Crisp Coaching & Consultancy Ltd, Radnor House, 46 Radnor Road, Horfield, Bristol BS7 8QY Tel: 0844 567 6801 Company Registration Number 05379946
Creativity Tip 30 – Creativity & Competition: Go for excellence
For many, competition is a battle and a defeat. In order to win, it means having to hurt someone or take something away from them - not a very good feeling. However, ‘competition’ didn't always carry the same meaning we give it today. Originally, it meant "working together to bring out the best in each other”.
Most of the games we play as children have a winner and a loser, which is not a good grounding for fostering a win-win attitude. Creativity can arise when more than one idea or person come together in a spirit of openness, giving and receptivity.
Think of what exciting possibilities living and working with this attitude could bring to you and the world of ideas. Most often, developers will carefully guard their discoveries in order to be the first to publish them. What if, instead, they shared their discoveries each step of the way and collaborated with their ‘competitors’ in order to advance their research more quickly? What if the objective was the value and timeliness of the achievement itself, and the service it will provide to humankind, rather than being the one to get the credit?
As a creative person, keeping ideas to yourself can stunt progress. Unfortunately, this is a reality of life, and there are times when it's smart to protect yourself, but how can you get any feedback if you never show anyone your work? Also, often when an idea's time has come, several people will bring that idea into the world simultaneously and individually anyway. And looking at the bigger picture, what if your contribution is to bring the ideas into the world, whether they carry your name or not? Perhaps you have a colleague or student who has greater visibility in the world and can give greater impact to the ideas or present them in a way that you can't. We all have egos, and we certainly deserve to be acknowledged for what we create, but nothing is accomplished without an occasional risk. At times, it may have to be enough to know yourself what you did, even if the world doesn't.
So if we choose to discard the old notion of competition as a win/lose proposition, what do we replace it with? How about co-operation in the pursuit of excellence, for the greater good balanced with personal glory? If ‘competition’ is striving to do better than others, then ‘excellence’ might be striving to do better than you did before.
Here are some components of excellence:
- Doing things consciously and proactively, not habitually or reactively.
- Paying attention to details, with an eye to impeccability.
- Producing the maximum result with the least effort.
- Being persistent and persevering; not giving up at the first sign of difficulty or adversity.
- Following your heart and your passion; caring about what you do.
- Giving value to what you do and who you are, not in comparison to anyone else, but for its own sake.
- Having a clear intent (a vision of your goal) and focused attention.
- Having the courage to hold your vision even if others don't see it.
- Being willing to take the risk of doing it ‘wrong’ or making a mistake.
- Striving for your personal best; having the intention of doing better than you've done before.
- Enjoying the process!
So, go forth in pursuit of excellence. It's okay to win and it's okay to lose. Either way, do so knowing you gave your best, not to outdo someone else, but because it both feels good and you learnt something into the bargain!
Creativity coaching can help with your thinking, so you can find more connections to successful ways of achieving your goals and dealing with your challenges.
Click here to arrange an introductory session to find out more.