Competition in the Workplace and the Human Condition

Do you notice where you find yourself competing with your other fellow employees, because you can’t all ‘win’, you can’t all get the bonuses, and this puts you in a position where you’re against each other, instead of working together toward the common goal, you’re now working in separation for ‘potential rewards’. And the only reason this competition exists, is because there are these possibilities/opportunities to get more money, but not for everyone. That means, very simply, it’s either ‘You or Them’. So now your focus is distracted from the task at hand, and now focused on ‘beating everyone else’ to get to that prize. And for many people, this is not something that sits well, as most people don’t want to be against one another, but would much rather get along well and work together on things, but find oneself torn now between one’s own personal well-being/income and everyone else’s. In this, one will have to find whatever way one can to cope with or justify having to compete against one’s fellow man, like coming up with reasons like ‘why I deserve it more and they don’t’ and ‘I have to look out for myself/my family’.

What hasn’t been considered within this is the simple solution of giving to all equally, and giving enough that each and every individual can have a dignified life, the best quality life possible, where there is no worrying whether you will be able to get the healthcare you need, or the food you need, or adequate housing, education, etc.

If everyone gets the same support, competition will cease, because you won’t have to compete with others to get what you need and to have a dignified life. Then we can really focus on the tasks at hand and the productivity of humanity will not diminish, but will be of a higher quality, as when we work together on things, we are capable of so much more than when we’re all ‘on our own’ and having to work against each other.

What’s really incredible is the extent to which competition has been and is accepted as a ‘normal’ part of life, and it’s essentially forgotten that competition had to be conditioned in – we aren’t born with it. It’s something we learn through our family structures and in school, especially in sports for example, where winning is emphasized, and you’re separated into ‘teams’ instead of everyone being on the same ‘team’ and working together.

Some will argue that competition builds character, and it sure does – the question is, just what kind of character does competition create? The kind that has justified and accepted turning against one’s fellow man and seeking to ‘win’ no matter if it means someone else loses. And that is the very basis of our current economic system and our relationship toward/with it, in which we’ve accepted that only a few can ‘win’, while most everyone else has to ‘lose’, and never considering the option that everyone can win, and that if you winning means someone else losing, that is not really ‘winning’. The real way to win is to have a world where we’re actually supported to live in the best quality, and none are denied access to what we need here to live and thrive, that none are allowed to suffer for no good reason in order to make profits.

And it’s actually thought that using ‘incentive’ actually ‘increases productivity’, and you’ll have things like ‘quotas’ to meet at work, where what happens is this actually limits growth and productivity, because once you’ve met the quota, there’s no motivation then to go on any further, as your movement was dependent on that incentive. And where in the case of meeting a quota, the reward is usually actually the ‘avoidance of some form of punishment’, so your goal becomes totally removed from the actual task/job you’re doing. And that begs the question, why does what you’re doing require incentive to get you to do it? Is it not something you would do otherwise? So that really calls in to question the nature of what it is that we require incentive to do, and whether it is really the kind of jobs that are of benefit to ourselves and each other, and all of life here, or whether it’s jobs that only exist for the making of profits, without concern/regard for life?

See, we wouldn’t just naturally abuse ourselves and our home the earth and nature, but we had to be incentivized to do so, so that we won’t question what’s really being done and what are the actual consequences and outflows we’re creating, and why it is that we’re doing it, because we’ve been given a reason, it’s for a reward, which for many the ‘reward’ is literally one’s survival, and there is obviously no freedom in that. So it’s slavery, we’ve enslaved ourselves to/within this capitalist system where we must work within what’s available to us just to be able to survive, and thus there is really no free will in this reality, no ‘free choice’. Because not everyone can become, say, president of a country or a business. I mean, it’s obvious no starving child is ever going to be a wealthy business owner. And that even the majority of those in elite countries who are surviving in relative comfort, and living paycheck to paycheck, are not going to become world leaders or big-time CEO’s.

