According to Dr. Desley Lodwick GAICD:
| “ | It is critical to differentiate between a competitive mindset and an achievement mindset. The former is externally motivated, viewing success as a zero-sum game in which one person's gain is another person's loss. The achievement mindset, on the other hand, is driven by internal motivation, focusing on personal goals and growth rather than the need to outperform others.
People frequently misunderstand what competitive thinking is. It is not the same as what we call competition in sports. Instead, it is about how we construct our identities and what motivates our behaviour. It's the difference between comparing yourself to others in order to feel good about yourself and instead having a "personal best" mindset regardless of how others are performing. A competitive mindset is characterised by associating self-worth with winning, a need for external validation, aggressive tendencies, and a pervasive fear of failure.[1] |
” |
On the other hand, highly competitive individuals in sports, business or other endeavors drives them towards high levels of achievement.[2]
Journal articles
- The Relationship of Competitiveness and Achievement Orientation to Participation in Sport and Nonsport Activities, Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 10(2). June 1988. DOI:10.1123/jsep.10.2.139
- Validation of the Need for Competing Inventory, Frontiers in Psychology, 30 September 2021. Sec. Movement Science. Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.721903
- Competition and cooperation in the five-factor model: individual differences in achievement orientation, The Journal of Psychology. 2003 Jul;137(4):323-37. doi: 10.1080/00223980309600617.
- Relationship between growth mindset and competitive motivation: a moderated parallel mediation model and feature importance analysis, Frontiers in Psychology. 2025 May 23:16:1576649. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1576649. eCollection 2025. (Pubmed abstract of this journal article)
External links
- 6 levels of Competitive Mindsets
- The End of the Competition Mindset: Why It’s Time to Focus on Collaboration
Video:
Notes
- ↑ Competitive Thinking: it’s all in your head by Dr. Desley Lodwick GAICD
- ↑ 6 levels of Competitive Mindsets