I did it and the results simply amazed me. I held the money up to the audience and said, “Now, I want to digress for a moment and have an auction. I will give this $100 bill to the highest bidder. We’ll start at $50 and I don’t care if the highest bidder is at $55; he or she will get this authentic $100 bill.” Then, I began to imitate the sound of the typical auctioneers I’ve seen on TV.

In a nasal voice, with rapid-fire monotone, I bellowed: “Here we have a real $100 bill, going for $50! Who will give me 50? Yes; $50 to the lady on the left! Do I have a 55? Yes; $55 to the man on my right! Do I hear 60?”  On and on the auction went…

“$90 to the lady in grey! Do I have a 95? Yes; $95 in the front row! Do I have 100?” Just about now, I began to wonder whether or not my demonstration would work—would it all stop at $100? But when somebody bid $100, I kept asking… “Do I have a 105? Yes… Do I have a 110? Yes…” The momentum was building. My $100 was now selling for $195!

At this point, I wondered if the bidders thought this was a joke and were just playing for fun. So, I paused and reminded them that the bidding was real and the proceeds would be donated to the organizing body that sponsored the conference.  It made no difference; the momentum continued at an increasingly frenzied pace. “$210 to the man in the corner!  Do I have 215?”

“Going once…going twice…SOLD to the lady in blue for $300!” I walked over to where she was sitting, congratulated her and handed her the fresh, crisp $100 bill. In about five minutes, I had made a 200% profit on my money—the highest investment payout of my life, so far. We spent the next fifteen minutes analyzing this crazy phenomenon that just unfolded before our eyes.

I had been invited to do a keynote speech and a workshop at the bi-annual conference of an organization in a beautiful Caribbean island...not Jamaica, by the way. This session was on Leading a Winning Team—for department managers across the country—and I wanted to illustrate what it means to win. It became a dramatic example of what can go wrong in human lives and their organizations when competition gets out of hand and how easily that can happen.

We get so focused on winning sometimes that we forget the value of the prize. Yes; survival of the fittest is one of the laws of the jungle, but we should leave that to the animals of prey.  Too often, when we feel like we are losing, this survival instinct kicks in and we compete more fiercely to win. But when winning becomes more valuable than the prize, our lives can spiral downward in a frenzied negative cycle, and even when we win, we lose.

We are trained to be competitive as many of our institutions are organized based on the zero sum game—implying that when one wins, another loses and vice versa. It says that the promotion you seek will not be yours if someone else gets it…that only one person can be Number One, so you must fight against the others for dominance…that there are limited resources and unless you struggle to win yours, you will be a loser…that opportunity knocks once, so grab yours now, or it may be gone forever. 

Clearly, competition is great in many scenarios. It can induce excellence in a capitalist system. When one company strives to be Number One in quality, service or dependability, customers can benefit and the company may be rewarded with increased sales and profits. When the athlete competes to win a race, it can bring glory to her team, town and country. So, I’m not suggesting that competing to win is necessarily a bad thing. Instead, I propose that we ask the question: “Why am I competing?”

Let banks and restaurants compete for customers; let athletes strive for the gold, but for goodness sake, let us strive for a little wisdom. It can save us money and relationships and preserve our sanity.

You may argue that my auction was an aberration; that you are not irrational enough to pay more for a dollar bill than it’s worth. That may be so, but I have done it myself. For example, I remember getting into an argument with someone very close to me. I was right and I pursued the point until I won the argument…until “someone very close” couldn’t deny it. This produced two amazing outcomes. First, after a while, I couldn’t remember what caused us to begin arguing in the first place—I lost sight of the prize. Second, feelings were hurt for a long time on both sides—I lost because I won. Hasn’t something similar ever happened to you?

I invite you to play a different game…abundance instead of survival. It is a lie that opportunity knocks once. In my book, If Caterpillars Can Fly ~ So Can I, you’ll see that opportunity knocks repeatedly. You will learn how to step aside from the law of the jungle and to win by letting others win.

Back to my $100 bill…I salute the lady in blue for her unwitting help with this demonstration. The lesson is more for me than for her. This lesson, as with many of the uplifting messages I write, comes out of my own failures, errors and bad judgments and I strive to learn from them and overcome them.

What are you fighting for aggressively in your life? Stop for a moment and recheck its intrinsic value. Is it still worth the price? If so, fight on. I strongly believe in persistence and indefatigable tenacity, but I’ve learned that there is a time to give in and let the prize go. The law of abundance dictates that your opportunity will find you again with overflow and plenty when the time is right—if you learn to do the simple daily tasks that breed excellence. Then you can have your heart’s desires without aggression or excessive stress.

Take it from me…this attitude will give you altitude.

Alvin Day

PS: This was just one of four key parts to our workshop on Leading a Winning Team. Participants rated it very highly and recommended that others in their company participate. Do you know an organization that could benefit from a similar team building experience—and the simple daily tasks that breed excellence? If so, please write me at info@alvinday.com or call 561-432-5610. This could mean that one day soon, you and I are working directly together in your city!

PPS: I later forgave the winning bidder of her debt and took back my $100. But CAUTION: business and society—life—is not so forgiving.