What is competition? What is performance? Competition is the activity or condition of competition. Performance is the action or process of performing or accomplishing an action, task, or function. When it comes to competition, Americans generally recognize only two legitimate positions: enthusiastic support and qualified support. We may view competition as bad news, but in reality, it's how people delay it or misapply it that is considered bad news. The real problem lies in the competition itself. The best level of competition for children is no competition at all, and the very phrase "healthy competition" is actually a contradiction in terms. The first fact is that the more we allow children and ourselves to compete, the better. There are factors that show that competition builds character and produces excellence. The second fact admits that in today's society we are too busy being "number one", and that society pushes young people too hard and too fast to become winners. But they really emphasize that competition can be healthy and fun if you put it in perspective. This can be very true at times. A metaphor that can help better describe the understanding of competition is: competition is to self-esteem as sugar is to teeth. Self-doubt is the biggest drawback in today's society because most people lose in most competitive encounters, and this shows why they lose. But even winning doesn't build character; it just builds fame for a hot second. Studies have shown that feelings of self-worth have become dependent on external sources of evaluation due to competition: your worth is defined by what you have done. Worse, you're a good person in proportion to the number of people you've beaten. In a competitive world, a chi...... middle of paper ......ance. Some may see this as a factor in weakening competition, but to fully understand competition, people see competition as more of a problem than a cure. When you really start to have a true understanding of competition, you can actually realize that there is more harm than good, and a lot more people can realize what it actually does to the state of spirit of a person. If we raise more healthy, exciting and productive children, then society will see how this goes hand in hand to create a better living environment. The first and most important step in achieving this concept is recognizing that the belief in the value of competition is based on myths and research. There are better and more enjoyable ways for society's children and for us to work, play and live in a wonderful environment. It's really about competition, sometimes it's just the love of the activity.