Errors in Thinking

Guest Contributor: Julia Wert-Marrocco
Julia's Posts - Julia's Blog


Let's address two errors in thinking that affect your personal success in Masterminding:

Error Number One: Underestimating what you can learn from other members.
Error Number Two: Underestimating the value of your contribution

Both mistakes tend to occur in industry-specific groups.

Error Number One:

Somewhere along the line, someone taught you to seek out people who are more successful than you are, to "rub shoulders" with them, and to see what you can learn from them. I absolutely agree. In fact, I encourage my clients to go "shadow" people in their industry who are performing at a higher level, so they can see the "gap" between their current level and the desired level and figure out the steps they need to take to take it up to the next notch. All very well and good.

Now back to our Mastermind Group. Example: Let's say you want to join a Mastermind Group of peers in your industry but you want to make sure all the members are above your level of production. If the other members insist on the same thing, there would never be a group! There will always be someone at a higher level and someone at a lower level. Yet, I hear this quite often: "I don't want to be the most experienced member of the group and get stuck with a bunch of newbies". WHY NOT?

Let me be honest. That's your ego talking. Some of the most transformational ideas I have heard came from absolutely green, wet-behind-the-ears people. I have even heard a child say something that turned into a brilliant idea I would have never thought of on my own.

If you are in a receptive state, you will receive. And of course, another universal law is that you get out what you put in. (You reap what you sow)

Error Number Two:

Error Number Two is a close relative of Number One. It goes like this: "What could I possibly contribute? I'm the new kid on the block. I don't know as much as the rest of the people in the group so I'll just listen." This will keep the group from moving ahead. As Sam Silverstein, the incoming President of the National Speakers Association said when he came to visit our Oregon Chapter recently, "All I have to share with you are the experiences I've had and the decisions I've made". That is what each of us has to share with others, and that's the good news. We each have our own stories. Our own past journeys, our victories, our mistakes, and our knowledge and wisdom that resulted from those experiences. THAT is what you bring to the table. Never underestimate that. In your past experiences is some nugget that one of the members of the group needs to hear. It may be just a seed that brings forth another idea, upon which yet another idea may piggy-back. That is how a Mastermind Group works!

Please don't tell me that you don't want to be the most experienced person in the group. You may have the most experience in your industry (assuming your group is industry-specific), but another member have immense experience in something that could really be your next launching pad. Or the simple child-like idea that sprouts your next big success.
If you have a child at home, ask him or her a question relating to business, and listen carefully. And if you don't think you have anything worthy to contribute, you need to change your thinking.

To your MasterMinding success,

Coach Julia