Yeah, let me clarify this. Gunning has nothing to do with competition, at least for me. It's all about absolutely maximizing my performance and pursuing what I want with abandon. Just absolutely, giving it everything you've got.
Some people are driven by competition, and that's okay as well. Whatever helps you to be the best you can be. Just don't lose yourself in it, I would say.
Being a "gunner" or "gunning people down" is about taking out "the competition" by feeding them misinformation or intentionally making them look bad. These are the people most hate. They usually work very hard too. It can make these terms confusing, especially when everyone is using "gunner" to refer to both the people that work hard and the people that sabotage. You can gun without being a gunner.
You hear the term so often because people like to use it to talk down on others that work harder than them. It's their insecurity talking. It's ego defense, as
@Ho0v-man eloquently put it.
For example, the average med student nowadays would 100% call me a gunner because I started Zanki from day 1 of M1. Totally ridiculous. It's the most logical thing to do and I actually end up working less hard (in a way) because I'm spreading out the workload over the entirety of preclinicals instead of waiting until the second half of M2 to start studying for step. It takes dedication and discipline to keep doing it day in and day out, though. Am I now a gunner because you feel bad about not doing what I'm doing? No. Address your insecurity and focus on yourself.
