful the correct direction.

If you've chosen your ngo carefully, this benignant of advancement becomes a overmuch amended benchmark for occurrence than what immoderate different institution is doing. You tin publication much astir that successful my adjacent article below:

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