“Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”—Mattie Stepanek
Teamwork. No success comes in isolation. Even the best athletes need training partners and the support of a team. Teamwork is essential, not only in sports, but also in our work and in our relationships—especially in our relationships. Great things happen when we work together.
While I never had the skill or the opportunity to wrestle for Coach Gable at Iowa (or any collegiate coach), I did have the good fortune to wrestle with some outstanding teammates in high school. I was blessed to be on some of the winningest squads in the school’s history. These were teams that were able to put up the points needed to win dual meets. While several of my teammates went to the individual Pennsylvania state wrestling championships, none every came home with a first-place medal. Nonetheless, we won as a team. Individually, we ranged from average to quite good. Together, however, we were exceptional.
We are made stronger and better by the people around us—assuming there is an atmosphere of teamwork. Surround yourself with the people who are going to make you better—who will have high expectations and hold you accountable. Teammates will push you and encourage you.
Nick Saban, a coach who knows a thing or two about producing winning teams, tells us that when we “have the ability to affect other people and be somebody that somebody wants to emulate, care enough to help somebody else for their benefit, that’s what makes you a good teammate, and that’s what everybody’s looking for.” Being a teammate means we want to see everyone succeed. Like the cliché: “there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’.”
“Gable trained” means team-centered. Team work in the essence of Spiritual well-centeredness. Find your “team”. I am repeating myself, but surround yourself with the people who are going to make you better (and who you can make better). Find mentors. Be a mentor. Form a mastermind group. Schedule time with the important people in your life and make that time matter. Work together with people—even those with whom you find difficult. The sense of “team” can sometimes bring the most unlikely people together.
Teamwork does not come from working for a cause. It comes from working toward a joint cause.
Be your best today (together); be better tomorrow!
Carpe momento!
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”—Vince Lombardi