What is competition? What is performance? Competition is the activity or condition of competing. Performance is the action or process of performing or realizing an action, task or function. When it comes to competition, people in America typically only recognize two legitimate positions: enthusiastic support and qualified support. We may look at competition as bad news, but it's actually how people delay or misapply it to be seen as being on the wrong side. The real problem lies in the competition itself. The best level of competition for children is zero, 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. The factors demonstrate 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 insist that competition can be healthy and fun if we keep it in perspective. This may be very true in some places. A metaphor that can help best describe understanding your competition is; competition is to self-esteem what sugar is to teeth. Insecurity is the biggest bane of today's society because most people lose in most competitive matches, and this shows why they do it. But winning doesn't build character either; it just creates 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 consider it as a factor in weakening competition, but to effectively understand competition, people see competition as more of a problem rather than a cure. When you really start to gain a true understanding of the competition, you can actually realize more harm than good, and a lot more people can realize what it really does to a person's mindset. If we raise healthier, more stimulating and productive children, society will see how this goes hand in hand with creating a better living environment. The first and most important step in realizing this concept is to recognize that the belief in the value of competition is based on myths and research. There are better and more fun ways for society's children and for us to work, play and live in a wonderful environment. It's really all about the competition, sometimes it's just the love of the activity.