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Uber, Lyft. Microsoft, Google. KFC, McDonald's. You, and that guy your parents always compare you to. Ok, you get the point. You hear it all the time. It's conventional wisdom to think that competition, in this case, competition in business, encourages innovation and growth and... While competition naturally does bring about these phenomena and can have positive effects on the market sector, competition cannot be treated as a necessity of an unequivocal good in business or in any aspect of life.

The concept of competition was engrained in us from a very young age. When we were at school we competed for grades against the curve, if we were better than the rest of our peers at writing things down on paper we were rewarded with honours and praise. Then we ascend to seek out the next challenge and go up to the next point until we reach a point where our environment is difficult enough that it beats our hopes and dreams out of us. This fetish for competition continues to university, grad school and beyond.

Our ideology of competition is prevalent in family, interpersonal relationships, the business world and the political world we are constantly trying to one-up one another. Sometimes it's necessary, but too often it's just fucking not. Uber and Lyft - killing each over. The two kebab shops next to each other - killing each other. Literally every car company - killing each other. In the business world when competition becomes so intense, profits dwindle, sanity dwindles, and human decency begins to dwindle. You've been told is part of the grind, that it's just the nature of things and yeah maybe for some cases but in the vast majority of the other cases it isn't even remotely rational.

I think the first thing you should ask yourself whenever you compete is why is this class, position, or university so coveted? What is it that makes it so valuable? Is it prestige? Is it the 'experience'? Is it the money? Figure out the factors that ultimately result in the competitive nature of the position. Then ask yourself how can I avoid as much competition as possible. Management consulting is a classic example thousands of Ivy League students flock towards the big consulting groups like it's the gateway to heaven when in reality it's a lot closer to hell. Spend your days putting in 10 hours of meaningless grunt work, or looking busy. Why can the big companies do this because they know these naïve graduates will apply thinking it's somehow a valuable experience.

If you've thought about the why question for some time and have come to the conclusion that something superficial like prestige is the reason you're working this hard you should seriously reconsider your personal beliefs. How much thinking have you actually done by yourself? How much of your beliefs have been shaped by the beliefs of other people? Are you living your life or someone else's?

Before you compete, you better have a good fucking answer when someone asks you why.

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