What is this Mastermind that you speak of?
A mastermind is a collection of like minded people that are looking to solve particular issues in their lives, growth in a certain area, or the sharing of information for a specific purpose.
The idea is for this small group to eventually meld into one giant mind that can solve issues collectively that would be impossible or at least very difficult to figure out alone.
I belong to two masterminds myself. One is for raising my leadership lid and learning from other leaders from various fields. I get techniques, ideas and inspiration for other areas of my life that go well beyond the book we cover weekly. It’s amazing because recently I was able to apply that developing knowledge to an application for an executive training program.
On the application one question asked what is a leader and why would I consider myself to be one. I had an answer almost immediately because I have been studying my own leadership style and philosophy for weeks now.
Understanding of Self
You see with joining and contributing to a mastermind I am developing a better sense of self. An awareness of who I am and also who I am not. Knowing who you are not is just as important.
This is analyzing your weaknesses. I am more aware that I can be impatient with my own progress which I can unconsciously push on my team. I learned this through one person in my group telling me repeatedly to “chill, be patient, trust the process, it doesn’t all come together in one shot.”
I become frustrated and then give my team members an attitude when I am the problem. Being aware helps to separate my personal frustration from the needs of the team.
Who do you listen to?
The mastermind is also a place to have the right person listen you. I cannot speak to my wife about every little business issue I have. At least not immediately. Sometimes I need some technical expertise immediately.
For example, I just completed a Facebook Ads training and parts of it did not make sense at all to me. I did not know how this would or could apply to my current website. I voiced my feelings to the group and got a response from someone that can give me a step by step, down to earth way of applying ad techniques to my website. How? Because this individual has done it and knows first hand what works.
My wife has never posted an ad, let alone used a targeted, analytical system for ads. So any advice she would have provided most likely would not have directly helped me.
Advice has to come from a tried and true person. Someone that knows the ropes or can at least show you where to get the ropes.
If you have not had great results, I have to ask you: Who are you listening to?
How to find your own MasterMind
I recommend starting with a website like Meetup.com.
Meetup is a good place to peruse what types of groups there are in your area. And if you don’t see one that tickles your fancy then you can always try to create a group yourself.
Also, if you are the type of person that needs to meet in person you may find other people who feel the same in Facebook Groups.
Facebook can be a site you can kind of use to filter potential people that may be interested in the same type of topic/similar issue. Then you can gather some local people to move the conversation offline.