TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2021 BEING COMPETITIVE - PART II

 TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2021 BEING COMPETITIVE - PART II

Yesterday, I wrote that I used to be competitive (on my own terms of course).  

Competitiveness can be really quite good.  Research and Development (R&D) departments spend a lot of time coming up with new competitive advantages.  Companies that can make a product better, faster, cheaper, with safety features, easier-to-use can gain a competitive advantage.  In the marketplace that is important!!

Even with people, being competitive can be good.  Maybe a good sales representative can anticipate a client’s needs better if he or she can use better analysis.  Maybe a check-out clerk is faster than other clerks and he or she can move customers in-and-out of the grocery store quicker is good.

[Aside:  On my summer job in college, I worked with Fritz Klapholtz.  His wife was a check-out clerk for one of the big HyVee Grocery Stores in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  This was prior to scanners and barcodes.  She had to know the prices of a lot of items.  Most items did have a little price sticker on them, but she needed to know if that price was correct (and that a customer didn’t put a lower sticker on a higher priced item).  And, some items did not have price stickers.  I was impressed that she knew most of the prices in a huge grocery store.  Now, I can even check myself out at a self-checkout device!!]

Grocery stores with scanners could move people out the door faster (and now, I can’t imagine a store without a scanner). 

“Competitive Advantage” is what it is called.  In athletics, coaches recruit players who have a competitive advantage - bigger football players, quarterbacks who can run as well as pass and hand the ball off.  With the Olympics starting next month, countries are selecting their best athletes to win.  Many players could work longer at the gym, lift more weights, run more, train more, and have better coaches.

But, then there have been those who gain a competitive advantage by cheating.  Maybe the long-distance bike rider takes steroids to gain an advantage (like in the Tour de France).  Scouting other teams is a normal procedure for college athletics. Some schools have private practices where they might be trying out some trick plays.  I’ve known of coaches who try to sneak somebody into those private practices to scout.  

There is industrial espionage - where one company may try to steal the ideas from another company.  There are patents, copyright, trademarks to protect intellectual properties.  But, some companies will stop at nothing to get the latest and greatest intellectual properties.  

And, of course, countries also have espionage (aka “spies”) to see what other countries are planning.  All in the name of being competitive.

*****

But, on my personal level, I’m finding that I am only competitive with myself anymore.  Did I do the crossword puzzle faster today than yesterday?  (My ‘rule of thumb is to solve the USAToday Crossword Puzzle in under 10 minutes - and I hit that goal about 50% of the time).  Did I walk more miles today than yesterday?  Did I lift more weights today than yesterday?  

Another way of saying this - I’m working on a “better version of myself”.

But, some things are hard to measure.  Did I pray better today than yesterday?  Did I understand my scripture reading better today than yesterday?  Was I more loving today than yesterday?  Was I a better human being today than yesterday?  Did I service mankind better today than yesterday?  

*****

On the physical side.  The literature suggests that as a person ages, they lose some of their physical strength.  I doubt that I will walk a 20K again - and especially NOT at a 14:30 pace for a mile.  There might be a question of whether I am “pushing” me hard enough.  

On the mental side, one of the consistent recommendations is to keep mentally challenged.  Yes, I do like to write these daily blogs - but I also want to keep my brain active.  Romans 12:2 (a) says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

As I’m writing today, my brain has gone back many years to the Boy Scouts - and the Scout Oath: “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

To help other people at ALL times

To keep myself physically strong, 

To be mentally awake

And, to be morally straight

That seems to say the direction I’m heading in my senior years.  

I am “COMPELLED” to keep going.  I have a prize to train for, my own personal Olympics,  A friend mentioned that “retirement” is not a scriptural term.  

So, my friends - all of us need to keep going, keep building a better, self-competing version of ourselves!!!

LOVE WINS!!

Karen