What’s the easiest way to get smart?

Answer:  Surround yourself with people smarter, wealthier, more organized, more educated, more creative or even more resourceful than you.  And then learn from them!

How?

Answer:  By forming a mastermind group. 

Today’s article is a follow up to a post I previously wrote on this subject. 

Tony D. Clark wrote a very interesting and powerful article over at his Success from the Nest blog, “The Point of View May Be New to You.”  He expounds on how there might not be a whole lot of new things under the sun but that different people have different ways of expressing them, potentially reaching someone who might “get it” at the right time with the right words.  

Have you ever had an “Aha” moment where you banged the palm of your hand against your head like the actor in that V-8 TV commercial, “Wow, I could have had a V-8!”? 

Perhaps you’ve been told countless times something you needed to hear in order to go to the next level but for some reason you weren’t “getting it.”  Then one day you hear a motivational speaker, read something in a book, or overhear a conversation where someone mentions something and suddenly you have a light bulb moment.  Ever experienced that?  And then you wonder why you didn’t catch on earlier?

That’s because when the student (you) is ready, the teacher(s) will appear.

When you form a mastermind group, you are assembling a powerful team of potential teachers from different, diverse backgrounds, cultures and experiences.  When two or more people gather, your success quotient multiplies exponentially.  You are surrounding yourself with not only like-minded individuals but you are also affording yourself the chance to seize upon opportunities that you previously might have missed because someone in the group opened your eyes to the possibilities that hadn’t occurred to you before.

Borrowing from books like ”One Minute Millionaire,” “Success Principles” and many others, here’s how you can create one too…..

After choosing 3 to 4 people who are already where you want to be (income-wise, professionally, spiritually, etc.) as well as those who are heading in the same direction as you, make plans to meet on a regular basis (perhaps once a week) where you can: 

• Start the meeting by praying for spiritual guidance (summons the mighty universe to your aid).
• Share and then reinforce your dreams - everyone should have written down each other’s goals in a special masterminding notebook (reinforces the notion that everybody’s dream is important and reachable with support from the others).  
• Update the group on positive things that happened since the last meeting (keeps the energy level sky-high).  
• Speak for 10 or 15 minutes (no interruptions) while the others listen and brainstorm ideas for you (i.e. multiple streams of income, connections you need, etc.)
• Encourage others to stretch beyond any perceived limitations (helps with changing limiting belief systems).
• Hold one another accountable for previously stated goals, to-do tasks (keeps everyone motivated and on track).
• End each meeting with statements of gratitude (an attitude of gratitude expressed by two or more people is infinitely more powerful than one).

When you form the right mastermind group, things can happen very fast.  Let me give you a couple of examples of what has developed already:

1. An idea of a product that will be used in back-of-the-room sales at speaking engagements has already been professionally drawn on paper and we are now in talks with a couple of manufacturers overseas.  Who would ever have thought we’d be in talks with a foreign manufacturer so soon?!?
2. I am in negotiations with another member of the group to act as a consultant for my speaking business - someone who will help me with things like marketing, booking of speaking engagements and everything else that an assistant does.  Prior to that, I was a one man operation at Obstacle Illusions (name of my business)!  Even though I was planning on getting an assistant (eventually), I had no idea where to find someone who was in a position to take on the commissioned based  position!  A contract is being drawn up and we expect to commence within the next few weeks! 

Here’s a recent photo of my masterminding group:    

Left to right:  Monica Taylor, Stephen Hopson, Shelley Kimberly and Myron Brown.  (Photo Credit:  Monica Taylor)

Food for thought:  Are you a part of a masterminding group dedicated to your enormous success?

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