Iron Sharpens Iron: Why Healthy Competition Drives Growth

I’m certain that you’ve been in a situation where you felt stuck before. Maybe it’s that you got passed up for a promotion, or you’ve been job hunting for months. Or, it could be that you’ve been trying to master a new concept and you’re struggling to comprehend or apply it. In both of these instances, you’re either competing with others for the job or you’re competing with the version of you who hasn't mastered the concept yet.

What if I told you that competition could be the ticket to forcing yourself out of your comfort zone and into some rapid growth that can propel your career forward or just get you to level up some skills you’ve been letting get stagnant?

When we hear "competition," we often think of winners and losers. That’s a limited (I’ll say it… flawed) view. I’m a firm believer that competition doesn’t need to be a dirty word. Healthy competition isn't about being better than the person next to you, instead, it's about being better than the person you were yesterday.

It’s a force that pushes us to adapt, to innovate, and to learn in a hands-on, practical way. It's a journey towards excellence that is shared by everyone engaging in the competition. When you engage in a challenge with others, you're not just conquering the challenge, you're improving yourself.

Tangible Competition Benefits

Some of the benefits of competition are likely already clear to you. Maybe you’re already a competitive person. Or, maybe there’s cash prizes or trophies at stake.  But there are other benefits of competition too.

• Hands-on Learning: You move from just reading about a technique to actively applying it to a real-world problem.
• Portfolio Building: You’re creating tangible proof of your skills that you can showcase to future employers.
• Applying Feedback: You see how others approach the same problem, sparking new ideas and revealing your own blind spots. This is one of the biggest benefits to competition, in my opinion.
• Networking: You connect with others, creating relationships that can lead to mentorship, collaboration, and career opportunities.

Finding Contests

If you’re in the analytics space, there’s actually a lot of ways to compete. One of the most common ways is the Data Visualization (or Data Viz for short) contest. “Iron Viz” is a well-known data viz competition that takes place every year at the Tableau conference.

Participating in these contests is a great way to experiment, show off your skills, learn from your peers, and to win some awesome prizes (and bragging rights).

Looking to participate in a contest now?

• Until July 25th, 2025 there’s an awesome contest going on with some amazing prizes in the GOATs Community - check it out here!
• The GOATs Community has ongoing contests & events - and you can get notifications by clicking the bell on this page.

Are you thinking of participating in a contest soon? Let me know!