Build a Team


Owning your goals, obligations, and well-being is important. Teaching your children the same… critical. However, there is a key point that often needs to be made.

You can’t do it all by yourself…

Life simply doesn’t work that way. Real maturity is about recognizing your strengths and weaknesses; it’s about knowing what you can do and where you need help. And sometimes, it’s even about knowing what’s worth your time and what is not.

When it comes to well-being, most (though not all) recognize that you need a doctor, a dentist, an optometrist. Maybe you need a mental health counselor or a spiritual advisor, maybe guidance at the gym, maybe lessons in healthy cooking. You need others with skills, knowledge, and insight to help you look after your health and well-being.

How about finances? We work hard to get through college, often taking on loads of debt, so that we can then work hard to land a good job or build a business. And then… we work hard! All of this in the pursuit of the money that we hope will enable our grand dreams. Yet most of us have no training in the management of our daily finances, much less the long-term planning that will get us to and see us through retirement. Would you really take the risk of going it alone?

These examples cover the basics of health and money, but the same rules apply to anything you are working to achieve. You start with your ideas and talents, and if you bring along a little humility and wisdom, you can then assemble those capable of helping you fill in the gaps. In your pursuit of most any goal, there is probably something you don’t know well enough to be the best person to do it. Our lives are multi-faceted and often harried. We all need help, in ways big and small.

This idea applies at every stage of life. If a college student, there are tutors, advisors, and professors glad to help engaged learners. If early career, there are probably leaders or co-workers willing to help you navigate choppy career waters. Always dreamed of painting, writing, playing music, learning a sport? So, get lessons or find others with the same interest. Own a home? Probably need a few pros to help out.

And one of the most important and often overlooked team members… a mentor. We could all benefit from wise mentors. Those that have learned hard lessons, those that can hold us to account, those that have perspective that we do not, those that make us want to be better. If fortunate enough to have a mentor, be grateful. If not, find one. And be one.

This life is not a solo endeavor, it’s more of a contact sport. You’ll need help. You’ll need guidance. Build a team that can help you win.

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