cesimpson

I’ve been feeling bored and a little run down recently, so I tried something new yesterday morning.

I remember reading something like this several months ago. I couldn’t remember the specifics, so I just kinda filled in the details as I went.

Start with a 45# bar. Clean it, then press it overhead 5x. Add 10#, repeat. Continue with that cycle until you can’t press the weight 3x. For me that came at 105#.

Add 10# and Clean and Push Press 5x (Clean every rep). Again, repeat. Continue until you can’t Clean and Push Press the bar 3x. For me, 135# was the last set I got.

Add 20# and Zercher Squat 5x. I go all the way to the ground each time. Add 20#, repeat. I think you understand the cycle now, right? I finally got out of the Zerchers at 195#.

Finally, add 20# and Deadlift. Repeat until you can’t Deadlift 3x.

At the beginning, at the end, and before I started each new lift, I did 5x pull-ups.

I wouldn’t want to do that everyday, but it was a new challenge to embrace.

Good to Great

I mentioned a posts back that I had started reading Good to Great, by Jim Collins.

I’m finished.

The book is aimed primarily at business owners and leaders. It strives to answer the question, “Why do some good companies stay good, and some become great?”

Collins breaks down the book into 6 key findings - each important to “mak[ing] the leap” to greatness. The first is about the importance of a good leader, and addresses the qualities a good leader should have.

Good leadership is certainly important, but it is not what I want to write about today. Instead, I’d like to write about the second, which concerns “getting the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus.”

That is - getting the right teammates.

In any endeavor, business, sports, whatever, being on a team of people who want to win is of supreme importance. Without the internally motivated desire to win, you won’t.

I’ve been on several teams and groups, over many years, of people who want to win, and in each of those cases we were remarkably successful. I’ve also been teams and groups of people who had no strong desire to win. Oh, it would be nice…but if I get my paycheck in Friday, I’ll be OK. Or, well, maybe next year.

In each of those cases, we failed miserably.

And it wasn’t about talent. Talent can take you only so far. Teams of very talented people, who don’t necessarily care about winning, can be pummeled. Furthermore, a team of regular Joes, self-motivated and eager to win, can be a powerful adversary.

Picking the right teammates, so says Collins, and so says me, is one of the most important steps in building greatness.

It doesn’t matter what you’re doing. First make good who decisions, then worry about the what.