Over the weekend, I spent my quarantine watching one of my girlfriend's favorite childhood movies, The Mighty Ducks, a Disney comedy movie about an underdog pee-wee hockey team. We watched all three movies of the trilogy over the course of the night, and initially, I was cynical. I thought it would just be one of those cliche, feel-good Disney movies that only children like, but I was wrong.

I've learned to not trust movie or TV reviews on IMDB to dictate my experience of a movie. What The Mighty Ducks taught me was how to motivate people. Once I go back to the classroom, I'll take away some lessons from The Mighty Ducks, despite it being a feel-good Disney trilogy. In the film, lawyer-turned pee-wee hockey coach, Gordon Bombay, is forced into coaching an undisciplined, unmotivated, and difficult group of kids into becoming a legitimate team. Bombay succeeds not through technical aptitude, but by shifting to the right and meaningful mindset and prioritizing relationships over results.

Here are the lessons from coach Gordon Bombay on how to motivate people that we can all take away:

Don't obsess over results

In the first film, Gordon gets a pep talk early on about his own career as a pee-wee hockey player. A prodigy, Gordon loses his father and is put into a high-pressure situation that requires him making the game-winning shot. He misses barely, and gets berated by his coach, Reilly. His failure, disappointment, and traumatic experience leads him to give up his dreams of being a hockey player to becoming a corporate lawyer.

"Gordon, it's up to you. I don't wanna see any goats around after the game. You got it? Now, you miss this shot…you're not just lettin' me down, you're lettin' your team down," Reilly says to Gordon before his big shot. After Gordon misses, Reilly even tells Gordon that if his father was alive, he would have been disappointed in him, too.

Reilly is a win at all costs, do whatever it takes kind of coach, and he sees results. However, that mentality does not work with most people. With a team that needs strong relationships and needs love, a better coach focuses on the process over the results, and emphasizes that a player will be loved no matter if they win or lose.

Sometimes, we lose because we got unlucky. A few mere inches decided Gordon's future. Life happens -- sometimes things work out, and sometimes things don't. By idolizing results, we cope with outcomes in unhealthy ways, taking losing and failing far too personally. We don't learn from our failures. We become scared of failing and stop trying.

By obsessing over results, we sacrifice the joy of playing, trying, and the process. Failure teaches us more than winning ever can, and we must not be scared to put ourselves out there in the first place. Any article that doesn't do as well as you hope, any risk you take that doesn't pan out, any shot you take at a friendship or relationship that doesn't work out, these are things we must learn to pat ourselves on the back for just for trying.

Don't let a fear of losing take the joy of the risk and process away from you.

Remember the fundamental rule of teamwork: 1+1=3.

Have you guys ever seen a flock of ducks flying in perfect formation? It's beautiful. Pretty awesome the way they all stick together. Ducks never say die. Ever seen a duck fight? No way. Why? Because the other animals are afraid. They know that if they mess Iwith one duck, they gotta deal with the whole flock. I'm proud to be a Duck, and I'd be proud to fly with any one of you. So how about it? Who's a Duck? -- Gordon Bombay.

Ken Burns once said that in a good story, the sum has to be greater than its parts. The story has to open to something bigger, and two people working together produce a far greater product than one person working by themselves. Two people can usually lift more weight than the two of them can alone.

Gordon tells the kids that their mascots become ducks because of their ability to fly in perfect formation and work together. Ducks stick together and fight together, and it is that mindset that the kids succeed and go far beyond expectations. They become accountable together and start to spend most of their time together, building their culture outside of the hockey rink.

As a runner, what keeps me motivated is other runners. There are very few things in life I can do alone, and I'm old enough now to realize that. As friends, teammates, or partners, we hold each other accountable, and when we let someone down for a goal, it feels like we let a lot more than just one person down.

Within the Ducks team, there is little envy, very little jealousy. It is a well-oiled machine where all the pieces matter, where each person has a different skillset and the team works well collectively.

Don't Give Up

In each movie of The Mighty Ducks, the Ducks come up short the first two periods and are faced with seemingly insurmountable deficits. There are setbacks that the characters or coaches face that might have broken them, much like many challenges we face in every day life.

The Ducks don't give up no matter how far they're down. They get dejected or discouraged after big defeats, but in traditional Disney fashion, they refuse to quit and give up.

I know enough of being a teacher in the inner-city to know that life often doesn't work like a Disney movie where an inspirational teacher changes a kid's life. What I do know, however, is that trying is half the battle. It's easy not to engage or not try at all when you think you will fail.

Don't tell people not to give up. Show them that you won't give up on them even when you fail. Gordon failed the kids on numerous occasions and still showed up for them, earning their trust and respect back, even when a lot of people would have quit.

So The Mighty Ducks may be a children's movie series with predictable plots and cliches, but it is one with valuable lessons for motivating people. Don't feel bad for enjoying a classic, because whether you're a leader or an essential cog in a machine, not obsessing over results, working together, and not giving up are actions you can take to keep the people around you motivated.