A friend with 3 very young children related this incident the other
day:

During breakfast one day, while his children were eating their
breakfast cereal, he poured orange juice for all 3 of them.

However, he did not pour for them a full glass each. Instead, he
gave them only half a glass each.

The children looked at the glasses and continued with their
breakfast without any words.

Then, after a brief moment, my friend began to top up their glasses
with more orange juice. For the first child, he filled the glass
fully. For the second child, he topped up the glass to 3/4 full.
And for the 3rd child, he gave just a little bit more than the
half-a-glass.

This time, his children did not remain silent. In fact, the second
and third child stopped eating and protested, “Why does he get
more?? I want more!”

Now, note that ALL of them were given MORE orange juice. They were
ALL given MORE orange juice than they originally had, which was
half a glass.

So, what invited the protest?

Comparison and competition.

Although they were each given more, the quality was different for
each child. And each child started comparing what they received
with that of another child and decided that it was not fair that
someone else received more than them.

I observed the same mentality with some university students. When a
team received their score of 7/10 after their presentation, they
were quite satisfied with the mark.

However, when they realised that there were other teams who scored
8/10, 9/10, and even 10/10, they started asking me why they
received only 7/10 and insisted that they should redo their
presentation. It was interesting that they did not consider the
fact that there were also other teams who scored less than 7/10.

Here’s something to note: The original meaning of the word
“competition” is “to fulfill your potential.”

“To compete” would mean that you are embarking on an activity that
will enable you to fulfill your potential.

The purpose of competition, as such, is not to be better than
someone else. It is to be better than yourself.