Many have hit on this before, and most recently Money Grubbing Lawyer wrote a nice piece on it titled The Key to Success = Neil Young (or, Why You Need a Rival) .
MGL and I agree on the fundamental premise, specifically that a little competition can help spur one to ever higher levels of achievement. However we differ in one significant aspect – personal inclination. MGL states:
“This is tough for me because I’m a pretty non-competitive person in most respects. Even when it comes to sports, I’m usually the most laid back guy on the team, just looking to have fun and not make a fool of myself.”
By contrast, I am a very competitive person. Ask my wife. She’s about the most non-competitive person I know. I don’t know how she puts up with me. MGL’s post is about competing with a rival to push you to achieve. I say, you don’t always need a Neil Young. I offer as evidence of this assertion a recent event in my personal life….
My wife and I welcomed the birth of our 3rd child last week and while she is home recovering from c-section, I am playing preschool taxi. I don’t mind. For one thing, I love my kids. Really. For another, we got a new minivan in preparation for this new bundle of joy and the roughly 60 lbs of car seat and baby paraphernalia that accompanies said bundle, and it’s fun to drive the new car.
It’s this new van that is at the heart of this post. It’s a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan. Our last car was a 1999 Subaru Outback. There have been a lot of new bells and whistles added to cars over the past decade. I discovered one of these last week – the digital fuel economy reading.
I’m not much into hyper-miling minivans, especially since the price of gas dropped in half. But the competitive nature in me came out when I realized I should be able to do better than the 18.7 mpg that was currently on the readout. I knew I could do better if I tried.
Over the next week, I adjusted my driving style. I coasted up to hills, and touched the gas on the downside – making the most of gravity and momentum. I tried to stay as close to 55 mph as traffic and roadway would allow. In the end, over 4 days of the nearly 50 mile round trip each day over back roads, I increased the fuel economy to 19.3 mpg.
Who knows how accurate this fuel economy technology is? Who cares? The point is that I pushed myself to better fuel economy and helped the environment (and my bank account) a little in the process. So what if it was for the wrong reason? 
Biofeedback for cars. I love it. Max out the tire pressure, add a spoiler, and see if you can’t bump it up to an even 20 mpg.
Hmmm.. a spolier on a minivan…now that would be distinguished! LOL!