tightloop Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Just wondering if those of you who are really competitive, are like that in all things or is it just shooting... Is it something you learned, if so, when and how did you learn it; or were you always "like that"? I am not talking about those that "like" to win, but those who spend sleepless nights, pondering to minute detail how you got beat, going over it shot by shot and planning what you needed to do to not let it happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgary Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Just wondering if those of you who are really competitive, are like that in all things or is it just shooting... For me... pretty much in all things. Pretty much from birth... *everything* is a competition. I'm totally a "feedback junkie", and love things where I can definitely, quantitatively see that "I succeeded". Water-polo team through high-school (two state championships), sailing team through college (three national championships), raced sailboats professionally, and now I work in the Kingdom of the Alpha Males, so... every meeting and hallway discussion is a competition ;-) Shooting is actually the area where I am *least* committed to being competitive, at least over the past couple of years. When I took on this job, I put sailboat racing on a hiatus because I couldn't commit enough time to be a contributing part of the teams I raced with, so I spend my "leisure time" shooting, and to some extent it is a "social" activity more than a competition. But I've been working hard to improve this year, and tracking my progress, so... that seems to be changing. sleepless nights, pondering to minute detail how you got beat, going over it shot by shot and planning what you needed to do to not let it happen again. yup, yup, yup, all of the above. Add in a some OCD about "making a detailed plan to eliminate identified weakness(es) and tracking progress against goals", and I'm pretty much there. B ("a professional is one who is totally committed to excellence, and to the elimination of inefficiency in a stated pursuit. It has nothing to do with money") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 All things...without a doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonT Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I think, for me anyway, it's a matter of priorities. I will always be competitive in all things that are of importance to me at a particular time in my life. Had I started competitive shooting at a younger age that might have taken a higher priority. At my age now, and with all there is to deal with in a day, my priorities and competitive nature are not driving me to get a GM card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j2fast Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I've always been very competitive, I don't believe it was anything that was learned, I've just always been that way. I'm pretty much like that in all things except I've tried to tone it down a bit in recent years. To me winning or trying to is a big part of what makes competition interesting in the first place; I'm not really much for participation ribbons.... When I was younger I was much more hardcore about it; a real winning is the only thing, 2nd place is the first loser type of person. These days though I try to find more of the fun aspect; especially since I'm just an average C class shooter. I'm not going to beat myself up over not getting an overall victory but I'll spend a lot of time breaking down why I did or didn't win my class in a given division at a particular match. After saying all that I guess these days you might call me a tweener on the subject. If I put the hours in to prepare for a given event then I will approach things expecting to win. If something like time or some other real life event keeps me from good preparation I can shift gears and still have fun without beating myself up about doing less than my best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Mine is the worst... HATE to lose but instead of anything constructive I just fume and pout? about it thinking bad thoughts and practicing negative reinforcement. I know its absolutely wrong but I still continue on the exact same path. I need an intervention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Just wondering if those of you who are really competitive, are like that in all things or is it just shooting... Wanna Race? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 Do you think there is a significant difference in competitiveness in team vs individual sports, and if so, what is the difference? Does being hyper competitive in one thing, like shooting, and assuming you are or have achieved more than moderate success, allow you to accept being less than #1 at other endeavours without obsessing over it... or do you practice the same results oriented posture in those other things that you have in shooting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Only in things I like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisStock Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 L9X25 have briefly discussed this before... I think this sport attracts a LOT of type A personalities. Type A's are not happy looking at the rump of the dog in front, they want to be leading the pack, they want ever changing scenery. Personally, I hate losing, especially when it is within me to win, but some unnecessary idiotic mental/physical error prevented it from happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgary Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Do you think there is a significant difference in competitiveness in team vs individual sports, and if so, what is the difference? Depends on the sport, and the role within the team. In water-polo, it used to bug the crap out of me that *I* could have a perfect game, and someone else's mistake could still affect the outcome. In racing sailboats, the same was true - I raced single-handed olympic classes for years, for just that reason, and I didn't want to allow for the possibility for "someone else's mistake" to affect my outcome. After switching to big/offshore sailboats, I found that the role of "tactician" was really satisfying.... it ends up being a combination of "battlefield commander" and "crew boss", so it involves both tactical decisions and operational decisions, and a whole lot more responsibility for the race outcome ends up funneling through that position. So... that's where I wanted to be. I don't need to have my name on the trophy, I just have to be able to go home knowing that *my* efforts were a key part of winning it. B (oh... and I'm happy to say there are a wide variety of trophies, all over the world, with that distinction... ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 I think people who expect the best out of themselves and work ceaselessly to attain it in one thing tend to do the same in other areas of life as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carinab Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 (edited) Ooooo...I posted something with a similar flavor on my myspace blog recently. I am competitive by nature but only because I pursue the perfect performance. A good run on a stage? Great. Enough good stages to win? Even better. The winning is a by product if I have had enough good performances and overcome my own limitations. Preparation then becomes the key. But I think like most folks here, you want to be good at anything you undertake....Why? Is it ego? Not necessarily. If you are good at something, that must mean you have learned enough to be good. I would bet most forum members love to learn. edited 'cos I spell goodly - er.... Edited April 9, 2008 by carinab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 (edited) Ooooo...I posted something with a similar flavor on my myspace blog recently. I am competitive by nature but only because I pursue the perfect performance. A good run on a stage? Great. Enough