Competitiveness Essay Example
From Edison and Tesla to the United States and the Soviet Union, competition has led to success throughout human history. Competition made the heroes of the past succeed and will continue to breed success in the future. Competitiveness is necessary for success, because competitiveness motivates people, raises the standard for them, and promotes innovation.
Competitiveness motivates people to perform at a higher level. Elon Musk is a highly successful entrepreneur and the owner of SpaceX. His main goal with SpaceX was to reduce the cost of space transportation. At first, Musk’s competitors laughed at him when he proposed the low cost of his rockets that he said he would send to space. Elon’s determination to defeat corporations such as NASA and his doubters encouraged him to start planning his fourth launch attempt of the Falcon 1 Rocket right after the third launch attempt failed. After SpaceX finally launched a cost-efficient rocket into space on its fourth try, Musk admitted that had this rocket launch failed, “SpaceX would have died.” After seeing how much his success shocked the world, he decided to take things further, by building more powerful rockets, sending humans to space, and building reusable rockets. Elon is a good representation of the general population. The urge to win competitions motivates people to work harder and finally winning competitions makes people realize they can do even better.
Competitiveness raises the standard for people. When people compare themselves to others whom they are better than, they are satisfied with their performance. However, some people are much better than them. People must compete with others on their level to truly be successful. When LeBron James first started playing basketball, he didn’t play at a very competitive school. Therefore, his skills were much better than others from his school, but nationwide, many kids his age were better than him. By high school, his team played highly competitive games, which led to him having to adapt to these new players' abilities, and eventually become the #1 pick in the 2003 NBA Draft. LeBron James is able to perfectly demonstrate how competing with others causes us to be more successful.. When there is no competition for them, there is no urge to improve.
Competitiveness sparks the need for innovative thinking. Had Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla not become staunch rivals, we wouldn’t have the electricity we have today. However, because the two desired to defeat the other, they worked hard to become the best inventor possible. Tesla and Edison were constantly inventing and thinking of creative new ideas in order to defeat their opponent, but The “War of Currents'' between the two eventually led to Tesla inventing the Alternating Current System and Edison inventing the Direct Current, which are our two main current systems today. The feud between the two displays how competitiveness encourages innovation. Whether it’s between multinational corporations or just between two creative teenagers, competition is the root of innovative thinking in the modern world.
Throughout the ages, competition has always resulted in higher success. Although some may argue that competition causes unnecessary stress, being able to overcome others will actually alleviate stress. One must be competitive in order to succeed, because competition is a source for motivation, competition raises the standard, and competition causes for innovation.
