I am suspicious of the word “Single-handedly.”  It looks misspelled and mistaken, like a miss-translated figure of speach from the miss-informed.  Single-handedly?  Nothing takes only one hand or even just two.

The people around us have a profound effect on our success or failure; in fact, neither are really ours.  I cannot be successful without the people who inspire, educate and challenge me, and I’ve never failed without their help either.

Independence is a myth we tell ourselves when we want to be successful or when we want to blame failure on someone else.  I won the deal on my own.  He didn’t support me enough to impress the client.  Nonsense.

Everyone wants to be the genius in a village of fools, so we overestimate our own contributions and minimize the work of others.  Winning despite the odds and losing only against the unbearable odds is good for the ego but is never true.

Our fates may be determined by the people we admit into our lives, but in admitting them, we determine our fates.  Our success or failure is a manifestation of ourselves and our environment, and our environment is a manifestation of ourselves.  We create for ourselves a context in which success is possible or failure is inevitable.

Life is not a solitary sport (if such a thing exists).  It’s a ballgame at a church picnic with 8 people in the outfield.  Everyone you’ve ever met is on the active roster.  Choose your batting order carefully.