Competition
Viraf Pocha
What is competition? You lined up with a set of your peers ready to be compared against each other
on a specific set of skills. If you better than everybody else in that space and time - you win.
That really is all there is to it. Or is it?
This limited definition does not even hint at the hugely different levels and means of sacrifice
that each competitor has put himself through to earn a spot in that space.
Perhaps more significant is that winning or placing in that competition could have far ranging
effects on the competitor's future.
I'd like to focus on just that aspect of competition today. What comes after the win?
There is competition in our world too. Manufacturers compete to sell their product. Production
companies compete for jobs. Freelancers compete to get onto the job. Perhaps most vital - we compete
for the prestigious Palm Sound & Light Awards.
We may not run races. No instant gold medals. Most times we don't get anything tangible (other than
PALM SLA type award to display)
What we do get is an affirmation that our ideas and efforts have been recognised and somebody thinks
it prudent to use our services to support them do a great job.
Chance are - the day after we win a competition the real work starts.
What are we setting ourselves up for? Where do we start?
The first decision we need to make is - which competition do we enter into? What's our focus?
Vital. If you start with, i just want to win something chances are you will lose.
Actually (in my opinion) if you enter a field, any field just to play the game - you will definitely
loose.
To win, you need focus. That's a word we will be using a lot of today in many different avenues.
It's said, preparation + opportunity = success. The preparation is up to you. Opportunity will come.
I'm asking - why wait for a lucky opportunity?
It's also said, the harder you work (prepare) the luckier you get.
So focus. Like your teacher advised you in school. Read your question paper carefully, every word.
Shape your answer to exactly what the question asks. No more no less.
I'm sure you have many varied skill sets. But each bit of competition requires a certain set of
well-defined requirements. You could be better than the everybody else in the room. But if you
cannot shape your game into exactly what the competition wishes to identify and reward - you may
loose.
That shakes your confidence and makes you get into a doubt yourself spiral. If you lose in a
competition - its best if you just recognise that somebody else's proposition was better suited to
that specific project.
The winner may not be better than you in all or anything. It's just that he was best suited for that
job.
Example. You line up the Olympic gold medallist in pole vaulting, javelin, hurdles, long jump and
make them run a 100-meter race versus a mythical 'Bob'. Bob lost out in the heats of the 100 meters.
But that's Bob's focus race.
Chances are Bob will win this 100-meter race versus every other competing gold medallist. The other
competitors may be better athletes. But they lose to bob because bob is focussed.
Got it?
What happens tomorrow after this particular race is over?
Bob delights in his victory. Feels like he's a winner so there is no need to work harder. He never
wins another 100-meter race, or any other race cause he's not proficient to try his hand at anything
else.
The other loosing gold medallists begin doubting their own abilities thinking they don't deserve a
god medal because they were beaten by guy who lost in the heats.
Are you scratching your head wondering what is going on? Or do you get it?
Compete for a job that you are made to do. Focus all your energy into being the best at what the
competition requires and then with single minded focus and concentration just be best you can be at
it.
Marketing students are taught to identify a need in the market and then design a product aimed
directly at that need. People will run to buy your product if they know that your product will make
their lives better.
You don't need to sell anything. Just focus on distributing your winning product.
On the other hand, millions of man hours and rupees are lost when a creator is so impressed with his
own creation, he cannot understand that his beautiful, amazing, one of a kind, ahead of the times
and everything available in the market creation, finds no takers despite a huge campaign.
Make no mistake. I am not asking you to shape yourself for and into anything. I encourage everyone
to remain true to yourself. You must be comfortable with yourself to keep coming back and entering
into as many competitions as you can - until law of averages tilts the balance in your favour even
if luck abandons you.
I see a huge number of people stressed out and burning out simply cause they not able to separate
these two closely aligned issues, often mistaking them to be one and the same.
To be clear. You are a competitor. Not the competition. To win you need to analyse, focus and
prepare to present yourself as the best guy to do the job - for your client.
In these days of hyper competition, especially in India, it's easy to be distracted by ideas that
the only way to win is on cost or if you can influence the buyer in some underhand way. I'm sure
that exists. Follow their graph of those players. You will see that most shine brightly and soon
fall behind as they shift focus away from quality. I'd advise you to not be distracted by this
phenomenon. Acknowledge this exists and figure a way around it.
Another fact that we all have to address is building scale. We must build scale to compete
effectively and consistently. But maintaining scale is expensive and in our project-based industry
sometimes hard to keep ahead of.
The reality is that we still spend in dollars and earn in rupees. There's a situation a wise
competitor can exploit for immense gain.
Good luck winning the next competition you decide to enter.