Losing My Competitive Edge

During my senior year of college, I spent one morning filling out a questionnaire at the Psychology Department. The process took just over an hour and was for a program known as StrengthsQuest.

StrengthsQuest continues to be a popular program among Universities that identifies the five strongest attributes among students. With this knowledge, students will be able to channel their strengths and become more successful in their everyday endeavors.

At the very top of my list was "COMPETITION".

Before this time, I had never really thought of competition as a strength. In fact, when I showed this to my girlfriend (now my wife), it actually made her mad because she was never fond of Competitive Rye.

But when I thought about it, it made sense. I was the KING of making anything a competition.Whether it was shooting free throws or chugging Red Bulls, I wanted to know how well I stacked up against my foe.

Granted, I may have let it get a little out of hand at times, but mostly it was all fun and games. I embraced my psychology-proven strength, and could type several stories of how being competitive has improved my life...

But fast forward five years to today, and I'm not sure I would get those same results if I filled out a new questionnaire. I'm sure COMPETITION would still be among the Top 5, but I doubt it has the same driving force behind my life as it once did.

Perhaps it's because competition is a big part of being in advertising, and maybe I get burnt out from 40 hours a week. Or perhaps I just don't get the thrills I once used to from chugging Red Bulls. But I've come to the realization that I might have lost my competitive edge... for better or for worse.

With this said, I still live by three very simple rules:

1) Anytime I'm involved in a competition, whether it be a board game, sporting event, or ridiculous bet... I ALWAYS WANT TO WIN.

2) I will NEVER lose a game on purpose, even if it's a game of Candy Land to my 5-year-old daughter.

3) My performance in my fantasy football league will continue to dictate my attitude every fall.

I still love competitions, and I think they'll continue to be a big part of my life. Just don't expect me to challenge you to a dual anytime soon

...unless you claim you're better at fantasy football than me. You don't want to go there.