Today's Wednesday Factoid is: Do You Perform Better When You’re Competing or When You’re Collaborating?
Crap, I don't really know!
The "nice" answer is that collaborating makes me more motivated to care about the work. I don't want to let other people down and I love to see people I helped actually get what they're reaching for. But honestly? I'm pretty friendly about competing, but do really like to compete!
I'm not a sore loser, and I'm definitely not an obnoxious winner. But I will absolutely admit that a little competition can go a long way for me. It's a weird internalized thing: If someone else can do something and I want to do that thing, I use their achievements as a marker to see if I can reach higher, and it becomes an internal thing very quickly. I want to know if I can reach or beat what someone else did. They don't even have to know. I know, and that satisfies me.
I will also be more likely to get really into a game if there's a score. Something to beat or something to keep track of. Otherwise it feels aimless. So even if it's really arbitrary and there are no stakes at all, I like having a score and I like "winning" with a higher score. It still works when I'm trying to beat my own scores, though, so it's definitely about the experience, not about "beating" someone. Also, I'm very good-natured about losing to someone, and if I'm no good at something at all, I'll be open about admitting that.
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