One of the many needs that we fulfill by our participation in competitive sports is the need for self worth and value. We surround ourselves with like-minded people with similar goals and interests, and we take on a role that allows us to pursue that value within a team or sport. Feeling a sense of worth and affirmation is innately human, and a part of life for everyone – competitor or not. We have just found a source of ours in the world of sports. This perspective is one of the healthier ways a person can find value, and yet it is another of the many changes we have to confront as we move on to life after competition.
We will, most certainly find other ways to be of value in life after competition. Part of finding fulfillment involves transitioning from that source of value to others that are more implicit in the world of work, or beyond. That is something that is discussed elsewhere in the Competitor Shift community. There is still another side to the matter of values, though. The values themselves.
In sport, the things that we value are determined by the team and/or sport in which we choose to compete. Our skills and mindsets draw us toward sports in which we can succeed. There are physical values like strength or endurance, personal traits such as work ethic or perseverance, and collective values such as placing the interests of a team above ourselves. These are established for us, and are a part of the structure of the games we play. We arrive at those experiences understanding what is required of us in order to play and to succeed.
Life beyond sport is much less clear and directive. The traits or values that we see as important are left up to us to decide. Many are developed by our experiences growing up in competition, and yet others are from our own personalities or life experiences. We can absolutely find values we bring from sports in life beyond – though they exist in areas that are less obvious or inherent. We come to find experiences that reflect values such as collaborative goals, work ethic, or achievement in life beyond the fields or courts, and it makes sense to us. The matter of the source of those values is only a start to understanding their impact though. At the heart of the matter is the impact that our values play upon decisions we make, and the path we choose.
There is no shortage of people out there who will tell you how important your values are to the path you take in life. Values are, by definition, the traits and ideas that are most important to us. They guide our decision-making, and are found at the root of our emotional reactions. Values are the foundation of our priorities. What we choose, and how we react to the choices of others are all determined by these underlying ideas. It’s only natural that, as we struggle for meaning and direction in life after competition, that we take the opportunity to examine our values, and what relationship they may have to what we are doing and where we are going.
Much discontent and feelings of frustration in life come from people making choices that are not consistent with their values. We all understand that, and yet we so rarely take the time to slow down and think carefully about whether or not our actions are consistent with our values. Through sports, we may have developed a value for collaboration; which begs the question as to whether our work is collaborative. We may value hard work; are we working hard now? The connection is not always so direct, and yet we should be able to connect what we do to what is important to us. If we can’t – we will not feel fulfilled.
As always, the perspective here is not to judge one value over another – that is for each of us to decide for ourselves. Values and goals are personal – we arrive at them over the course of our lifetimes, and they quite regularly change as we get older. Making the transition from competition to whatever lies beyond is such a life changing time in life. We will all encounter it differently, and yet, we hope, find meaning in our common experiences. The goal of this discussion is instead to examine the transition from pre-determined values to those we establish for ourselves.
Questions for discussion:
- Do you value the same things in life after sport that you did in competition, or have your priorities and values changed?
- How much of our values are determined by our conscious decisions, and how many are simply a part of who we are?
- How did your experiences in competition form your core values?