Are you competitive?

[Marc]

Actually, the "feeble" comment I ignored because I know neither you nor Greg ski feebly. I also believe that underneath the "sarcasm" was an undercurrent of doubt regarding ability, something most folks who are competitive in nature possess.

And the fact that you picked up on that word only reinforces my point...you are competitive.

That's interesting Jim. It has been my experience that the competitive people I've met are generally quite confident and occasionally borderline arrogant. And occasionally, completely abnoxiously arrogant and cocky.

I myself, on the other hand, am a miserable pile of blithering insecurity, and therefore, quite non-competitive.

NOTE: In this instance, ctenidae, "myself" is being used as an intensive pronoun, and is grammatically correct. You probably knew that already.

 

[hammer]

I compete against myself...unfortunately, I usually lose, gotta work on that one. :???:

 

[JimG.]

That's interesting Jim. It has been my experience that the competitive people I've met are generally quite confident and occasionally borderline arrogant. And occasionally, completely abnoxiously arrogant and cocky.

Marc, you would benefit from a course in Psychology. Most competitive people are very insecure about their talents which is why they are so driven to always improve. Their competitiveness tells them they are never good enough. And that goes double or triple for the arrogant and cocky people. That behavior is just a mask for the burning insecurities they possess.

 

[2knees]

Actually, the "feeble" comment I ignored because I know neither you nor Greg ski feebly. I also believe that underneath the "sarcasm" was an undercurrent of doubt regarding ability, something most folks who are competitive in nature possess.

Why do you want to get better than you are now? Because you are competititve or else it wouldn't matter to you. It's internal and has nothing to do with how other people ski.

And the fact that you picked up on that word "feeble" only reinforces my point...you are competitive.

I'm sorry, i hate to keep this up but i think you're missing my point. Never said i wasnt competitive. I believe i said i was competitive when it involved winning and losing. I dont ski to win. I ski to relax and enjoy. Again, my motivation is to be a better skier then i currently am. Not to be better then anyone else. so, like i said, i guess in skiing i compete with myself. which, by definition, is not really competition. That requires two or more parties in contention for a singular prize or goal.


In the end though, it's whatever motivates each individual to get better. This seems to be an excercise in semantics.

 

[JimG.]

I'm sorry, i hate to keep this up but i think you're missing my point. Never said i wasnt competitive. I believe i said i was competitive when it involved winning and losing. I dont ski to win. I ski to relax and enjoy. Again, my motivation is to be a better skier then i currently am. Not to be better then anyone else. so, like i said, i guess in skiing i compete with myself. which, by definition, is not really competition. That requires two or more parties in contention for a singular prize or goal.


In the end though, it's whatever motivates each individual to get better. This seems to be an excercise in semantics.

2 people who seem to agree but won't admit it to each other.

I gotta stop now because this is starting to remind me of arguments I have with my wife.

 

[2knees]

lol i was thinking the same thing. its CIRCULAR! i'll make it up to hunter this year again and we can compete or not compete all day on the west side hopefully.

 

[Vortex]

I could not agree with 2knees more here. We are saying the same thing.

In a wide interpretaion Jim still may be right here though.

I consider competing a place where you win or lose. That is why I'm in sales. I need the rush and I need to be the best. I do think you can compete against yourself. I do it daily at work. Self motivation. At the very least I have a different attitude on the hill.
Really depends on what your view of competition or competive spirit is.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I think I am in the same boat as Riverc0il. I don't necessarily go out there looking to dominate the runs of people I ski with :-? but I do try to perform at a high level. If I am skiing with someone better, I push myself to that next level (short of dropping off major cliffs, etc :smile: )
This is one of the reasons I learned to ski well so quickly. I kept skiing with excellent skiers and throwing myself at the hardest terrain until I felt confident with it. I hated finishing a run last because I couldn't keep up. It drove me to be better. Now I often ski down first and set up for pictures :beer:

 

[shwilly]

Very interesting thread.

For me personally: no, I'm not competitive about snowboarding at all. It's recreation; I don't race or enter trick competitions. What could you measure for a competition? Average radness per run? Total adrenaline released for the day? Number of pretty tracks left? "Ha! I clearly had twice as much fun as you did on that run -- take that!"

I want to be good, and to continue to improve. I hope I don't look stupid on the trail. On the rare occasions I find a powder field, I try to leave a pretty, symmetrical, arcing path.

But this isn't competitiveness because I don't care how well or poorly everyone else does the same stuff, or how they compare to me. I just don't. If everyone else on the mountain were great experts, that would be fine. (Not that that's in any danger of happening.)

I'm probably more competitive in "real life" than on the mountain. I do want to be better than everyone else at what I do for a living. But being competitive about having fun outdoors just does not compute for me.

 

[ga2ski]

Depending on who is defining it I guess I am competive. I always go out and ski the best that I can. There are definitely people i skiwith that are better than me. The only time I really want to go and show my skills is when people have been telling me how great they are.

When I race at Pat's on Mondays, there are people that I strive the go faster than through the course, but the rest of the time I could care les how they ski compared to me. I'm just out to have fun.


Can't wait to hear some of the folks that i know responses to this one.