Competing, Against Whom? – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

The advantage is always ours, and the result adds up and multiplies

Photo by paolo candelo on Unsplash

Every opportunity life gives us is a chance to test our abilities, our talents and our potential. Thinking of life as a competition is one of the first barriers we impose on ourselves. It drives a race of doing and having with no finish line, and sadly, the fuel is limited: it’s life itself. It’s also one of the biggest limiting beliefs people and organizations live with every day.

So who are we competing against? The world we live in competes against no one in the vast universe except itself. It’s very easy to fall into a downward spiral, running a race into emptiness, until we realize we were never competing against anyone but ourselves. The race worth running is the one we take on from our purpose, our values and our convictions.

We’re never closer to being the best than when two principles hold true. First, when we’re clear that the game we’re playing isn’t zero-sum, and that any victory adds up and multiplies. Second, when we know that our best competitor is always ourselves. That second principle may carry a nuance: we judge our actions by comparing how good we were yesterday with who we want to be today.

When we compete from purpose and values, it becomes perfectly clear that the results of our goals and objectives are our own responsibility, or that of the team we belong to, which ends up acting as one, or of the organization we’re part of, which always works as a whole. Results and gains born from purpose and values add to the world and multiply. What we’re used to seeing comes from doing for the sake of doing or having for the sake of having: the zero-sum game, where whatever one person wins, someone else had to lose.

In the end, a person or organization that sets out every day, from its purpose and values, to improve and do things better than yesterday will always be on the path to leaving a better world, adding and multiplying, and running the race against itself. True competition never happens because, to paraphrase Facundo Cabral, "the best never win, because the best never compete"

Warm regards,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA:

• What I was Watching: If I were born again, I’d be a teacher again. I teach, I love teaching, and I love seeing my students’ faces when I can tell they’re hooked. When I walk into the classroom, even now that we’re virtual, I still get that sense of flow where time flies, ideas keep coming, nothing feels like an effort and, above all, my ego switches off. This video got me thinking about what teaching is and what its foundations are.
• What I was Listening to: To my teenage self: Empathy. There’s a lot of talk about empathy, and this is a great podcast for learning about it and putting it into practice. I really liked it, especially for the audience it’s aimed at and the quality of the questions, which lead to very deep reflection and stir up fundamental emotions. Worth it.
• What I was Reading: Mis huellas: Memoria de un banquero. A book I’d been eager to read. In January 2020 I had the chance to meet Don Diego Pulido in person. He gave a keynote on his outlook for the year, in which he had to some extent foreseen the pandemic, among other topics. When the Q&A came, I raised my hand right away, and the first thing I did was thank him, because without the loan I got from the bank he ran for decades, I couldn’t have done my MBA at INCAE. Reading his memoirs, I understand much of what lies behind the trust a leader can inspire in an organization when he’s clear on his life purpose and guides his decisions by his values.
• What I was Learning: Awakening Your Body’s Energies. George Leonard is a great discovery for me, and this video surprised me. The exercises stand out, especially one about emotions: nine minutes packed with learning. His book "Mastery" is already on its way 🙂

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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