Meeting on Winning and wanting to be right

We had our Ideas Cafe meeting last night on why we want to win and be right.

Shula suggested that it may be a survival instinct to win and that non social animals like tigers are more territorial than wanting to be the best among their peers.  Being non social, by definition they do not live in groups and have no peers.

Dan mentioned that we routinely let children win at games to bring them happiness and build their confidence, even if it caused us to have a tinge of uneasiness that we do not get to win ourselves.  That speaks volumes about how wanting to win is innate in us and as adults we can suppress it while using it to advantage in dealing with others.

Winning and being right seems to be part of us being social animals and wanting the approval and admiration of others in our social group. 

As mentioned in the previous blog post, mothers know how to use winning as a motivator to get their unwilling toddler to get going.

So are there similarities in chasing win after win compared to chasing after a higher and higher euphoria from drugs or some other stimulus? 

The win at the local arena no longer seem satisfying. The athlete or musician needed the win from the next bigger event against more worthy competitors that requires more effort and resources.

Eventually, this leads to the Olympic type events which requires complete dedication of one's time and resources while still being an "amateur".

There seem to be a striking similarity with the drug addict giving up more and more of the rest of his life in order to get the next high with an increasing larger dose.

Maybe winning and being right belongs to one of those human conditions that make us feel good but we also need to be aware of its intoxicating potential. 

In the larger picture, should we not let our rational part of our emotional-rational two part consciousness make the long term planning, prioritize what it is we want, then aim with the appropriate allocation of our limited time and resources?

Winning can be used by our rational self as motivators towards these long term goals but it should not become the goal setting mechanism for our lives.