Originally, the idea of the MasterMind Group was first introduced by the great Napoleon Hill in his book “the 17 Laws Of Success” which was first published in 1928. The idea is that by creating or joining a MasterMind Group, the people involved will be able to coordinate knowledge and effort and work towards a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.
While the words “definite” is something that was used in the early 1900’s, today, we refer to it more as a “goal.” One of my goals for 2013 was to create a MasterMind Group. I envisioned my MasterMind Group meeting up every two weeks for about 2 hours at a specific time to share our personal and professional life to give and receive support. So far, we’re on our second week and things are going really great. Here are my take-aways.
5 suggestions for maintaining a functional MasterMind Group:
- Decide if you will meet on Skype or this will be a physical face-to-face conference.
- Try to have 3 or more people in your group with a maximum of 12. Anywhere between 3-6 is more than enough for a Skype conference. If you will meet face-to-face, go for 6-12.
- Each person gets 15 minutes to share whats new and good and everyone besides the person doing the sharing remains 100% present and quiet.
- During this moment, the person sharing should talk about successes and/or challenges they had during the week and ask the group for any feedback.
- When everyone has taken their turn speaking, the last 15-30 minutes (depending on how many people are in your group) should be spent on giving gratitude on whatever they want to be grateful for in their personal or professional lives.
5 suggestions to set the protocol and boundaries within your group:
- Everyone must show up on time. Group begins exactly at the set time/date regardless.
- 100% presence is necessary. This means no distractions or talking while someone else is speaking.
- The 15 minutes belongs to the speaker in the group. He or she can ask for feedback anytime they want but they must not be interrupted during this time.
- You’re encouraged to be positive. Your position in this MasterMind Group is to encourage and support your team members with positivity.
- If you do not have sufficient knowledge or had a negative experience on a particular subject, do not discourage or scare the speaker into believing they may not become successful in trying whatever it is they want to accomplish. Anything is possible.
Benefits of a MasterMind Group:
- A group where you can discuss your personal and/or professional challenges.
- Receive feedback from the group on moving forward.
- Receive help with goals.
- Share your knowledge and give support where needed.
- Real accountability and progress in your business and personal life.
We’re currently in our second week and the feedback has been great. I hope that in the future I can expand the group to 5 people who are very successful at what they do so that we can all provide value and help each other out.
For now, I will leave you with a video by Napoleon HIll discussing his second principle in the Law Of Success series dubbed “The MasterMind Principle.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4mo0pz8oi4
Have you ever joined a similar support group and what did you gain from it? What challenges did you overcome as a result?
