On January 1st, I went to the movie, “Boys in the Boat.” It was worth my time and an excellent motivation for the new year. It was a simple, true story about nine boys joining a university rowing team in Seattle during the Depression to pay tuition, eat, and sleep on a bed. Most of them had no rowing experience, just grit and survival instincts.

I won’t tell the rest of the story because I don’t want to spoil it, but I will share the messages I collected from the characters and the setting.

Together, we’re strong. Alone or in conflict, we don’t stand a chance.

Winners balance pride with humility.

Money usually has power but not always honor.

Listen to those with wisdom.

Offering thoughts to ponder can be more effective than giving advice.

Successful teams involve all members having each other’s back.

Good coaching involves encouragement and belief in each team member.

Good coaches care and gain respect by doing what’s right, even if it weakens the team.

Good coaches strengthen teams by building character in each team member.

Winners continue when faced with unfair decisions and unearned advantages.

Together, we can overcome the seemingly impossible.

We can rise above and thrive through hard breaks and life’s disappointments.

Surviving adversity together connects people at a heart level.

As with “The Boys in the Boat,” a team is more than the players—it’s the coach, behind-the-scenes workers, funders, and widespread supporters and encouragers.

History has shown us the same story in many different settings, and we can apply the lessons to homes, schools, businesses and governments.

The boys in the movie had holes in the soles of their shoes, went to bed hungry, and survived on their own when barely teenagers; they believed in themselves, learned to trust others, and worked beyond their limits to change their story.

We can find unified victory everywhere. Even Lucy and I are better together. Rewarding marriages or relationships and all family members must contribute to the good of the whole and support each other.

The boat-maker in “The Boys in the Boat” summarized it best when he answered his grandson’s question about whether eight boys were on the boat in 1936. He paused and answered, “No, there was just one.”

They were not eight individuals rowing, one coach on the sidelines, or one coxswain (the coach on the boat). They were one—one team.

See this new year as a new opportunity to help each other gain the top of their game, whatever it is. Let’s be like the rowing boys and work together for the team.

I think the boys would tell us, “The impossible or improbable is possible.”

Until the next time: Live while you live.

Jennifer Goble, Ph.D., LPC, is the author of “My Clients…My Teachers,” and the blogger and writer of Rural Women Stories: www.ruralwomenstories.com.

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