Individual brilliance or team performance?
In yesterday’s TCS London Marathon, Peres Jepchirchir broke the women-only world record to finish in a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, 16 seconds.
Was this a feat of individual brilliance, or the culmination of an exceptional team performance?
At first glance, it’s easy to put it down to individual performance, and clearly exceptional talent plays a huge part. But, while I don’t know anything about the team behind Peres, I would bet my house that she has a carefully-constructed team to support her, working on everything from coaching to nutrition and psychology – and it’s likely the combined efforts of her team that ensure she is able to perform at her best on race day.
Whether you’re a marathon winner or one of the thousands of ‘fun’ runners who finish the race, some kind of team effort will probably have played a part. Perhaps not in the formal sense of the word team, as we would see with the professionals, but most runners will have some kind of support network – even if it’s just family and friends cheering them on, maybe providing ‘cover’ during long training runs, or people to help raise sponsorship funds.
Nobody achieves anything significant alone. So don’t even try. Even once the starting gun had sounded and the race was underway yesterday, it wasn’t a solo effort. Four women, competing against each other for the win, also ended up working together to result in them all finishing faster than the previous race record-holder. So even your biggest competitors can help you achieve your goals.
Whatever you want to achieve, remember it’s ok to ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness, but necessary to give ourselves the best possible chance of success. Surround yourself with people who can give expert support and guidance, moral, emotional, and practical support, and you’re much more likely to end up where you want to be, than if you try to go it alone.
Teamwork makes the dream work, whatever your dream may be.
#teamwork #supportnetwork #goals
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8moAll the best Ram. Having ran it last year it’s an amazing experience. Soak up the atmosphere and enjoy!