I'll tell you that this is, well, it's a team of one. Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today, I'm going to talk about teamwork, which is maybe not a subject that most only children would generally talk about. Teamwork is something that I've experienced over the course of my life, of course, and when I have, it's well. When it works, it works really well. Right Right now, I'm a member of a couple of teams, and I was thinking about this today and how especially one of them is a really effective team. Now, before I get into my main topic, I want to tell you a story. I think it's kind of a funny story. I'm not a spring chicken. I'm not an old person by any means. I don't think. Although, depending on who you talk to, I've heard people characterized in local news stories as elderly, and they haven't been much older than me, which is always a sobering thing to hear. I don't consider myself elderly yet, okay, but one of the teams of people that I work with.

We were getting ready to go on a go on a staff day to a local amusement park and I was talking one-on-one on the phone with one of the gals that I work with who's probably well, I mean, let's face it, she's probably half my age, and I asked her if she was going to go this past. It was one of the days this past week. I asked her if she was going to go and she said yes, and I said okay, I'll see you there. And she said, oh, are you going? And I said yeah, I'm going. And she said, oh, do you go on rides? Do you go on rides? Which was just well, it's pretty funny. I mean, it's kind of sad too, but I guess to some people that are in their 20s and 30s I must seem ancient and stiff and everything. But yes, I do go to amusement parks. Bill and I are annual pass holders and I mean I don't go on all the rides, maybe, but I do enjoy. Yes, I'm not dead yet. So anyway, I do go on rides and I actually enjoy them too, believe it or not. Okay, so I want to talk about teamwork Now.

Teams are sort of like collaborations are sort of like collaborations when you work in nonprofits. Collaborative projects are sometimes, I think, a dirty word, because collaborative projects means that you get together with other people in other nonprofits and you have to work things out. You have to come together to form a new project or a new program to serve clients, and oftentimes what I've observed is a lot of discussion, a lot of back and forth, and it seems like the time that it takes to work these things out. Well, maybe is it worth it, I don't know, but in today's world, a lot of funders want to fund collaborative projects. But teamwork is something different.

Teamwork is a group of people working towards an end. Teamwork is Well, it could be working on a short-term project or a long-term project, and I'll say that, as an only child, I do enjoy being a member of a team, believe it or not. I'm not sure that I always knew exactly how to do that, or maybe I didn't have the opportunity to be a member of a team, right, I mean, I think growing up in school, this is why you had to do your group projects, and I think we can all say that when we were assigned to group projects in school, there was always maybe one or two members of your group that were better at getting things done and there was always at least one member of the group that didn't really pull their weight right. But a good team is a team where the work is divided and accomplished equally. Maybe the members have different jobs they're not all the same jobs but they do the work equally. So I have a job now that's a part-time job that I am a member of a team and I'll say that I really enjoy this work. It's not something that's maybe terribly deep thought. The variety of people that I work with is well, they're twice the age of most of the people there, but I can still make a contribution and I can, you know, relate to people that are my age right, and together we can accomplish the group's goals. So at the end of the day, the end of the month or however you look at it, it's a good feeling to be a member of that team. And I think about other instances where you can be part of a team, maybe as a volunteer in an organization or definitely in school, or even in a larger family. I guess you could, you know, think of yourself as a team.

Any group of people, whatever size, working towards an end result, is a team. One of the best examples of a team is a marriage, a husband and wife working together, often towards a common goal. It's not just two people subsisting together, right, they're working together to make a home, a family, a life together. That's a team. A team can be two people. A team can be 50 people, right, or more. So I do enjoy being a part of a team, a good team.

Now, when you're part of a team and it's not a good team, or it's an inefficient team, or maybe the leadership isn't good, that's when it gets a little tricky or it's not a good experience, right, and I think we've all been in that position. Maybe it's hard to step away because it's a work situation, or maybe it's harder to step away because it's a family situation. Step away because it's a family situation. Maybe it's a little harder to adjust because it is a work or family situation. But what can you do? Well, you can write it out or you can make suggestions, but in the end, when you're in a bad situation, the only person you can really change is yourself, and I know you've heard that before, but it's true. So when I'm in a good team situation, I'm grateful that I'm in a good team situation, as opposed to a bad one. What are the teams that you've been involved with throughout your life and how are they? Good or bad? And was it because you had a good leader or you were a good leader, or you were a good leader, or was it because there was bad leadership or no leadership? That's also a problem. Teams it's an important part of life. Teams. Well, folks, that's all I've got for today.

I'm trying to finish up the Halloween decorations in the front yard and I'll tell you that this is well. It's a team of one, but it's been really challenging because it's gotten hot here again, like really hot, like 90 plus degrees, and so, with my limited time in between doing work and other things, yesterday I spent most of the afternoon out there, but I had to take some breaks. I had to come inside and cool off. I think I drank about a gallon of water while I was out there. Didn't really help that much, I mean, it probably helped me from fainting. But just trying to finish the decorations because there's one house around the corner. They are total overachievers. I mean, they got the big 12-foot skeletons and they got the big inflatable ghost and they have all the lights all over the house and every year they get a new animatronic thing. And so we did get a new animatronic figure this year that I absolutely love.

It's the Headless Horseman, and I'll tell you that it was a bitch to put together. I mean, the box itself with all the parts was 80 pounds, okay, and I'm not sure how much just the cardboard box weighs. But Bill and I um started to put it together on the front porch and then we had to carry it out towards the curb and I was, you know, I was on, well, I was carrying the head part and he was carrying the frame at the bottom and that almost completely did me in. I think it compressed my back. That's okay, because I'm an overachiever too, and I just want to get it, get it, you know, going and get it up so that people can appreciate it, which we've gotten tremendous compliments on it. It's great. But I mean, I don't know why they just well, I know why they can't make it easier to put together, but it was very complicated to put together. Anyway, so it's up and, yeah, I'm trying to finish.

I had to put the inflatable. I put the inflatable spider up yesterday, trying to finish up all the decorations to keep up with people around the corner. But doing the best. Still have stuff to do, but it's hot and you know I don't want to faint. These are just the things I love doing the decorations, and I just love people's faces and you know I love bringing joy to the neighborhood and it's a lot of fun. Anyway, so that's my team of one, my Halloween decoration team, and with the dog. The dog was, she was providing emotional support. So anyway, folks, that's what I've got for today. Next week we're going to tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries Podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries Only Child Diaries.