My Mastermind-7 is working; it's well-structured, has wonderful participants and makes a difference. We meet over the phone, being intercontinental, rotate facilitators and time-keepers, etc. I love it. So how come I forgot about the call this week?
And I'm a coach and I coach others about managing our time. So how come?
Whenever a client doesn't do what s/he said, some real coaching becomes possible. They are not allowed to say, "I forgot." There is no such thing as forgetting. Well, I've put the remedy in - I saw that I ran an errand that consumed the time for the phone call. And so I've taken to including even small errands on my schedule. But that doesn't offer any insight into 'how come?'
There are only three places to look - 1) we share a success we've had 2) we did the action we said we'd do in the previous session 3) we share the coaching we need. So in at least one of those places I was hiding. And as I've looked, I see that I've messed up in several areas, and they're big.
I really didn't have a success to share. I mean - sure I did, but not in the area I was looking, not in the area I'm being coached on. Hmm. But mostly, I have only generic goals and haven't articulated anything really specific. And I will do that - for myself, of course, but also to reestablish my integrity in the group
So one of the values of the group is this self-examination. I don't recommend it as a practice. I do endorse our mastermind's commitment to maintaining the integrity of the group.
So, we had our first Mastermind Group meeting of 2008 in January and I posed the question "has anyone set themselves any Big Hairy Audacious Goals for 2008 yet?". And the unanimous answer was "not really". To a certain extent I expected this - we all have young children, who have only just returned to school after the holiday and we're all here in Andalucia, Spain, where the general answer to most things is "manana" (tomorrow), so no need to put yourself under too much pressure then...
But another part of me was disappointed - where were my crew of previously keen, go-getting, dynamic, entrepreneurial business women? As the meeting warmed up though, it turned out that actually we had all set some goals for ourselves, though mostly not the Big ones that I was suggesting we could.
What is a goal anyway? And does setting them help? In life coaching terms, a goal is a statement of something that you intend to do in the future within a given timeframe. Writing your goals down is a standard approach to helping you realize your dreams , your ambitions, your desires. A popular version is SMART goal setting - Specific, Measurable, Attainable and Realistic within a certain Time. This seems very sensible indeed, but maybe a goal that you already know is within your capability isn't the thing that's really going to inspire you.
Are we being too easy on ourselves? In "Think and Grow Rich", Napoleon Hill encourages you to write down your Burning Desire and say it out loud every day to yourself as a form of Autosuggestion to help it become a reality. His focus is on the things that you don't know for sure that you can achieve - the big dreams, the ones that require a certain amount of faith and risk and hope and a step into the unknown. Choosing a path of true growth indeed.
Maybe it's a just question of definition? Bob Proctor in his article "Purpose, Vision, Goals" asks you to differentiate between your Vision and your goals, the goals being the daily little steps you take towards achieving your bigger picture. Getting your Vision right is the important thing, then setting the right goals is clearer and as a result you're more likely to achieve them.
Maybe it's actually all a question of language? The word "goal" turns some people off immediately, including my partner, David, who prefers to use gentler words like 'aspiration'. To him, the word 'goal' seems corporate, definitive, inflexible, and too black & white. Think of a soccer player scoring a goal - it's direct, all action. An 'aspiration' is more flexible - it allows along the way for change, inspiration, sensitivity and a journey of pure potential. Joe Vitale has an interesting post on his blog on a similar theme: http://blog.mrfire.com/secret/why-i-gave-up-intentions/
Certainly traditional goal-setting as a concept doesn't work for lots of people - it's just doesn't get them excited or propel them forward, so as a personal or business development tool it's unlikely to help. How many people do you know who actually manage to fulfill their New Year's resolutions?
So, before you go full steam ahead on your resolutions or goals for 2008, why not step back for a moment and consider taking a slightly different approach? Perhaps there's a way of thinking about what you want to achieve which will ultimately suit you or your business better.
