Today I came up with a strange comparison. Having a training partner in the gym and having a business partner in a company. I thought about it for a while and I came to the conclusion that in the end, it’s both the same.
First of all a few words about myself. I am actively doing sports – every day. I’m in the gym and when I’m not in the gym I’m running. The thing about my fitness activities is that I prefer doing them alone. Quite the contrary is true in my business world. I am working together with a business partner on an advertisement technology company. And I have the feeling that it’s a great advantage to start something with two very different characters.
Working in a Team or Working Alone
I think that the question whether you should work in a team or do all the work by yourself is all about your final goal. What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be in one year, 10 years, 25 years?
Workout Buddy or Train All Alone
I can confirm you 100% that working out with a partner is definitely more effective. They will push you to the limit with all your weights. Your training partner will add the last 5KG iron where you usually would have quitted already. You can share your advice and discuss how to improve. The result will be a way more effective muscle building in less time.
How do I know? I worked out with Michael when I was around 17-19 years old. A Siberian bear I’ll tell you. 100-kilogram benching was the norm. Every second evening we met in the gym and we worked out for at least 1,5 hours. It was a hard workout, well with a lot of small talk.
Small talk is exactly one thing which made our workout so lengthy. Usually, we worked out for 2 hours or even more. That’s a lot of time for toning exercises. One hour of an hard workout is probably healthier than a lengthy workout of 2,5 hours. And here is the point which many people will relate to who do all by themselves: Doing things alone is more flexible and sometimes more efficient. You can choose when and where you want to workout. And guess what, without a lot of small talk your workout will only last 1 hours instead of 2,5 hours, yeah.
But as we already learned you will never see the same results when you work alone. You simply don’t have someone who pushes you past the limit.
Applicable to the Business World, Relationships, and Co.?
My last thought was: isn’t this applicable 1-1 to the business world, and everything else?
I think it’s true for the business world. When two people meet and they want to start a company they have exactly the same advantages. First of all and in the best case, both partners have different strengths, skills, and experiences. If they join forces they already have a big advantage over single founders. Secondly, and I think this is the most important part if you found something with a partner you will always have someone who pushes you past the limit. Do you want to quit? “FUCK YOU”, your partner will say: “We will never quit!”. That is the competitive advantage over single founders.
Just have a look how many self-employed people are earning less than a minimum wage by running a 1-man web agency. Yes, they are flexible and 100% their own boss. If they want that then it’s fine. If not why not joining forces with a great business partner?
And it is not only about business and sports. Have a look at education: you can try to learn everything by yourself but if you join forces with a study partner I guess it will definitely be more fun. You can also walk through life as a single. Yes, once again you are completely flexible and 100% free. If you ask me I would always prefer sharing my life with someone instead of living it alone.
It seems that this rule is universal.
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