Well, obviously there's a difference between healthy and unhealthy levels of competitiveness.
For my part, I always wanted to have the best grades, but I didn't worry too much about it if I didn't. I never once entertained the idea of becoming class valedictorian, because I knew that accomplishing that would involve a whole lot more effort on homework than I was willing to give, because at the top levels of a large high school (graduating class ~1000), that's what it would take to be the best. If someone else wanted to do homework four hours a night, let them. I'd take a C on my Trig/Pre-calc homework notebook and an overall markdown to a B, thanks. I had better things to do with that time.
Instead, I graduated somewhere in the back half of the top 50, with people both above and below me who'd given themselves physical or psychological issues to get there.
