Reading Time: 3 minutesSupport Your Teammates Each Day This Week
Simple Instructions:
- Each day, comment on the reflections of at least three team members.
- You may offer support, congratulations, tips, advice, or anything you think will contribute to their experience.
- If you aren’t playing on a team, you can use the World Reflection feed or even find a team to join — there are lots of open, virtual teams!
Watch this video for an explanation of this Lifestyle Practice from Whole Life Challenge co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck.
Why Is This Practice Important?
It’s said that if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Doing things alone is often a convenient path — you get to move at your own pace, no one tells you what to do, and no one else’s messy problems can bring you down. You are the beginning and end of any decisions about how things go.
While going it alone can sometimes be nice, it has its limitations.
Over time, doing things alone can hinder your progress — and it’s definitely not as fun. There is no one to mention that you might need to slow down, to offer objective guidance on what to do, and to support you through the hard times. It’s easy to take that kind of stuff for granted, but without friendly outside eyes, you might never get a clear picture of what you’re stuck on — or even what you’re doing well.
Being a part of something where everyone is chasing the same goal can open a world of possibilities.
In giving support, you also receive it. In being a part of how others solve their problems, you can become inspired to conquer your own. In sharing in the success of others, you may find a renewed commitment to your own goals or a recognition of your own accomplishments.
Most importantly, by being part of a team, you’ll open the number of eyes and minds that are committed to your success in ways you might not have imagined.
For More on This Practice
One of the few national-level gymnastics competitors to also attend regular school full time, 2008 Olympic Silver Medal Gymnast Sam Peszek worked extremely hard to achieve her goals. She made the honor roll every quarter at UCLA while taking three NCAA Championships and seventeen All-American honors.
But Sam didn’t do it alone — she had coaches and teammates all along the way — and she experienced fears and failures, just like the rest of us.
To learn more about Sam’s amazing journey, listen to her podcast discussion with Andy.
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