good stages to win? Even better. The winning is a by product if I have had enough good performances and overcome my own limitations. Preparation then becomes the key.But I think like most folks here, you want to be good at anything you undertake....Why? Is it ego? Not necessarily. If you are good at something, that must mean you have learned enough to be good. I would bet most forum members love to learn. edited 'cos I spell goodly - er.... Interesting post Carinab...do you mean that to some, the learning is more important than the progress which comes from that learning...I can remember when I discovered something good that worked, I would take a minute and rejoice in it, then it did not seem to matter too much anymore...I really never looked at it like a learning process, it was rather like climbing a mountain...there always seemed to be another peak above the one I just had gotten to... Personal limitations...they come in all forms and sizes..both physical and mental...how do you practice overcoming mental shortcomings...physical can be as little as repetition but sometimes the mind is harder to train than the body.. Edited April 9, 2008 by tightloop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nashvillebill Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I was quite suprised to learn at forty five years that I have a competitive streak. Looking back, I can recognizing how that manifested itself before I could identify it. Playing music or doing artisan type work as I always have, the results are subjective to taste or motive of the critic. Speed and accuracy represented by numbers (correctly recorded), can't be argued wth. If I whooped someone, it's gonna show.............. and it feels goooood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grandbagger Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 im not competitive. im doing ipsc/uspsa for fun. if i become and think of being competitive its not fun for me anymore. i dont want to lose sleep because of a mike or a fumbled reload, i dont want that to ruin my day. its a hobby for me, its not my job so i take it easy. there is more to my life than shooting at least to me anyway. but im always open and eager to learning new things...... YMMV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j1b Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I want to win. I cherish the bigger wins over the smaller ones. I do prioritize. But in the end I just want to win. It's always been in me that way. I've learned to temper it a bit, and honestly I've learned that sometimes winning the battle isn't worth losing the war. If I've got that scope I become particularly competitive, I like having the extra rope to play with and strategize. I'd rather win at chess than checkers. So different wins mean different things to me. Winning a club match is important to me, but it pails to winning an area match. I'm selfish about it. I remember when I first started shooting I just wanted to win one match. I remember praying "Please God, just one win. Then life will be complete" It wasn't seconds after the first win that I understood just one would never do. I am at times over the top with it. Metallica has a song with lyrics something to the effect of "I'm gonna make, shake you, take you . . . I'm gonna be the one who breaks you - put the screws to ya -" etc. etc. I love it. I like breaking people. It's not personal - it's just me. I don't do it to be hateful. I don't do it to be mean. In fact, at times I'm extremely pleasant about it. But in the heat, I don't see many friends. Any in fact. When the buzzer goes - I'm there. Afterwards . . . friends. Even between stages we're friends. But there's a time, somewhere in there, that I don't have friends. It's seconds long, but it's there. The magnitude does dictate that though. At a club match it's literally seconds before the beep. At nationals, it may be half the day when it's all added up. I like domination. I WAS a Mike Tyson fan. Utter domination early in his career. And I'm a viament Tiger Woods fan, because I do believe he's the ultimate competitor. And the final nail in the coffin for me? Individual sports. I want full accountability if I lose. And I want full credit if I win. Again, it's selfish. But it's me. Always has been me. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 (edited) Nice post Jack. The only "team sport" I can see that still holds some sort of individual quality is baseball. I mean sure football may keep stats on every player, but certain positions don't do the same job as other positions. In baseball ..... EVERYONE gets to bat sooner or later. Edited April 10, 2008 by CHRIS KEEN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-shot Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 (edited) Well, I like to win and I've had plenty of sleepless nights...I know what loss is. Being a participant means you are a competitor whether you want to be one or not...if I do not improve or if I feel like I've had enough, then I think I will find something else. I think this is kind of an "it depends" question. I mean are you really gonna run through life butting heads with everything in existence just coz it's there?? I also have to bring up something like American Idol, because that is a huge competition based in music, and the winners and losers get deals based upon the judgements of others. But could ANY of them compete with that one guy who got up there and started singing opera, and melted the hearts of the entire house?? I dunno, did he get a record deal?? My point with that is, that people NEED to be in the right place at the right time to TRULY succeed as well. And I'd like to say that being the best you are or working to be the best you can be (practice), has NOTHING to do with competition, in my mind. The results and the actions are separate. I think there is much more physical pressure in team based sports, especially if every participant is on the same page, which they are usually not. We deal with mental pressure that we put upon ourselves as shooters constantly. Competitivness comes from that "haunt" in the morning, after the sleepless night. A hard loss, and tough lessons learned. It's more hate than love in my mind too...whatever that means. In the end, I just sack up and roll. Edited April 10, 2008 by A-shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Doing is fun...winning is funner... IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat355 Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I'm just not competitive. I shoot for fun, and to practice for personal protection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I'm somewhere in the middle.. I like to win and I can get competitive, but I'm also lazy and don't have that all-consuming desire-to-win that would get me dry-firing every day for 3 hours and doing the work it would take to get really good. Another part of me just likes to enjoy the ride of getting better and shooting and seeing what happens. It's not the fastest route to GM, but it works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhunter Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 Yes, all things. Golf Tennis Ping Pong Shooting Racketball An Argument Board Games Anything!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 Yes, all things.Golf Tennis Ping Pong Shooting Racketball An Argument Board Games Anything!!!!!! That is funny, Z...never would have guessed.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I am competitive in all things, but I have learned not to be an asshat in doing it (I think I have anyway and I do try not to let it come out that way) like some others I see. Individual sports suit me better than team sports, accountability is far more important to me than team sports tend to allow... I strongly dislike people that are competitive to the degree that they can't be gracious in defeat AND in victory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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