We hate the concept, but life IS a competition

I'm in the collaboration crowd. Yeah, you can usually hear us say things like "working together is better" and "two heads facing a problem is better than one" -- I believe that within the work industry you can get ahead so much better by working with your competitors rather than going all out war with them. A problem shared is also a problem halved, right?

Right - the concept is simple. Compete only against yourself, and work together with everyone else. That way you are constantly building upon yourself and developing your skills whilst at the same time working together with others to make your work life all that much better.

It's good in theory, it's also something I try hard to practice myself, but in essence everyone else has to be on the same level as you for it to work. When it really falls apart is when you're the only one doing this and everyone else is trying to get one over you. The world of course is a bit of a jungle, and theories are great, but out there when it's real and theories need to be turned into practice, it's so much more difficult.

Like the time I thought I was being generous letting a hungover member of staff work for the morning. After all, life isn't plain sailing, we all have our hardships and some of us have a drink to blow of steem, right? That is of course until he head butted a minor over the table.

Or the time when I went on to allow a disadvantaged member of staff to make financial transactions on others behalf's. The people under me were honest and upfront, I had no reason to question them. Also, paying for stuff over the internet is hard for people that don't know. That is until I found out he was abusing that concept and whittling away some of that money for his own purposes. Gah.

That's not to say that no-one is trustworthy, and everyone is looking to get one over you but I'm old enough and ugly enough to understand that life IS one big competition, and if you aren't constantly watching your back then there's someone that's going to snap things up from right under your feet.

Dating is great. But what happens when you and your friend are gunning for the same girl? Or two girls are looking for the same position by your side? I spent my entire dating life being out-shadowed by my friends. They had better jobs, healthier families, more prospects, and there was little ol' me, little kitchen porter Raymond with absolutely no prospects whatsoever. Life felt like a huge competition then. There wasn't any work together in those days.

If you snooze, then you lose. I've seen it happen before. If you wait too long to decide on a position at work then you could lose out, or if you take too long asking her out on a date then one of the many other guys that are interested may ask her out too. Hell, she might even be tired of waiting. Collaboration is amazing in theory, but really hard to work in practice. Sometimes people won't want to work with you no matter how hard you try.

Controlling outcomes is really hard; it requires an immense amount of brainpower for something that could potentially not turn out the way you wanted it to. I only have the power to control myself. Unless I had a people remote control, which is totally not a thing!

So if you want a little advice from me on how to go around working with other people, then compete only against yourself, yes, but understand that outside your sphere of influence (by that I mean yourself), everyone is looking to get one over you. Let your guard down yes, but make sure you have provisions in place should things go sour. I don't generally compete against anyone but I'm definitely not naive enough to think that there aren't people that would shit on me the first chance they could get. Back in the day I always had my guard down which set me up for a good amount of failure.

Alas, we live and learn. Competing against yourself and working with others is an amazing skillset to work with, but just be aware that others don't think like that, and they'll stab you in the face the first chance that they get.

Be well, my friends!