Masterminding has become an essential part of my work week since I joined a group specifically for small business owners who are sincerely committed to their own and each other's growth and success.This weekly activity of Masterminding has also permeated my personal life as I've become more engaged in the weekly meetings and more aware of the challenges and achievements of my fellow members, some so similar to my own.I've noticed a special bond developing between we members who've shown our commitment to the group and are not afraid to relax into the process of Master minding. I can practically feel the relaxation and excitement as we get seated at the breakfast table and prepare to open up to others' frank, yet always supportive input. This has resulted in a firm foundation for special friendships.
Soon I'll be reaching my 1 year anniversary of membership and have such a different outlook than this time last year.I'm focused, more confident and authentic in business as well as personal matters.I've learned to pause and ask myself before taking on new projects, "Will this activity or opportunity take me and my business where I truly want to go?"This advice came from our facilitator and mentor at from my very first meeting, along with another question I continue to ask myself, "What's important about this activity/opportunity to me?"
The value of my Thursday morning group is priceless.I show up, share with my friends and mentor, have some breakfast and listen and learn so much about running a small business.Oh, and did I mention the friendships and camaraderie that's developed? All this from like minds gathering together for the same purpose.Happy Anniversary to you at whatever point you are at in membership of your group!Here's to more growth and success!
Have you started a Mastermind Group and you don't know how to kick it off? Or maybe you're stuck in a rut and the group is not moving ahead?
Sometimes changing the status quo is a good idea. A departure from old habits might be just what the doctor ordered to give the group new life!
Whether your mastermind meets in person or virtually, here are some possible pattern-breaking ideas to change things a bit:
1. Have everyone read one chapter of "Think and Grow Rich", before each meeting and discuss it with each other, until the entire book is finished. (You can do this with any other great book, too.)
2. Have a "round-robin" style meeting, where you divide up the available time and each person gets an equal portion of time to share their biggest "win" and their biggest "challenge" and have the group contribute ideas within their allotted time.
3. Have one meeting where each person shares their vision, values, and mission statement.
4. Focus on only one person for a whole meeting, let them bring their own agenda (a challenge or idea) and have everyone else contribute positive ideas and thoughts to help move that person ahead. The next meeting will be another's turn. Do that until everyone has had an entire meeting dedicated just to them.
5. Bring in a speaker on a specific topic that would be helpful to everyone. This can be done on some regular recurring basis to keep the group moving forward.
6. Have one fun meeting just for "dream-building", where you all brainstorm big dreams and see how big and outrageous you can make the dreams/ideas. Make a game out of this one. See if you can make the balloon of thought so big it "pops".
7. Have an "appreciation" meeting, where each person gets to share something she appreciates about each of the other members, one by one, and then shares something that she appreciates about herself.
8. Start a (virtual) business together. Discuss the details of what the business would be and how you would get it off the ground. This is another brainstorm exercise that promotes creativity. This can be an ongoing exercise.
Hopefully, these 'crazy eight' ideas spark some ideas of your own. Remember, a MasterMind group should have a singleness of purpose, so if the group is floundering, it could be that you are not completely clear on your purpose. A meeting to discuss your purpose (or re-visit it) is a healthy idea, too.
If a Mastermind Group is not going anywhere, something needs to change. Unless you just enjoy a social get-together.(Not that there's anything wrong with that, just call it what it is!)
How often does your mastermind meet? Once a week or once a month? All masterminds vary when it comes to getting together. Whether it's a local group or by long distance. The point of a mastermind is to share, learn and grow regardless of the specific goals of the group.
You get to know the people very well. Part of a mastermind should be about building relationships. Each member of a group contributes and shares the mindset of success, growth and of being in service to others. Ideas are shared, results discussed. It's not about criticizing another person but helping them with challenges.
Many times members of a group will be in touch outside of the scheduled mastermind groups. Friendships are often times forged that continue outside of the group. When challenges or questions come up in your daily activities you can always reach out and ask for help or opinions.
What if you can't contact anyone? Ask them anyway! Have you ever been listening to someone and you think to yourself "I knew they were going to say that". That's because you know that person. You know their values, their mindset and the way they look at different situations. When you ask yourself "what would this person do", you usually have a pretty good idea of what the answer would be.
