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cdn2wheeler · 10-06-2007, 02:22 PM

Actually, Tristan, I think that you and I are closer on this than one may first think.

I wholeheartedly agree that goals have to be quantitative: that is, to run a 100 yards in X seconds. That does not mean, however, that I have to beat anyone else other than the person I was a day, week, month or year ago.

Some people use competition as a means to an end in improving their abilities. Your boxing example is an excellent illustration of that. All I'm saying is that competition as an end to itself is ultimately self-defeating. But when competition is used as one of the primary drivers to improve one's self - such as your work in Jeet Kun Do, in which you describe your goal as not to beat anyone else, but for personal development - then it's all good.

It's about self-mastery, not mastery over others.

10-06-2007, 02:22 PM	#8 (permalink)
cdn2wheeler Family Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,016	Actually, Tristan, I think that you and I are closer on this than one may first think. I wholeheartedly agree that goals have to be quantitative: that is, to run a 100 yards in X seconds. That does not mean, however, that I have to beat anyone else other than the person I was a day, week, month or year ago. Some people use competition as a means to an end in improving their abilities. Your boxing example is an excellent illustration of that. All I'm saying is that competition as an end to itself is ultimately self-defeating. But when competition is used as one of the primary drivers to improve one's self - such as your work in Jeet Kun Do, in which you describe your goal as not to beat anyone else, but for personal development - then it's all good. It's about self-mastery, not mastery over others.