‘Why Resistance Detests Groups’ – Sean D’Souza’s Article

They start out on a project, all excited about what’s about to
unfold. Then, for some reason or the other, they lose their way.
And that’s when resistance gangs up on the loner big time. It’s not
much of a fight.

The loner is already exhausted. One tiny tap on the head from
resistance, and the loner falls into a heap on the floor. But this
miserably one-sided bout could be avoided with the understanding of
group work.

In Africa there’s a saying:

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with
a group. And resistance detests groups. And there are several
reasons why a group helps you get a project done with far more
efficiency and a lower failure rate:

So how do groups help?

1) Release of Pressure
2) Exponential Learning
3) Support

1) Release of Pressure

The toughest part of a project is dealing with the pressure. And a
release of that pressure is needed to give you a breather.  When
you rant and rave alone, it’s kinda depressing. When you’re
suffering alone, you think it’s something to do with your talent,
or your genes, or that you’re a freakin’ loser (yes, everyone feels
super-lousy often enough).

And having someone to just listen to your rant is amazing therapy.
You rant, you’ve been heard and now it’s time to get back to work,
because you have a ton of mistakes to make, and learning to look
forward to.

2) Exponential learning

Mistake making is frowned in our society. We love to get things
right the first time. And yet all of us know that it’s impossible
to learn without making a ton of mistakes on any project, no matter
how familiar we are with the project. The problem is that
mistake-making, instructive as it is, is also terribly depressing.

When you’re going round in concentric circles, your exhaustion
builds up rapidly. However when you’re in a group, you learn from
someone else’s mistakes, thus getting a bit of respite from the
exhaustion factor.

When a group shares its learning and mistakes, everyone learns and
everyone gets a little samba in their steps because you’re not just
learning, but it’s exponential learning. You’re learning from
four-five mistakes every day, and guess what? Most of those
mistakes aren’t yours.

3) The third factor is just one of support

While resistance can take on a loner, it’s a lot harder to take on
a group. If someone falls, there’s usually someone to pick you up.
If someone is struggling, there’s someone to help. If someone has
questions, there are answers that help you move along.

Working by yourself, you not only miss the ongoing support, but the
struggle wears you out. And inevitably you give up.

Now this kind of group support doesn’t necessarily work for all
kinds of projects

Sometimes the project is just to clean your desk. You could do with
ranting and group support, but it’s an overkill. Besides it
probably takes under an hour to get even the messiest desk tidy.

But if this seemingly mundane desk has to go on over a longer
period of say, six to eight months, then you definitely need the
power of the group.

In fact at Psychotactics, groups form a critical part of the
project experience

If we take just the Article Writing Course for instance, the three
months of learning and implementation are physically exhausting. If
you were to try and replicate the same pace by yourself, you’d give
up in a week or less.

But with a group, 75-80% make it to the finish line. When you
consider the sheer intensity of the Article Writing Course, you
should have the figures the other way around (namely 75% should
fail to make it to the end). And yet it’s the group that helps you
through.

But how do you work with projects where the group doesn’t have a
common goal?

Admittedly it’s harder to pull off a project where everyone is
headed in different directions. When the African saying suggested
you go a lot further with a group, they were indeed suggesting the
group had a common goal.

And if everyone in the group isn’t headed towards the same
deadline, or using similar tools etc., then they have nothing in
common. Then it’s relatively easier for the group to be
counterproductive, as no one is learning from group-mistakes, and
everyone has their own agenda.

It’s important for the group to set out a common agenda and at
least have some common guidelines. So even if you have ten
different writers, writing ten different types of books, they
should ‘meet’ online every day and post their learning for the day,
as well as a minimum of 800 words.

If they’re a group working on a gardening project, there needs to
be the shared learning, the shared support moments, and shared
implementation.

But don’t you need the right group for things to work?

Yes, having the right group is important. But how do you choose the
right group? Groups need to be chosen primarily on the basis of
attitude. Which is why for instance, at Psychotactics, we call our
courses the World’s Toughest Courses. This weeds out the
excuse-makers and ensures that you get the cream of the attitude
crop.

And just as you get a great group, you can also get a lousy group.
Then whining, whingeing and depression will be constant, and
progress will be impossible. So just having a group isn’t enough.

You need to put in some filters to ensure that at least 75% (or
more) of your group will make it to the finish line. And it’s a bit
of work putting a group together, but hey it’s a lot less work than
starting endless projects only to see them go up in flames.

Resistance likes fires

All this namby-pamby, touchy-feely stuff makes resistance look
really bad. If prefers the loner. And most projects are done by
loners. And resistance is happy. Now it can wield it’s little
finger and push you over.

And resistance laughs and walks away contentedly.