On competitiveness and collaboration

Jaye Little is an AHRC funded PhD student in Religious Studies at Lancaster University. In her guest post today, she talks about the often unspoken about issue of competitiveness within the academic setting, and offers her (much-needed) opinion about how we should avoid being too competitive and focus on being more collaborative with each other. Follow Jaye on Twitter at: @JamieLouiseL

I have never really taken a break from academia. I came straight through from A level to an undergraduate degree, and then on to a Masters, and now on to a PhD, with no real breaks. However, this post isn't about taking a break, or a lack thereof, but rather about the number one thing I have noticed that can sabotage a student; too much emphasis on competitiveness. Don't get me wrong, it's good, and even necessary, to have ambition and strive to achieve your goals, but being overly competitive is another thing entirely, and something that I myself have suffered from on more than one occasion.

A little bit of competitiveness can be good. It can be an excellent motivator, it can help you hit deadlines and refine funding proposals, prepare for interviews and network until your face is blue. Despite this, I feel that after a certain point it can become a hindrance. Too much competitiveness can make us focus on the wrong thing – if all we want to do is beat another person, or be the best in our cohort for no reason other than to say we are the best, then are we really focusing on our work and our passion for the subject? Similarly, an over reliance on competitiveness can make us self-conscious and fill us with self-doubt, making us compare ourselves to others in an unfavourable way. That constant comparing becomes like a blindfold, and we end up spending too much time thinking about other people and not enough time on ourselves and our own work. Even if we were in competition with someone else, there is no sense in comparing ourselves, as we will always warp the situation in our minds, find reasons that another person is better, and dissuade ourselves from even trying in the first place.

"The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." – Steven Furtick

Despite its motivating factors, a reliance on competitiveness sometimes makes us feel useless. In so many areas of academia, the odds are stacked against us from the start, especially when it comes to funding. Hundreds, if not thousands of people will apply for the same funding, and only a few will get it. Does this mean that the 99% of applicants who didn't get the funding weren't good enough? Or rather, does it reflect the fact that our current education system is structured in such a way that excellent applicants have to fight each other for a tiny amount of funding, because of a lack of government funding, a lack of faith in academia and especially a lack of faith in the Arts, our changing position in the global education system and so on. If you do not receive funding, it in no way means that you have 'failed,' or 'weren't good enough.' Similarly, if you lose out on a job to someone else, it doesn't mean you weren't a fantastic applicant, but rather it can often mean that academia (much like many other industries) is structured so that there are a minimum number of jobs for a huge number of applicants. So you shake it off and you try again. You have faith that you are good enough.

In situations like these, it's time to put away the competitiveness and focus on yourself. In my experience, there will always be someone who you think is 'better' than you, someone whose work ethic you admire, or someone you would quite like to emulate. What is important to realise is that, odds are, the person is thinking the exact same thing about someone else, or even about you! Over-competitiveness and envy can be dangerous things, and things that I think we should really work hard to avoid. When we focus too much on other people, our own work suffers, our own mental health suffers, and we lose sight of why we wanted to be in academia in the first place.

“A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it, it just blooms.” – Sensei Ogui, Zen Shin

So, instead of competitiveness, a student should focus on their own goals and ambitions, and not let themselves be dissuaded by others. However, in my opinion, that does not go quite far enough. In fact, I think that in this often hostile environment of academia, students should be open to working together and making the creation of new knowledge a more collaborative process, and I'd like to talk very briefly about this.

There's something to be said for seeing the PhD as a collaborative process, not just between the student and their supervisor or supervisors, and not just between the student and the wider knowledge base, but between the student and their fellow PhD candidates, and academia as a whole. In a late-Capitalist world, it can be tempting to guard and hoard your ideas, and never let anyone else see them – but this isn't helpful, and it certainly isn't healthy. If we are truly passionate about our work then we should want to share it with the world, work with others who are interested in the same thing and forge new friendships and create new projects together. Unfortunately, for many, academia can seem like a Hobbesian trap, and in some cases it can be. However, if we are going to change that, then we need to work together and work towards a kinder, more creative and collaborative academia, in which knowledge is shared and in which we all work towards the goal of furthering knowledge in our chosen subject.

Secondly, I think that if we work together as students and as academics, then we can create a network of mutual support that can prove invaluable in the academic environment. Having someone to help you, and someone that you can in turn help, can be such a powerful tool in a place that can often be so isolating. Creating these networks should be something that we strive towards, as it can mean that instead of sitting in your office or your room on your own, you can go and share knowledge with others, share support with others, and get away from the number one enemy in academic – your own self doubt. Enjoy being in an environment that you have obviously worked so hard to become a part of, and learn to seek out the help of others when you need it, and opportunities to help others when you feel you can help. In that way, academia becomes less like a Colosseum full of gladiators, and more like... well, a nice work environment.

“Comparison is the death of joy.” ― Mark Twain

So, by all means, be a little bit competitive. Be ambitious, and be bold, and go out and get what you want. But don't let that ambition and that boldness sour into something that breeds insecurity and self-doubt. The most important thing we can cultivate as academics is confidence in our own abilities. With that confidence comes passion, and a desire to share your passions with others. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I've sounded a little bit motivational-speaker here, but it's something that I'm really passionate about. The worst thing we can do is lose perspective and allow too much competitiveness to blind us. The best thing we can do is have faith in ourselves and in our ability to work hard and succeed.