Freudenfreude & Competition (#50)
Success does not need to be defined as a zero-sum game.
Thankfully, success does not need to be defined as a zero-sum game. We can embrace the benefits of competition — higher quality, greater variety, more innovation — without the results being defined solely by who won and who lost. Healthy competition stimulates growth and provides a benefit to the community. Competitive-driven innovation creates greater diversity, promoting the emergence of new products and services. Lack of competition creates stagnation, and anticompetitive practices drive price increases and other abuses by a monopolistic player.
Rather than celebrate winners, we celebrate successes, ours and theirs. We find joy in the happiness of others, known to the Buddhists' as the state of mudita. We appreciate enlightened cooperation over competitive superiority. We experience naches, a Yiddish term, feeling gratification especially in the achievements of others. By acknowledging others success we send them a powerful message — they are seen and they are appreciated.
The benefits aren't just for others, we too are improved through the ensuing chain-reaction. Our relationships are deepened, others echo gratitude back toward us. We delight in the freudenfreude, we strengthen our empathy.
See the whole series by using the Paradox Pairs Index
