we live in a very competitive world. everybody seems to be competing with someone at some level. each week we spend hours playing or watching others compete in sporting activities all over the world. we cannot help being impressed by the level of excellence that these people achieve.in sport and business, competition encourages excellence in performance. where there is no competition, improvement in performance is less likely. some level of competiton is a hve-to in all aspects of life.the following story makes this point.as two friends are hiking in the forest they encounter a huge, ferocious and obviously hungry grizzly bear. its next meal has just come into sight, and they are it! the first friend calculates that the bear will overtake them in 27.3 seconds.at that point, she panics; realizing there is no escape. she faces her friend, with the fear of death in her eyes. to her amazement, she observes that her friend is not scared at all. to the contrary, her friend is quickly but calmly taking off her hiking boots and putting on jogging shoes. “what do you think you’re doing?” the first hiker says to her companion, “you’ll never be able to outrun that grizzly.” “that’s tr