To Go Far, Go Together
Achieve more by enlisting a team
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Working toward goals is a crowdsourced game. While the goal-setter is the one doing much of the work, it’s misleading to approach the journey as a team of one. More likely, it’s going to take an army.
(No, not that army. I’m not even sure what that campaign was meant to achieve.)
Taking an example from an ancient story Venus, Psyche’s mother-in-law, was furious and ruthless when she found Cupid married a mortal. Among other trials, Psyche was given four impossible tasks to complete. At stake, being reunited with her husband and lover. If not for ants, reeds, an eagle and a speaking tower (that’s right, a tower that talked), Psyche couldn’t have been successful; she wouldn’t have survived. So, now that we see accepting help from others is a long-established norm, let’s get into today.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
If you’re only planning a sprint to the top of an Adirondack peak, schedule a cool day, start early and go. But if you’re planning to trek the Appalachian trail, you’re going to need a plan, possibly guides or map makers, and waystations where provisions are strategically dropped. You may also need medical staff. As the traditional proverb goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
On your guest to achieve any goal, you’ll likely get to the desired result and beyond if you recognize and enlist aid from others. Harada knew his track students would need their friends, teachers, family members, coach and others cheering and mentoring them on, paving the way to championships. Then he took that exercise a step further. In addition to listing the success team members, each student then identified the type of support each would bring. Parents might bring love and encouragement, a coach would bring technique and feedback, and so on. The lists became part of the long-term goal sheet.
Who are your ants and eagles?
As you draw up your plan to achieve your goal — to get sober and stay there…
