Zen Garden > Parable of the Two Draft Horses

Many years ago I attended a motivational seminar (one of many!) where the speaker made quite a startling comment. He was talking about the power of co-operation and how it was so much easier to achieve a goal when everybody was pulling together. He gave an example. He started off by making a statement:

"A draft horse can pull between 1 to 3 tons..."

"A draft horse can pull between 1 to 3 tons..."

Well, I didn't know that. I still don't know for sure. I just took his word for it because it sounded reasonable. Then he posed a question. He asked:

"What would you expect TWO draft horses to be able to pull?"

Obviously, by simple deduction and mathematics, the answer that most of us came up with was 2 to 6 tons. Double the horses, double the capacity. Simple!

But he went on. He had probably asked many audiences the same question and knew that we would all be deducing, in whispering terms, "2 to 6 tons." Then he said:

"A single draft horse can pull between 1 to 3 tons but TWO draft horses, in tandem, can pull somewhere in the vicinity of 12 to 14 tons."

Now, I still don't know whether this is true or not. But for the point of his story it was irrelevant anyway. The point that he was making was this - through co-operation and like-mindedness you will always be able to achieve more and achieve it quicker if you create a team and pull together.

When you have a large task to achieve you should keep this in mind. It also brings to mind a much quoted saying: "Teamwork makes the dream-work."

So, the moral of this story? If you want to reach a goal and you want to reach it quickly - don't be a single draft horse!

Gary Simpson is a 7th Dan karate master who teaches self defense, motivation, self help and wealth building to students around the world through home study courses. You may reprint this article as you include this author credit and an active link to his web site. Finance - Self Help - Motivation - Self Defense - Personal Growth MotivationSelfEsteem.com