Most peoples lives are structured like a game.  Games are a form of play with rules and different levels of competitiveness.  The goals typically determine how competitive the game is.

Consider, throughout your life you are measured whether through tests at school, or for skills and competency (swimming, driving), performance at paid work or even unpaid work and the list goes on.

Judged Against Others

Most of these tests or assessments are to judge you against others.  That is you are competing against other people and your results determine if you win.

Think of competing for a job or a post secondary education, a spot on a professional sports team.  All these are competitive activities, based on rules and result in winners or losers.

How important is it?

Some of the games we play are not particluarly critical and our desire to win may be low or even non-existant but pretty well everyone gets caught up in a game that really matters to them from time to time.

So, whats a good strategy to win the game?   Before I consider playing to win, I wonder why I am playing at all and if it is the best thing for me.

Do I need to compete to achieve my personal goals and what is the impact on doing so?  Largely over time I have come to the conclusion I am personally better off not playing.

My competitive moments are not against others but against myself. Its not a game because there are no other players and the winning determination is soley at my discretion.

This is not to say I don’t play games, I do, they are only for fun and enjoyment.  My life is not a game, it is not a competition, it is not a series of achievements that enable me to label myself a winner.

My life is focused on my own enjoyment, as long as I don’t impinge on the enjoyment of others.