The Need to Succeed | Teen Ink

The Need to Succeed

March 2, 2011
By atm155 BRONZE, Heber City, Utah
atm155 BRONZE, Heber City, Utah
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

In the last couple of years I have started noticing how people are making everything fair and equal. Everyone can probably remember the days where you could actually get first place on something and know that it’s real. Lately the whole “A for effort” thing has really taken off. People refuse to judge something over something else, or how good it is. Some people might feel bad about it, but they just need to work to do better. It’s hard for people to get motivated to do something if they don’t have anything to get motivated about or have somewhere to work to. I have noticed this everywhere.

The first time this really got to me was when I was a cub scout. I had been waiting for the pinewood derby all year and my car was very high tuned as far as little Cub Scout cars go. My car ended up doing really good, but the judges told us they wouldn’t place anyone because it wouldn’t be fair to the people who did poorly. Yet it wasn’t really fair for the people who did good to not get credit.

Everyone wants to succeed and compare themselves above others. It’s impossible to do that if you have nothing to compare with. I think that the world tries to be based upon equality and making everyone as happy as they can. That’s not how it really works because competition is what drives people to succeed and better themselves. It’s competition that motivates people and gets them to work harder than we would. I remember when someone could get a bad place in something, they might not like it, but that would just give them a goal to achieve and work hard for. Everything can be overcome if you have a determination to do well.

The whole “If you had fun, you won” line does not apply to real life. Maybe it works in preschool for a little kid who got out first in tag, but in real life it does not work that way. Having fun does not put someone in the Olympics, having fun does not give them a gold medal to bring home. Having fun can get you started in something and help you stick with it, the love of the game. Yet a judge, or a timer, doesn’t care how much fun someone has. They’re going to end up the doing same no matter how much fun they have.

We need to be able to compare ourselves to other people and be able to win in competitions and know what you got. People should start placing people in competitions and be able to judge others in how they truly did and not only focusing on just being fair.


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