In Part 1 of this article series we introduced the Power of the Mastermind Group. We talked about how Napoleon Hill first learned about Mastermind Groups from Mastermind Billionaire Andrew Carnegie. We introduced you to the Third Mind and to the three things that you get when you are part of a Mastermind Group:
Better Business – Better You – Better Results.
We covered Better Business in Part 1. Now we will cover how the Mastermind Group creates a Better You and Better Results.
What about a Better You?
This is one thing people who join masterminds don’t realize this until they get in. How beneficial this group is to them personally. You improve. You get better not just in business but in life as well. One of the big things most entrepreneurs have is what I call Isolation Island. You can’t avoid Isolation Island, because as a business leader, a lot of times, it’s pretty lonely. You feel isolated and disconnected, and now you have this group that you can talk to. You’ll find that your confidence and your courage increases with the support of these other businesspeople. You can confront your fears. Somebody has your back. It’s so great to say, “Look, I’m not sure about this marketing promotion. I’m not sure about this idea. Give me the honest truth about it,” and they do. They care about you, and they follow up with you.
A Safe Haven for You
It’s a safe haven for ideas, concerns and challenges. You get better because you can be open and free. There’s this fellowship that develops, the long-term friendships that come out of these groups. Some of the first formal mastermind groups that I was in, almost 10 years ago, made a big impact on me. I’m still friends with those people, and I’m still masterminding with some of those in one way or another.
The Ability to Serve
The other thing that helps you to develop is that you have the ability to serve. There’s something deep inside everyone that they want to help other people. They want the ability to serve others. Service to many leads to greatness. And here with the mastermind group, you have the ability to serve. You have the ability to help others. You have the ability to see your life experience used by another person. To help them. To save them. To get them to avoid drifting down the wrong path, so you have a great ability to serve.
Full Support
You have great support through the tough times whenever and wherever they occur. Someone has an emergency. “I need some help with this decision. Could you help me?” You have that support. Inspiration comes from the group that helps you personally. Your motivation, energy and inspiration, not only from you yourself succeeding but seeing other people succeed with your help. It’s very motivating. It’s very inspiring.
Memorable Moments Matter
Better Business and Better You Bring Better Results!The last way it creates a better you is through memorable moments. Life really is about memorable moments with friends, family and people that you love. That’s what people talk about. As I’ve studied people, and even my own relatives, near the end of their life, what they talk about is not so much their business but rather the memorable moments with people they care about. You’ll be developing those with and in the mastermind group. So, for you, it’s a better you.
With a better business and a better you comes better results. What happens with a mastermind group is that there’s a high level of accountability and implementation. It drives goal-setting. In between the mastermind meetings, you’re setting goals, and you’re committing to those goals. It improves your focus.
It generates real deadlines. It gets you to think about what matters most. What’s the most important thing for me to accomplish between now and the next meeting? Here’s the thing: some people don’t like this, but it’s the most important thing you can do. It makes you think. A mastermind group provides you with better results, because it makes you think. It makes you think because, as you go into your mastermind meeting, you’re going to be talking about your business. You need to know what’s working right, what’s not working, where you need help. It makes you think about your business, month in and month out, or week in and week out.
Fosters Action – Avoids Excuses
The mastermind group fosters action and avoids excuses. You what to live up to the expectations of the group. That is a powerful motivator, other people’s expectations. It fosters action, accountability, implementation while at the same time avoiding excuses. From time to time you need a swift kick in the butt. You need to be called out for not living up to your potential. The mastermind group provides that motivation when it’s needed. Over time the group gets to know you better and better. Over time you can’t hide from yourself – the group will call you out. I’ve found that to be extremely powerful and I don’t like being called out – it’s what I needed to move forward.
Unlimited Ideas – Unstoppable
You’re getting better results because you have an unlimited number of ideas through the use of the third mind. When you adopt something that another mastermind member has had success with, the possibility for better results is much higher. You are unstoppable because you never run out of ideas or possibilities.
Well Beyond Your Own Efforts
You’re going to find that the group takes you well beyond your own efforts and your own mind. If you stayed outside of a mastermind group, the furthest you could get is X in business and in life. With the Mastermind Group you can get to Y which is so far beyond X. It’s well beyond. After being in a mastermind group for a year, people say, “I’m well beyond what my own efforts and my own mind could have brought me. I started working on the things that matter most. That made all the difference.” I think that’s so impressive, to watch people light up because they realize what’s important – and they begin to focus on that. They’re starting to work on the vital few versus the trivial many. I started working on the things that mattered most, and that made all the difference.
It’s very, very powerful—better business, better you, better results.
For me it’s the single most powerful way to build a business and a life. I hope you are part of a good mastermind group and that you are making use of all these advantages.
All the best – until next time – take control and make it a great day! Blaine….
Blaine Oelkers is a lifetime entrepreneur, a graduate of Purdue University and Stanford University’s Entrepreneurship program. He’s achieved over 100 Million dollars in sales and coached 1000’s of people. He’s currently President of the Arizona Marketing Association and a company called Selfluence. He helps business owners with their Personal Implementation Plans (PIPs) elevating themselves to a higher level called You 2.0. He can be reached at Blaine@ForcedClarity.com