Success and failure

[aba1]

Does anyone ever get a little bummed out thinking about the fact that other peoples success stops you from succeeding. For example if you were competing in a tournament and lost the opponents success is what is stopping you from going forward. Only so many people can do certain things so with every person successfully doing those things your odds of doing it become smaller and smaller.

Also on the flip side every time you succeed other people need to have failed in order for you to have succeeded does that ever bother you that you may be stopping others who are better or more passionate than yourself?

Obviously this does not apply to everything but I was curious of how many people stop any consider these things?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Recently?

Well, I applied for writing position on the Escapist News Team.

Kinda bummed that I didn't get one, but hey, I'm not bitter about it...

[sub][sub]I won't even spare the children...[/sub][/sub]

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Recently?

Well, I applied for writing position on the Escapist News Team.

Kinda bummed that I didn't get one, but hey, I'm not bitter about it...

[sub][sub]I won't even spare the children...[/sub][/sub]

Was your submission just a page of Fillion gifs?

Yeah, that's why I don't understand why I didn't get in.

I mean, who wouldn't?

 

[Pinkamena]

My life motto is very relevant:
"It is not enough that I should succeed - others should fail."

Joking aside, I have not felt that this is a problem.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Take up golf or something less competitive. That way, you're only competing with yourself.
Although yeah, it's tough out there in the free market. Natural selection is a cruel mistress.

 

[Nouw]

I haven't really thought about it like that. I've just seen success and failure as they see it in Nolan's Batman trilogy. You fall, to pick yourself up again and become even stronger. 'DESHI DESHI VASARA, VASARA!' God, I love that chant.

 

[McMullen]

The only time it's a problem is if the winner squanders whatever they win. When I get chosen for a job and it means someone else doesn't, I feel it's important to deserve being chosen. Otherwise not only am I doing a bad job, I'm potentially depriving a more worthy person of their job.

I expect the same of others and it often leads to disappointment. I can't help but see people doing poor work in this economy and wondering how many talented people remained jobless because some slacker is filling the seat.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

As a great musician once said, no matter how good you are, there's someone better playing in his garage who will never make it. And I think that applies to most things. No matter how dedicated you are to your particular profession, no matter how talented or skilled you are, somebody else is out there who's just as good and could have used whatever opportunities you were given. Or the inverse is true.

 

[TallanKhan]

I see the success of other people as an opportunity to learn from them so try to view these situations as a win-win.

 

[octafish]

In times like that I turn to Kipling...

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

 

[Twilight_guy]

That only works in competition and when resources or spaces are limited. Also, no. Mostly becuse I realized a long time ago that somebody has to fill the large amount of space between the top and bottom competitors.

 

[TallanKhan]

In times like that I turn to Kipling...

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

Then youve probably had one too many scotches before lunchtime....(jk)

 

[Susan Arendt]

I see the success of other people as an opportunity to learn from them so try to view these situations as a win-win.

Well said. There's no shame in failure, because that is how we learn. A lot of people forget that and so feel like if they don't win, it's the end of the world. But if you never fail, that means you never took a risk.

 

[anthony87]

Well I know that my failures have to do with my own laziness more than anything so I don't hold it against the other guy too much.

Still....fuck that hypothetical wanker.

 

[DeltaEdge]

I don't really worry about things like that, mostly due to the fact that I rarely ever compete with anyone for anything because I tend to stay away from others most of the time and am on the computer mostly. But it's just life, and unless I am noticeably robbing someone of something that is quite clearly of extreme importance to them, I would probably go insane worrying it something like this all the time.

 

[manic_depressive13]

I don't resent people who succeed where I don't. Quite the opposite. I'm not an ambitious person, so when I'm competing against people who take things seriously (whether it's sport, school or games) I feel guilty beating them because if they win everyone's happy, but if I win they start getting frustrated and upset. It seems like the lesser of two evils to just lose.

 

[NightHawk21]

Nah I revel in it. I'm part of a small science team right now that is working on a project dealing with cavities. Thing is about 2 months into the 4 months we've been working on it, a group of PhD profs announced they are testing a very similar project. They got to go through human testing and the like to make sure its safe, but they're planning on selling it to big oral care companies and making lots of money. Originally I was bummed, but now it gets me excited. See if we can come up with a comparable product in 4-6 months that took the profs a couple years to invent, well I'm already ecstatic, but if we can do it and release it open source like it probably will be and cause them to lose whatever millions they were planning to earn, well as much as I shouldn't the really evil, cruel part of me can't help but laugh

Captcha: Ace of Spades

 

[spartan231490]

I don't feel this is a problem. It's a law of nature, survival of the fittest, if you will. It's a good thing, it makes you try hard and actually earn what you get. I am horrified by the prospect of the next generation, imagine it, an entire generation who get trophies just for participating.