Competition is a catalyst for success.Competition compels one to strive for excellence. Competition disciplines and motivates. All sounds good ey, and it's true, after all without competition man would have never evolved. Sometimes it's easy to be bogged down on comparing ourselves to others and their achievements that we forget our own capacity and limitations.

I would like to share some of my life's experiences to illustrate my point. I am an aspiring medical student and last year I applied to study medicine, after a painful five month wait I had four rejections to my name. In all honesty I felt jealous of all those who didn't have the academic ability or the passion I had but still managed to secure a place. Trust me, I did not take it well to say the least. I cried for hours on end before I realised that it was my mistake for applying to the very top universities. Why did I apply... because I wanted to be considered elite and wanted to be in competition with the very best.
Daft, I know, but this was a much needed wake-up call. It made me realise that yes I was capable of becoming doctor, it did not mean that I had the ability to do it in the best university in the world.

Failure is hard and no icing is going to make it sweet. It's like telling an injured person that their wound is going to heal, the person probably knows this but damn the pain is still going to hurt. No motivational  chit chat is going to stop the pain but if you learn to use potential as your guidance, the healing process would be a lot quicker.

When you reach the very top, there won't be many people to compete with and this could realistically make you rather complacent. But again if you know you are capable of achieving more you will push yourself to go that extra mile.

Never let success define you nor failure defeat you. Learn to compete with yourself using your potential as the compass that gives you directions.