An example of competing by undoing:

A group of teenagers may collectively have little likelihood of lifting themselves out of their deteriorating neighborhood.  But say one of them is plucky enough to begin talking about the possibility of going to college.  The others may disparage his chances, imply that he is naive, even begin lacing their conversation with references to "candy-assed college boys," all to derail his ambition—because if successful, the bold one’s efforts would tend to make the others feel small by comparison.

This form of competition by undoing occurs everywhere in life, but perhaps most often among people who are close to one another.  Its full destructive effect may be difficult to measure, but it is easy to intuit.  We need to get our awareness and our guard up for all forms of it.

We should recognize it, for example, when we see it on the road.  When a slow-moving car suddenly speeds up to prevent a faster-moving one from passing, this is a form of competing by preventing the other person from outdoing—which is ultimately the same thing as competing by undoing.   This is not only rude and unpleasant, but also dangerous, since it tends to keep the cars bunched more tightly together, with less room to maneuver in the event of an emergency.   The element of racing implicit in such an action may also be picked up on by the other driver, and the situation can escalate to either absurdly unsafe speeds or, in some  cases, gunfire.