We all know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem or creating a result. So imagine having a permanent group of five or six people who meet every week for the purpose of problem solving, brainstorming, networking, and encouraging and motivating each other!
This process is called masterminding and is one of the most effective success tools you can adopt! It is a powerful way to support your dreams and bring unlimited resources to your business and personal life.
Participating in a mastermind group has been critical to me. I can’t imagine achieving all I have without one, and it certaily made my goals happen much faster.
A Process for Accelerating Your Growth
The basic philosophy of a mastermind group is that more can be achieved in less time when people work together. Sometimes called a “dream team”, your mastermind group is made up of two or more individuals who voluntarily come together on a regular basis – weekly, biweekly, or monthly – to share ideas, thoughts, information, feedback and resources.
Your group can be composed of people from your own industry or profession or people from all walks of life. You can focus on business, increasing each other’s income, building a business, raising better kids, or solving a social problem.
Within your mastermind group, you benefit from the other members who empower you and draw out your full talents, resources and abilities. They trigger, stimulate, and motivate you to become all you are capable of being.
Creating Your Dream Team
The key is to choose people who are already where you’d like to be in your life – or who are at least a level above you. In forming your mastermind group, start by carefully enrolling another friendly, on-purpose, like-minded individual. Start by meeting together and then adding other selected, unanimously agreed-upon individuals who will work in total harmony for the good of each other and for the good of the group.
1. Your Dream Team should consist of 4-8 people. Most people find that 6 is the ideal number.
2. Meet weekly, if possible, for an hour to an hour and a half. This meeting must be held sacred as a life-enhancing priority. The meetings should be upbeat, enriching, encouraging and beneficial to each individual and the group’s purposes. I always start our meetings with a prayer or an invocation. You could also start with an inspiring story.
3. Each member must agree to play all out — to openly share ideas, support, contacts, information, feedback, and anything else that will help advance the individual and group goals.
4. Start by having each member share something positive and good that happened since the last meeting.
5. Next, have each member share an opportunity or problem they have experienced since the last meeting and ask for whatever support they would like on it. Appoint a time-keeper to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of time. This is important if you want your group to last. Everyone must get value at each meeting.
6. End by sharing appreciations and acknowledgements.
You’ll find one of the real values of a mastermind group is the accountability factor – other members checking up on you to make sure you meet your stated commitments. It’s one way to ensure you’ll accomplish a lot more!
For more details about masterminding, read Success Principle #46 in The Success Principles book or utilize the mastermind worksheets found in The Success Principles 30-day Audio Course.
© 2007 Jack Canfield
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As the beloved originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series, Jack Canfield fostered the emergence of inspirational anthologies as a genre - and watched it grow to a billion dollar market. As the driving force behind the development and delivery of over 100 million books sold through the Chicken Soup for the Soul® franchise, Jack Canfield is uniquely qualified to talk about success.
Behind the empire Time Magazine called the "publishing phenomenon of the decade" is America's leading expert in creating peak performance for entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, managers, sales professionals, corporate employees and educators. He is a compelling, empowering and compassionate coach who for the past 30 years has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals achieve their dreams.
Affectionately known as "America's Success Coach", Jack has studied and reported on what makes successful people different. He knows what motivates them, what drives them, and what inspires them. He brings this critical insight to countless audiences internationally --- sharing his success strategies in the media, with companies, universities and professional associations in over 20 countries around the world.
Jack is a Harvard graduate with a Master's Degree in psychological education and one of the earliest champions of peak-performance, developing the specific methodology and results-oriented activities to help people take on greater challenges and produce breakthrough results.
He's personally taught millions of individuals his unique and modernized formulas for success and has packaged them in his latest book The Success Principles™: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. This new self-improvement standard contains 64 powerful principles of success utilized by top achievers from all walks of life and all areas of commerce. The Success Principles - and the entire empire of "Principles" books, products, coaching programs and branded retail merchandise - is Mr. Canfield's next offering to the more than 100 million readers he currently reaches worldwide.
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He is Founder and Chairman of the Canfield Training Group in Santa Barbara, California, which trains entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders and motivated individuals how to accelerate the achievement of their personal and professional goals.
Jack is also the founder of The Foundation for Self-Esteem in Culver City, California, which provides self-esteem resources and trainings to social workers, welfare recipients and human resource professionals.
Jack is the CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul® Enterprises, a billion dollar empire that encompasses licensing, merchandising and publishing activities around the globe. Jack's nationally syndicated newspaper column is read in 150 papers worldwide, and the Chicken Soup for the Soul® radio shows are syndicated throughout North America. Jack is also syndicated columnist through King Features Syndicate and is a popular news subject featured not only in major trade publications, but in every major metro newspaper across America and in hundreds more around the globe.
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Jack's background includes a BA from Harvard University and he also holds a Masters degree in Psychological Education from the University of Massachusetts and a Honorary Doctorate from the University of Santa Monica, Parker College of Chiropractic and St. Ambrose University. Over the past 30 years, he has been a psychotherapist, an educational consultant, trainer and a leading authority in the areas of self-esteem, achievement motivation and peak performance.
Jack Canfield holds the Guinness Book World Record for having seven books simultaneously on the New York Times Bestseller List - beating out Stephen King. He even holds the Guinness Book World Record for the largest book-signing ever for Chicken Soup for the Kids Soul. And he's the only author to have won both the ABBY Award and the Southern California Book Publicist Award in the same year - honoring him as both an outstanding writer and a consummate book marketer.
Jack has also been a featured guest on more than 1,000 radio and television programs in nearly every major market worldwide - many of them on a repeat basis. A sample of these shows include Oprah, 20/20, Inside Edition, The Today Show, Larry King Live, Fox and Friends, The CBS Evening News, The NBC Nightly News, Eye to Eye, CNN's Talk Back Live!, PBS, QVC and many others.