What are you fighting for?

 The corporate world and our education sector are full of competition. The number of seats available in the education sector for medical and engineering demands stiff competition among students to win the seats. Similarly, promotion in the corporate sector is based on performance compared with others. Then this is considered as a basis for whom the promotion will be provided. Thus, there is a hoax of a rat race created in society to get ahead of others to be called as achievers.  

Although psychologists claim that competition is necessary for a healthy life, it has its limits. How healthy is your competition? How much is this rat race helping you to be yourself in life? What are the ways to prevent unhealthy competition in the workplace? Also, the most fundamental questions include how necessary is competition for cognitive and economic development and what the ways to get away from the unhealthy repercussions of these unhealthy competitions. This blog shall deal with the fundamental aspects of competition that exist here in our immediate environment. 

Healthy v/s unhealthy competition 

We can classify the competition into two fundamental categories. Healthy and unhealthy competition. Healthy competition on the one hand is a kind of competition where the goal is to upskill oneself by learning from others. When the defeat is not a matter of life and death rather it is just the means of improvement. A kind of rat race where inferiority or superiority complex does not have a significant place in the improvement of the person. 

However, on the other hand, competition where the main aim is to defeat others leads to generations of unhealthy competition. This kind of competition leads to the creation of an extremely negative environment in society.   Nowadays the education sector and the corporate sector are gradually moving towards being war zones. The increasing rate of the unhealthy rat race is something very alarming in society which has its significant ramifications. 

Repercussions of Unhealthy Rat Race

Unhealthy competitions have several repercussions that are apparent in a variety of contexts. These can be summarized as: – 

1. It affects the mental health of students in a very negative manner. To develop interest in any discipline it is necessary to avoid the over-justification effect among students. This is a term used in social psychology here the intrinsic motivation to do a work tends to deteriorate when it is accompanied by external rewards and punishment. The unhealthy competitions lead to the development of inferiority and superiority complex among students which tend to decrease their intrinsic motivation for academics 
2. It leads to a problem of labelling of individuals. If someone tends to perform well in any task or competition, we tend to label the person as per the performance. This affects one’s self-concept and to bring congruity here, it impacts future performance too 
3. The talents which couldn’t be demonstrated in any particular test get under the vain which leads to loss of talents. 
4. Unhealthy competitions are a threat to fraternity in the organization if defeating one’s colleague becomes the goal. 
5. Failure creates a lot of pressure on oneself when one’s ego fails to defend oneself. Thus, it has ramifications in terms of the mental health of individuals. Also, it tends to provide the incorrect basis for judgement of oneself 

Cases of loss due to unhealthy competition 

1. The deaths in Kota due to suicides are apparent examples of the negative repercussions of unhealthy rat race. Where children of 15-16 years find it difficult to stand in the complex social structure where the battle to prove oneself continues. 
2. As many as 12 intermediate students committed suicide in April 2023 after the declaration of the examination results. The increase in suicide among youths between 14 to 18 years of age has extracted major concerns for the education department. 
3. A news report reported that “7 lakh suicides occurring worldwide each year, quite a significant number comprises India’s youngsters — suicide is the leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 30 here.” 

Ways to avoid unhealthy rat race 

1. Foster relationships: – Try to form healthy relationships among your peers. This will just label the competition as a part of your job. Thereby making it easier for you to deal with the competition when you tend to value the relationship more than the competition 
2. Try to focus on self-improvement. You need to consider that the main goal of the competition is your improvement rather than your victory. 
3. Consider failure as a way of improvement. It is normal for humans to fail. Thus, please consider failure as just the way of improvement rather than as an attack on the ego. 
4. One match won’t make u unsuccessful. There is always a way forward. Thus, irrespective of the history please focus on future opportunities. Optimism acts as a barrier to unhealthy rat race

Thus, in a nutshell, we can conclude that competition plays a vital role in our development when it is healthy. Otherwise, if it becomes a matter of life and death or self-respect then we shall see many Kotas in future. Thus, our institutions must educate their members regarding the ways of competition. Thus, competition on a limited scale is necessary for the holistic development of individuals. 

references

freepik indiatoday, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/100-score-culture-will-lead-to-unhealthy-competition-say-experts/articleshow/91676961.cms