The Sports Psychology Monthly Minute is. monthly article on some of the latest in sports.

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One of the most valuable traits as an athlete is competitiveness. The desire to improve, play at your best, to succeed. But is it possible to be too competitive? Yes, being overcompetitive can cause more harm than good.

Here are some signs of being overcompetitive:

• Wanting to win in everything.
• Making everything a competition.
• Cheating and playing dirty in games.
• Trash talking during games.
• Bragging after wins.
• Being a sore loser after losses.

Does overcompetitiveness come from caring too much about winning. Yes, winning is great, but it’s not the most important thing. When you prioritize winning over everything, including your relationships, emotion, and integrity, then these negative symptoms start to appear. 

Here are three ways being overcompetitive can hurt you:

1. It actually makes you a worse athlete. By caring too much about winning, you’ll start to develop a “fixed” mindset. Not only does this take your attention off the end goal, but it also increases your fear of failure, which leads to effect your performance in games.

2. It can make affect your emotions. Always wanting to win can take away the joy of playing sports. If all you care about is winning, then it’s hard enjoy and appreciate all the great things that sports have to offer, such as improvement and friendships. Over time, being overcompetitive can take a toll on your mental health.

3. It can affect your relationships with others. This is especially true when you try to make everything a competition off the field. It’s hard to make friends and develop close relationships if you always have to win and show your superiority. No one likes to be around an overcompetitive jerk.

So what is the solution to overcompetitiveness? The solution is to learn how to channel your competitive fire in a positive direction. Competitiveness is like a fire. When tamed, it can be used for good. But when untamed, it can cause more harm than good. If you learn to channel your competitive fire in a positive direction, you can gain all of its advantages while avoiding its disadvantages. In other words, if you learn to control your competitive fire, you can achieve great success not only on the field but off.