The yin and yang of success: competition and cooperation

If you want to succeed, you need to find the perfect combination of cooperation and competition.

Competition

People help you become a better person. They show you what’s possible. They mirror your own potential. You can use people as a springboard or as the bogeyman of your own success. Competition is a way for humans to become better and stronger.

The Real Winner

Winners focus on winning.
Losers focus on winners. Eric Thomas

If you want to reach the top of your art, you shouldn’t look at what others are doing, unless you’re a beginner or an intermediate practitioner. If you want to win, you need to emancipate yourself from the competition. This means being in search of the ultimate, in search of God, perfection, purity, honor, eternity, anything that isn’t related to worldly matters. You don’t care about fame, you care about post-mortem recognition. You don’t care about money and praise, you seek unity with the ultimate through your art. You don’t care about rankings and comparisons, you only care about your closeness to God and his angels. You don’t care about survival, you’re ready to die now if you have to lose what you live for.

Because it rivals no one, no one can rival it. Lao Tzu

Cooperation

On the road to mastery, we learn the importance of competition. As human beings, we are social animals. We are alive because our parents have protected and cared for us. We are educated and competent because our elders have taken the time to pass on their knowledge. Like all grateful individuals, there comes a time when we must give back what we have received. Cooperation is the link between generations, countries, genders and social classes. We must learn to give if we are to enter the circle of karma: we get what we receive. All superstars, whatever their field, have stood on the shoulders of giants to reach the pinnacle of their art. Cooperation is at the heart of progress. Before we can learn to compete, we need to reap the benefits of the cooperation that has given us the valuable weapons (skills, confidence, vision, lineage, strength, mental toughness, etc.) that have enabled us to achieve our goals.

Conclusion

Ultimately, we can say that there are four stages to achieving mastery and excellence: cooperation (as receiver), competition, non-competition (aiming for perfection) and cooperation (as giver).