In Today’s Society

In today’s society, competition is cutthroat in all spheres of life and people have no choice but to compete. There are those who believe that they have to win in everything they put themselves into the undertaking, they are believers in the saying “winning is not everything but it is the only thing”. This saying is very popular in the American society especially in the sporting arena where there is a lot of pressure on performance. The saying is also considered to be the major contributor to the challenges that are facing the society today. The saying is first credited to Henry Russell who then was a coach in UCLA football club, who meant that they have to win irrespective of what happens (Weinberg, 17).

This saying is today very much widely used in the society as everyone in the tough conditions has to find ways of surviving. The American society is today facing a lot of challenges that have not been experienced in many years. There are problems such as, shortages of jobs, houses have been closed due to people defaulting, rise in cost of good medical care. With a lot of desperation in the society, people, therefore, have to succeed or thereby suffer. There is no choice then, is either performance or nothing as one cannot survive without results. Results will signify a lot in the society as people will appreciate success and would love to be associated with winners.

For young they will in most cases copy what the society is offering, if the children are in a competitive environment then they will also develop a competitive behavior. In the United States for you to be successful as it is a capitalistic economy, unlike in a socialist economy, in most cases, one has to be the best or very good in what they do. The capitalistic economy values and rewards hard work and performance. For one to be a professional basketball ball player, they have to be better than other in what they do. A good lawyer will need to have a good education from good schools, other skills and competences for one to be successful. Therefore for the people who aspire to be successful they have no other choice but to win.

Children have in some cases in our country been pushed to view sports as activities that should raise fame and can be considered as better than formal employment, children in the United States, due to the pressure that is exalted on them by their parents and other member of the society such as their peers, teachers and relatives. They will not consider sports as an activity that should create fun to them but as something that they should perform well in order to seek approval from their peers, teachers, parents and coaches who are evaluative of the performance of the students. Sports to a child will provide an avenue or outlet necessary to exercise positively as well as educate them on competition, teamwork and finally learn on leadership. The lessons that competitive sports provide to children are teamwork, competitive environment and leadership and will make children to be children like others and not professional athletes at a very young age.

In the United States over 20 million children across the nation join every year a number of groups that will provide with a number of competitive sports such as baseball, soccer and basketball across the nation every year (Denning, 105). Even though a high number of children across the nation joined to a certain competitive sport, only a small number will continue playing as some will lose the fun in the competitive games before the age of 13 years. Due to the competitive environment that has caused children to engage in competitive sport it will make the sports dangerous to the children as it will deprive them aspects of fun in the sport.

We cannot be able to eliminate competition in the society, Competitive sports and other competitive activities are important in children as they assist in instilling responsibility in the children. Children and others will learn to be better time managers need for planning and creativity. When a child develops the spirit that they have to win as winning is the only option, they will find means of achieving their target which we should consider as a path to a way. Creativity is necessary as it assist people or is a crucial asset that is developed through competition and can lead to discoveries, broader thinking and a sense of purpose among the children who are competitive. Competitive thinking that views and believes in winning is important to the children as it assist in instilling confidence from a young age.

The spirit and desire to always win will make people to compete and work hard. The American society is a society that encourages competition through rewards for this. It is important that people develop a spirit of setting goal and gearing all their energy towards the achievement of the goals that they have set. The determination is key to development; the American dream is of people with nothing but determination and a spirit that believes that they must which propels the people to success and great achievement in the midst of a lot of odds. It creates avenues for creativity, inventions and developments based on the spirit that the personal philosophy of some people that they have to win as “winning is not everything but the only thing”

A parent should be able to foster the correct positive attitude to their children with the intent of making the sports that involve competition better for the children. It is important that the children from the age of preschool be encouraged on every step as they undertake the competitive sports. For young children very competitive sports are not conducive to them thus the sports should not involve keeping score as well as enforcing rules. Very competitive sports shall be discouraging the children as they have more to consider based on fear of pleasing their peers and at the same time pleasing their parent. It is important that the children are informed that they should put effort on the sport but ensure that they succeed and are not under pressure to perfume but they enjoy the sports (Kohn, 102). The children at first should be advised to choose sports that even though competitive are not very serious. They should take breaks when playing especially with friends who should encourage them properly. High school is a good age when they should embark on well-organized sports for the teenagers as they can be able to pursue what they are passionate in their lives.

Competitive sports and other activities will cause young people to develop fears as well as they can be overstressed due to the expectations. People can develop tantrums as well as a lot of anxiety before a competitive activity that they are involved in and to some young people the competitive activity can turn out to be detrimental. The process can happen for days to an extent of causing severe reactions whenever a competitive event is discussed. This may be an indicator that the competitive activity has resulted into being unhealthy. Competitive activities can cause rival to be involved in unhealthy competitions that can involve insults, lack of respect for each other and to some extent violence (Clifford, 67).

Due to pressure that is associated with success a lot of people so that they could perform in sports such as the Olympics have been involved in drug abuse. There are numerous cases of athletes failing the drug test as they believed that the only option is winning and they is no other choice, thus they use energy enhancing drugs to boost their performance but with time they are discovered and banned. It is crucial that parents to play a crucial role especially when bringing up their children (Denning, 98). Parents have a role of inculcating the competitive spirit amongst children that the children will live with for a long time. People need to learn how to handle disappointment and poor performance and discovering that only hard work can make us receive the best and if other are better than us, we wish them the best.

I am of the opinion that for the society to proper “winning is not everything, but the only thing”, the society cannot move forward without the winning mentality. For one to be successful, they have to begin with the end in mind, with the end in mind the embarking on any certain planned activity can easily be converted into success. In a business environment, irrespective of the plans that the businesses have created, if the team has no winning mentality and are not convinced that winning is the only solution; in most cases they shall not be successful in their plans. The power of the mind is very important to an individual. It is through the mind that people are be in a position to be successful in what they plan to achieve.