5 . Entering competitions can be fun, and it’s a good way to hone（磨炼）your skills. While you can’t expect to win every time, you can increase your chances of winning with the right strategy and preparation. These are general tips that can be applied to your competition of choice.

Research and choose the right competition.     1     Choose a competition at which you’ll excel, and make sure it’s far enough in the future that you have plenty of time to train effectively. Do some research into the judges and organizers as well to see what they look for in a winning competitor.

Don’t psych yourself out. Plenty of people get scared off by a competition’s requirements and don’t enter in the first place.     2     Since you’ve done your research, you can be confident in your choice to compete and your potential to win. So, stand strong even when you have your doubts and when others may be dropping out.

Learn your competition. Remember that you’re not competing with everyone in the competition. There may be many applicants and candidates, but there will only be a few contenders（竞争者）and finalists.     3    

Make a checklist. Everyone has different productivity styles. If it helps, consider making a training checklist.     4     A checklist is what weightlifters do, for example, to keep track of the exercises they’ve done, the number of reps, and the weight. With a written checklist, you also have one less thing to think and worry about.

    5     Leave sticky notes on your mirror or car steering wheel. Write down anything motivational to keep you inspired. It doesn’t have to be specific. It can simply be, “You OWN the track today!” or “35.5 IS my time!”

6 . Guangdong Dongpo Paper, a paper company in Guangdong Province, China, recently made international headlines for replacing its traditional performance-based employee bonus scheme with another one. To promote a healthy lifestyle among its 100 employees, management decided to reward them based on how much they exercise. For example, an employee will be eligible for a full monthly bonus if they run 50km a month. They will get 60 percent of the bonus for running 40km, and 30 percent for 30km. Running enthusiasts may stand to get up to an 30% bonus if they can prove they ran over 100km in a single month.

“My business can only endure if my employees are healthy,” said Dongpo Paper boss, Lin Zhiyong, adding that he spent the last three years encouraging his employees to enjoy sports and fitness.

The distance run by every employee is tracked by an app on their phones, which also takes into account activities like mountain hiking and speed walking, which can account for 60 and 30 percent respectively of the total exercise required. The program has proven a great success, and Lin Zhiyong himself somewhat of an exercise enthusiast, claims that all employees qualify to get the full bonus.

According to Chinese media, Dongpo Paper employees couldn’t be happier with the new bonus structure, claiming that the company now allows them to “kill two birds with one stone” as they “can get both health and money.” But while the new policy has been getting generally positive feedback online, some netizens it can lead to discrimination.

“The intention of the company’s policy is good but it should take into consideration any existing health issues among its employees,” one person commented online, asking what the policy is for employees who are at risk of heart attacks or are otherwise unable to meet the bonus requirements.

Others accused Guangdong Dongpo Paper of putting its employees’ health at risk by setting very high bonus thresholds for them. Some netizens believe that employees could ruin their knees by chasing these goals.