Being lost in competitive mode, perfecting the task at hand and because of that losing track of the higher level objectives or opportunities.
Examples
- I was buying a bike and really focused a lot of energy to buy the best bike in terms of quality vs price. To make a research I postponed decision to buy a bike and what mattered was to have a bike.
- The arms race of trees. Trees lose tremendous resources to grow very tall. They could achieve the same gain if they could coordinate they could be just a little bit taller than grasses or bushes in order to get all the light.
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Other names: Competitive overtraining, competition well