You can also have people in your own mastermind world even if they're not alive any more. What? How about Napoleon Hill or Dale Carnegie? How many times have you read Think and Grow Rich or any of Hill's other books? How many times have you discussed these great authors in your mastermind groups?
These books are meant to read over and over. The lessons learned change as you change. Take advantage of these great masters, invite them into your own little mastermind. Have a chat with them every once in a while. Read their books again, use them to help you when you're having doubts or have challenges. You're never truly alone. Have a challenge...What would _____do?
Imagine this. You're excited about a new relationship you've recently embarked on. You can see the future in this relationship bringing you great fulfillment in many areas of your life. Its Valentine's Day (why not?) and you're arranged to meet and you turn up with great expectations. And your date doesn't show. No phone, no word. Nothing. Has this ever happened to you? Not a great feeling is it? Of course your mind goes into overdrive about what could have happened and what this could mean.
By now, you're probably wondering where this is leading. What does this have to do with my mastermind group? Imagine this then. Your mastermind group has arranged to meet and one or more members of the group don’t turn up and have left no forwarding message. Your mind goes into overdrive and....
OK, they're not quite the same kinds of relationships but you can see where this is going. The fact is that the success of the mastermind group so depends on the solid commitment of all its members to attend and to adhere to the basic principles that the group operates by.
It's a commitment to being there. It's a commitment for yourself and all that you can achieve, to raise your level of success. It's being committed to others and supporting and celebrating their success, as they would do for you. A commitment to listening to others, respect for self and others, being on time for meetings, challenging appropriately, asking for what you need, helping others grow and to accepting the help that others can give you.
I say this with the experience of having to challenge a couple of people in my mastermind group recently who have previously shown a pattern of just not showing or telling anyone about their absence. Now this isn’t easy but it has to be done to maintain the purpose and success of the group, that this behaviour is not allowed to continue unchecked.
These people have a lot to contribute and the rest of the group value these contributions and while I validate these, I think I do myself and the others a disservice if I don't challenge behaviour that has a negative impact on the energy of the group
The thing is, when they don't show, we speculate, as we would do if our date didn't show. We turn over several emotions and we try to figure the best way to deal with it. Or how not to! But I maintain that it is vital not to just let it go like an elephant in the room you are trying hard to ignore, but to be honest and open with them and with yourself. And that may mean making a hard decision at the end of the day to terminate their membership of the group if the behaviour continues.
Make no mistake. The combined and committed energy of the mastermind group makes for success for all when we can leverage that energy to create an enriching experience for all the members in that alliance. To our success and the success of our mastermind groups!
One of the things I really love about mastermind groups is that it can be a place where you can learn to hone your skills and be pushed to your potential. One of the mastermind groups I belong to has ongoing trainings and many of us, if we feel ready, are asked to train on a particular subject we may have a passion in or background in.
Stepping up in front of others may not always be the most comfortable experience, but in most businesses, the person who stands in front is the most recognized. You may remember this from school.
A mastermind group is a great place to hone these skills because you are doing it in front of a group of people you already know in an atmosphere that is safe and non-threatening. Your fellow masterminders will usually encourage while you to do it and push you to step up to the plate because let's face it, you may never think you are truly ready to teach others. Did you know you can actually learn more from experience of teaching than many of your students?
Stepping up to the plate can be empowering, build self-esteem, speaking and communication skills which can be key to a more profitable and powerful business.
Other trainings will include doing live calls to prospects in front of others, now talk about nerve wracking, but imagine what this can ultimately do for your self confidence in who you are and where you want to be?
I found this to be one of the most powerful experiences of mastermind groups because while I was growing up, my parents tried to shield me from failures by not pushing me to live up to my inner potential. They would tell me to quit when things got tough. I suppose because they struggled so much, they did not want me to experience the same kind of grief. They didn't realize they were just enabling me and not equipping me with the skills I needed to be successful I had to learn them all on my own as an adult and it didn't exactly give me an edge starting out first as a freelance writer and now as a marketer.