Obviously a system based on competition is not working, with most of the population living undignified lives, lacking even the most basic of needs, when there is plenty for all to live the best quality life. It’s as simple as no longer accepting a system that is based on us competing against one another, and instead one where the starting point principle is to work together, as the world we can create through cooperation is one in which no one starves. Where no one suffers from lack of clean drinking water, effective education, proper housing, or effective healthcare. I mean it really makes you wonder why haven’t we done this already and established an Equal Money System, so that we can give ourselves the best life possible, and All of us, not just a few with the most money in a system that doesn’t give enough to all, through which we’re allowing people, children to starve every day, when it can be prevented. Time to give ourselves the life we’ve always wished for – join us today at http://equalmoney.org.

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• 209. Successful Living = Capitalist Brainwash

Equal Money System = Time for What Really Matters

Last year I participated as a volunteer in a campaign for a local politician. I had never done anything like this before, and it was quite fascinating to get a ‘inside’ look at how a political campaign operate. Some of the work I did was ‘canvasing’ which I never actually knew it was called that until then, and in case you don’t know either, it is the ‘going door-to-door’ part of the typical campaign process, wherein you knock on people’s doors, poll them about who they plan to vote for, discuss the candidate you are representing, and hand out fliers.

This was a fascinating point to push- as I literally found myself sitting in my car in neighborhood I’d never been in, holding a clipboard with sheets of names and houses of those who I was to visit and the questions to ask and record their answers, the last time I’d gone door-to-door was when I was probably about 9 or 10 years old selling Girl Scout cookies. I had doubts and fears coming up, that I didn’t know what I was doing, that I was going to fail miserably, afraid to actually knock on people’s doors and then possibly have them answer, and then! have to talk to them.. But I was not going to accept or validate these points. I knew it didn’t ‘matter’ if I did this or not, but yet, it did matter from the perspective of pushing myself through the resistance, to ‘prove’ to myself that I could do it, that the fears and doubts are just bullshit trying to limit me.

I also faced points of self judgment, wherein I’d defined this activity as ‘stupid’ or that’s not quite it, what’s a better way to put it, hmm, I’m not sure, but like ‘something I wouldn’t do” because it is “rude”? no, not quite.. but like a “why would you or who would want to do that”? “Who would want to be that involved in politics because that is not something that someone like me would be into, or that any normal human would care about”- Lol, what a bunch of B.S. All programming from my life’s experiences, environment, etc. “Political Socialization” like I talked about in a recent vlog.

I remember one house I stopped at, in a neighborhood that was obviously not at all wealthy, and the lady whom I was to speak to was on her way out and she didn’t have time to speak me, (it didn’t seem like she was much interested to either), but looking at that situation, I see that it’s kind of ironic, in a very unfortunate way, that those who are not much benefiting from the system, are often too busy to get involved in it, and thus be able to affect change that WOULD benefit them. So many people are really stuck in this catch-22 situation. Quite a fuck-up. Because in our current system, it’s a competition to get the laws to be designed to favor you in spite of others, doing what you can to keep those ‘others’ from being able to do anything about it. Quite Sadistic, Dis-eased behavior.

I have seen this play out in so many ways, this point where one does not have the time to do things effectively or that is supportive for oneself, and to work toward actually Changing the System so that they are Not too Busy to deal with what Matters. I have been in that same boat, I speak from experience, and it’s quite fucked up, and thus I will do what I can, since now I find myself not stuck in that ‘catch-22’ situation, and I AM actually able to do something. It’s up to us that CAN, because obviously, those that Can’t ain’t gonna do it. When I apply the Equality Equation here, and consider that I did not want to be stuck in that shitty situation where I am unable to do anything to better my life- then No One would want that, thus the solution is to Do what it takes, so that that kind of situation No Longer Exist, Anywhere, Ever Again. Thus we stand up and change this system to one that is Supportive- Equal Money System– and give ourselves the Time for what Really Matters.