To Compete or Not to Compete...
- Tari Kinsey
- Feb 24, 2018
- 2 min read
After a tennis match across town, I returned to my practice courts and was greeted by a friend with the obvious question, “Did you win?” Without breaking my stride I smiled and responded,
“Well, no… but I played well and I made a friend!”
The next question was obvious and we both seemed to silently ask it, “Was that the goal?”
You see, I love playing tennis and I would play every day if I could. In my opinion, there are many, many great reasons to play. Running around in the sunshine, getting some exercise, laughing with friends, and trying to improve my skills are all valuable parts of playing tennis.
Winning is just ONE of them.
There are some possible negative outcomes like getting sunburned or having to drive a whole hour away to play or worse- getting injured.
Losing is just ONE of them.
The good always outweighs the bad. Playing tennis, no matter the outcome, is always better than NOT playing. Three themes that rank very high for me on my Clifton Strengths Finder results are Learner,
Woo and
Positivity.
I like to learn new things,
Win Others Over,and
find the good in situations.
However, for any of you reading this thinking, “Is she nuts? Why play if not to try to win? Isn’t that always the only goal?” I can assure you that Competition is not found in my top 5 talent themes.
It is number 31 out of 34! I like to win, but for those of you familiar with Stephen Covey, I generally think "win-win".
When asked, “Did you win?” a person with the Competition theme high in their strengths would likely answer more like this, “No! But that won’t happen again! I will be practicing my serve 12 hours a day all week for the next match! I WILL WIN NEXT TIME”
But for me, making a friend is almost as big of a win as actually winning the match. I'm never happy to lose, but I can always find the JOY in getting to play the sport I love.
Some people didn't get to play tennis today so, technically, I DID win!
If you want to learn more about YOUR strengths go to anchoredinstrengths.com, or email me at tarikinsey@gmail.com.