With all of the sports and competition our kids are involved with I was thinking about winning and losing, specifically what is gained by competition. So often we strive to win just for the sake of winning.

But what do we really gain in the long run by winning, a trophy, the thrill of victory, a short-lived sense of superiority? All of those things disappear with time.

What competition truly offers for the long term, I think, is the opportunity for personal growth. The opportunity to guage ourselves against our prior-selves – A test to see if we are progressing. The progress that matters is not the winning (being better than someone else), but whether we are becoming better versions of ourselves. Whether we are evolving. Competition offers many ways to measure personal growth – Did losing with grace; Did we win with humility, Did we put forth a full effort, Were we a team player, Did we play with integrity, . . . .

The thrill of victory is great – in the short-term, but for the long-term the opportunity to measure our personal growth is where the true value of competition lies, at least in my opinion.

Timothy Velner is a husband, father, attorney and author living in Minneapolis. You can follow his daily blog – a series of discussions between the worry-self and the present-self at – thespiritualgym.me