Why
is it that competition can feel more fun than cooperation? When I lead
team building events, no matter the group -- teams always get more
excited when they get to compete against other teams. Some really
struggle when I try to coax them (or trick them!) to cooperate in an
activity.
I know that Dr. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's research
confirms that boredom is painful and the "flow state" comes from meeting
challenges and growing from them. Is this the reason?
Today I
wondered: could we change the nature of challenge and competition in
our culture? What if our measure of success had less to do with $$ and
more to do with how well we serve each other?