Mastermind groups gave that power and place to practice and learn those skills to succeed and push beyond whatever limits I had already set for myself. Today, I am always ready to be put out there in the forefront, it's not to say I won't ever stumble. But the obstacle of fear has been broken through due to my mastermind experiences, and for that I am truly grateful.
It has not been an easy month for me physically. I've had a sinus infection that won't quit. That has caused me to cancel several meetings with friends, including my Master Mind group. But that doesn't mean I have not still used the principles of the group I learned during 2007.
I'm also re-reading "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace Wattles.
Plus, I'm listening again to Jack Canfield's Success Principles book on tape. This is helpful to listen to in the car as he speaks in clear, concise sentences that are easy to understand.
One of the results of my Master Mind association is that I'm working on another assignment for a magazine I had not worked for a year ago. This is my 5th assignment with them and it's a pleasure working with the editors and knowing my writing career is being stretched.
How are you stretching yourself? How is your Master Mind group helping you in this way? How can you help your Master Mind members stretch themselves?
I get a number of questions from people interested in my Mastermind Groups about how many people are in each group. Some want small, intimate groups, while others want to meet as many people as possible.
We try to strike a balance in our groups by having a minimum of four members and a maximum of eight.
The reason we work within these boundaries is that you want enough opinions around the table so that it's not just two people talking to each other. With four people who have different backgrounds and skill sets, you can have enough experience in the room to get a meaningful discussion.
On the other hand we limit the maximum to eight because you want to make sure that every member has enough time to get meaningful input on their businesses. If you meet after work, as we do, then the meetings would go on late into the night if you go over eight people. We try to keep the meetings to three hours or people start to lose their focus.
I would also like to say that we never rush to fill the membership to eight. It's always more about getting the right people in the groups than just filling the groups. If two members don't get along with each other then they will tear the group apart an nobody will benefit from the experience.
One of my groups has gone for over a year with seven members and while they are open to the idea of getting an eighth, they are happy with seven and don't want to disrupt the flow with the wrong member.
Keeping your groups to a minimum of four and a maximum of eight helps keep the intimacy of a small group but also allows for enough opinions and makes sure you finish while your mind is still fresh!
We've had a few spots open in my VIP Level mastermind group which tends to generate a lot of questions about, you guessed it, why should I join your mastermind?
As I look back over the years that I've facilitated these high end groups, three reasons come to mind that cause a business owner to have a huge jump in income through mastermind participation.
First, being challenged. I remember when I worked for Motorola. The camaraderie of my workmates spurred me to accomplish as much as they did…or more. But when I went out on my own I lost that motivation factor. Being a part of a high level mastermind can do that for you. Just knowing that your partner is working on a seven figure marketing strategy will inspire you to look at those strategies for your business. Who wants to feel like they've been left behind? No one.
Second, collaborative thinking to uplevel your game. Solving problems in your own head poses a problem... it was your thinking that caused the problem in the first place. When you have access to many different people in a mastermind, you overcome that challenge and tap into collaboration. It allows you to access a solution generating energy that can only get created when multiple brain powers are present. You will have ideas revealed to you that you never even thought of before.
Third, access to the right resources. In my VIP Level group, there have been relationships forged that allow a member to catapult their results forward. Marketing expertise is shared, joint ventures created, accessing knowledge that would cost you thousands of dollars you get simply by asking for help. Again, participating in a high level mastermind causes you to shortcut your learning curve and costs as you move forward at lightening speed.
When someone tells you they've broken seven figures in their mastermind group, now you know why. This kind of success can only be replicated with the power of many successful minds coming together to support you in success. Now I have to admit I'm partial to facilitated groups like I run because you get the best of my coaching AND the mastermind. The important thing is: figure out what works for you and do it.
EvanCarmichael.com is the world's #1 website for small business motivation and strategies. Evan also runs a series of successful Mastermind Groups in Toronto for entrepreneurs.
Guest Contributor: Michael Lipp
