Author: Andrew Teitelbaum

What do rowers and other endurance athletes do to prepare for the realities of their sport?  They train… a lot.  They train to improve their capacity.  They train to improve how efficiently their body can get oxygen into the muscle and carry away waste.  They train to improve the overall percentage of their engine they … Continue reading Day 73 (Fear and Gratitude)…

Every Friday at 8 am I get pruned.  The band gets together to share our learning for the week, and invariably it’s the newest builders who are challenged to present their week’s awakening or challenge.  Together we ask curious questions and unpack what we are dealing with as builders, and what we are dealing with … Continue reading Day 72 (Pruned)…

My entry into Oz was only slightly different from the one with which most of you are familiar. Rather than being in the house that crash-landed in Munchkinland, I had the house crash-land on top of me.  Toto came barking and the Band answered the call.  While clearing the wreckage, Dosch wondered if this was … Continue reading Day 71 (Toto)…

When I got into coaching in the late ‘80s, I had one assistant and a roster of about eighty female rowers.  I worked five to seven hours a day, six days a week, nine months a year.  When I left coaching in 2020 my program had four assistant coaches, a director of operations, a full-time … Continue reading Day 70 (No mo)…

“It is not power that corrupts but fear.  Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” -Aung San Suu Kyi. We imagine that having power will protect us, and so we seek to build and project it.  Like most things … Continue reading Day 69 (Kiss the ring)…

We revel in the stories of the Spartans.  The story of the “300” and the battle of Thermopylae fill us with awe as we imagine a time of warrior heroes led by a King, all ready and willing to die in a hopeless defense against a foe of vastly greater numbers.  And yet, the grit, … Continue reading Day 68 (Sparta’s way)…

We don’t like paradox.  The act of holding two opposing ideas as a current condition offends our need for simplicity, understanding, and conclusion.  We love paradoxes.  The concept that ideas or events can exist simultaneously at opposing ends of the spectrum is intriguing, illuminating, and expands the possibilities of outcomes. Life is often a paradox. … Continue reading Day 67 (Do more)…

The Ancient Greeks had eight different words for love. Eskimo languages have dozens of words for snow.  Hebrew, on the other hand, can take one word and assign it several meanings.  Shalom (hello, goodbye, and peace) is one such example; Avodah is another.  Avodah is a Hebrew word that means work, worship and service.  Many … Continue reading Day 66 (Avodah)…