Every since I could start, I have been playing team sports. I love to compete and hate to lose. I learned from a young age what it meant to win as a TEAM and to lose as a TEAM. "You're only as strong as your weakest link." Little did I know that this would ring true outside the field/court.
To become "one", a team must train together, learn strategy together, make mistakes together, and practice together. A team gets rewarded together and punished as a whole.
To be successful in most situations, you must know how to work with other people - whether in the workplace, in a relationship, or on an actual team roster. A team can be as small as two and countlessly large. The branches of our fine military exemplify what can be accomplished when all cylinders are running at full speed in perfect unison. We have our freedom. I wouldn't be able to blog without it.
Tough Mudder is a race - a long, painful race that requires teamwork - which A. you must sign a death waiver to participate, and 2. has this as part of their pledge, "...I put teamwork and camaraderie before my race time....I help my fellow mudders complete the course..."A TM never leaves a man/woman behind. I will say with pride that the Iron Mudders held true to that pledge. There was no 'I' in our team...there was no 'me' in our team.
That race changed me. All I was concerned about was getting our whole team across the finish line together - and we all (5 of us) had the very same concern. Not one person thought of finishing without the team. There was a job to be done and it required all members to be fully onboard to complete the challenge.
It is much easier to get to the goal when everyone is on the same page. Had someone bowed out early, it would have been detrimental to the morale and strategy of the group - in the race, at the game, or in the office. "There is no quit in here."
Take that philosophy into your everyday life. And if you find that you have an 'I' in the 'A-hole'...
C.
To become "one", a team must train together, learn strategy together, make mistakes together, and practice together. A team gets rewarded together and punished as a whole.
To be successful in most situations, you must know how to work with other people - whether in the workplace, in a relationship, or on an actual team roster. A team can be as small as two and countlessly large. The branches of our fine military exemplify what can be accomplished when all cylinders are running at full speed in perfect unison. We have our freedom. I wouldn't be able to blog without it.
Tough Mudder is a race - a long, painful race that requires teamwork - which A. you must sign a death waiver to participate, and 2. has this as part of their pledge, "...I put teamwork and camaraderie before my race time....I help my fellow mudders complete the course..."A TM never leaves a man/woman behind. I will say with pride that the Iron Mudders held true to that pledge. There was no 'I' in our team...there was no 'me' in our team.
That race changed me. All I was concerned about was getting our whole team across the finish line together - and we all (5 of us) had the very same concern. Not one person thought of finishing without the team. There was a job to be done and it required all members to be fully onboard to complete the challenge.
It is much easier to get to the goal when everyone is on the same page. Had someone bowed out early, it would have been detrimental to the morale and strategy of the group - in the race, at the game, or in the office. "There is no quit in here."
Take that philosophy into your everyday life. And if you find that you have an 'I' in the 'A-hole'...
C.
Granted, with the option to "quit" involving a walk down the mountain, didn't seem worth it! :0)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the medics have transportation...a quitter could just fake an injury to get back for ice cream. ;)
ReplyDelete