This morning I decided I needed to improve my gym routine. I’ve been struggling to motivate myself lately and don’t feel like I’ve always been getting the value I could from my workout sessions. So when I got to gym this morning and heard an announcement for the “Killer Abs” class, it immediately piqued my interest, as it’s something I haven’t done in a while.

It was quite a tough session, but I really enjoyed it. Firstly, I enjoyed it because it was a break from the routine I’ve been following, and secondly, because it was a group class. It struck me again this morning how powerful group classes and teamwork can be. When there are others in a class, you’re more inclined to push yourself a bit. You feel like you’re a part of something bigger and that you need to put in the effort, not just for yourself, but because there are others also pushing themselves. Granted, not everyone in the class really pushes themselves all the time, but in an energetic and motivated group you can really feed off the energy of the others. There’s also a bit of healthy competition going on, egging you on to push yourself to try your best to finish that last rep of that last set, even though you’re doubled up in pain.

This made me think about how often in the workplace we close ourselves off from interacting with others and often try to go it alone, believing for whatever reason that it’s the best way to go. But generally, we perform better in teams, and the team becomes more than the sum of its parts.  This is what makes agile software delivery so powerful, as well as being extremely satisfying. Challenging too, but if it wasn’t, life would be boring, wouldn’t it?