The Importance Of Healthy Competitive Nature

It is Always Possible

For some, parents placed them in athletic or music training programs since they could walk or even taught us how to speak several different languages since we started to talk. Others spent their childhood doing simpler things, avoiding true focus on one specific activity. Now this is not a call out to those people, but simply a reminder that contrary to common belief, it is not too late to start learning something new, and there's always time. When moving forward in life it is important to have developed interesting characteristics and skills that separate you from others. Learning new skills can also be simply for the betterment of oneself which truly applies to all people. Learning how to play an instrument, a sport, or a language differentiates a person making them more unique but also can teach you several new abilities.

Now learning new things is not only for the “activity-less” individuals, its something all need to approach. No matter where you are at, there is always opportunity for more. Everyone has heard the story of a middle-age person living a boring life, wishing there was something more they had done earlier to make living more interesting. They all wished they had picked up playing that one sport or learning that one instrument. Don’t be that guy. Many of you are now thinking, ‘even if I wanted to, I’m in school all day long and I have a hundred other priorities to manage, and learning something new just simply isn’t useful or possible for me’. Whatever your excuse is, here’s why you should change your outlook on participating in new things.

We need to recognize that activities don’t need to be competitive. As high schoolers, people believe life is one big competition for the future, especially college. Now people aren’t necessarily wrong about this, but we cannot participate in activities just for the sake of getting ahead. Life does not and should not be lived like this, meaning don’t just do something to check that last box on your application. Instead do things for yourself and recognize that the upside is enormous. Jennifer Kromberg, phycologist and blogger from “Psychology Today” explains one of the most common things she sees in her patients is unhealthy competitive nature that causes people to lose sight of how to live positively. Most activities can benefit you in some way for example playing instruments teach you discipline, precision, and coordination and athletics keep you fit and healthy. Don’t make it competitive just do it for yourself.

We also need to understand that for most of us, there truly is time even though we convince ourselves otherwise. Instead of spending that one hour after school wasting time gaming or watching TV direct your attention to acquiring new skills. This small time benefits your brain immensely but more importantly it turns you into something new, an athlete, a musician, a fluent foreign language speaker. It’s something you can now consider yourself. Imagine if you spent that 1 hour a day for a few days a week, that’s about 200 hours of practice time. 200 hours of running, imagine the condition you could be in. 200 hours of learning French, you could soon be able to hold fluent conversations. 200 hours of learning the piano, you could be learning song after song, being a performance at every house with a piano.

Finally, we need to understand that it’s never too late in life to start something new. Although science proves learning as a child is easier and more useful long-term, all you do is benefit by beginning a new activity. Although we are in high school the Pew Research study results still applies, 80% of adult learners said they pursued a new interest because they wanted to learn something that would make their life more full and interesting. 90% of these people later said they felt more capable after obtaining a new skill. Just because your classmate has been speaking French since they were 4 or playing tennis since they could pick up a racket does not mean you can’t start now. In the end you are still learning, you are still bettering yourself, and this is only positive.

What’s the downside? There is none. People continue to learn throughout their whole lives and it's never too late. It’s too competitive, too time-consuming, too late in life, are all excuses we have heard. But you can now see the misconception. The truth is we are cheating ourselves by avoiding immersion in new activities. It’s is important to recognize that no matter our situation it is always possible, and is completely beneficial. Time and time again you will convince yourself that there’s always something holding you back, but it's time you take the leap because the opportunity is there.