Win the Inside Game: How to Move from Surviving to Thriving, and Free Yourself Up to Perform

by Steve Magness

psychologist Gábor Orosz and colleagues defined four approaches toward competition. There’s the person who lacks interest and is neither motivated to take on a task nor avoid it. They just don’t care. Competition doesn’t excite or intrigue them in the least. The second approach is the hypercompetitive person whom we’ve just discussed. They tend to need constant validation. Competition is where they derive meaning and value. The results matter . . . a lot! The third approach is the anxiety-driven avoidance orientation. These individuals shy away from competition. They often suffer from a need for perfection, and because that isn’t achievable, they avoid situations that put them in danger of being exposed. The final approach is the self-developmental competitive style. In this approach, the internal matters more than the external. The desire for self-growth and improvement in relation to oneself is what keeps them going. Simplified, our approach toward competition can be by dominating to deal with our insecurity, refusing to play the game in either direction, avoiding the game to protect ourselves from the consequences, or seeing the game as being about our self-development, win or lose. We all occupy these four approaches to competitiveness at various points in our lives and pursuits.