“Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” Vince Lombardi
If you already haven’t done so, I suggest you pick up the book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. It’s an amazing book. I recommend both the book and audio tape. It goes deep into habits and the principles that govern them.
Today we’re going to talk a little about working with others. Sometimes people neglect using two heads or teaming up with someone to accomplish something. This happens largely due to, of course, fear. When we’re not confident, ego trips tend to happen. People begin to think “he’s not doing his part” or “he thinks he’s slick, I see what’s happening” and get side tracked and caught up in all sorts of nonsense. Of course, sometimes there are legit reasons to break off a partnership. This can happen effectively by simply agreeing to disagree and moving on. As humans, we create together, for each other. This can be from the UN cooperating to a husband and wife or business partner relationship. Einstein didn’t come up with everything himself and neither did Thomas Edison with his “inventions”. Before Einstein there was Issac Newton and others who Einstein took ideas from and expanded, as did Edison. People don’t just “invent” stuff suddenly out of thin air; they get ideas from somewhere. The reason people work together is because like the sayings go, two heads are really better than one and the more, the better.
Don’t get all excited yet. While it is great to work together or with a group, you have to know how. Being social, being able to function and perform with others requires confidence. This means being able to let small meaningless things go, asking questions instead of judging, being open minded, and showing everyone respect. These things sound very easy, but next time you’re out with your friends or you’re having a conversation about something, stop and think about it. Are you just waiting for your turn to speak or are you genuinely listening to what they have to say? Do you want them to only listen to you or are you interested in listening to them? See, already there’s a lot to think about. I won’t go into anymore details on that, but I will say one thing. Try to pay attention to your feelings when interacting with others. We all live in subjective worlds and hold that as reality and anytime something goes against that, we quickly dismiss it and get emotional.
Of course like any habit, it’s difficult to rid yourself of absorbed habits that come from insecurity, which most of us have anyway. I mean look at the society we live in. It’s easy to become insecure and feel like we’re lacking. When that happens, people become detached from society and think others are out to get them, they fall victim to wasteful habits and end up in a defensive slump. Of course, the best way to get out of this slump is to take initiative and put ourselves in uncomfortable situations to gain experience and confidence.
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