Courtney Kirschaum
How to start a Mastermind (and the secret history showing why you'd want to)
Ever wondered what super successful people know that you don't?
Here's the secret history.
Former farm boy Henry Ford gets hired by Thomas Edison.
By this time, Edison was the Steve Jobs of his day.
Ford an emergering Elon Musk.
While working at his company, Ford came to the attention of Edison who eventually helped him develop his ideas - one of them was the "quadricycle".
You think you can't imagine life without your phone? Try imagining it without electric light or a car.
Why am I telling you this?
Edison and Ford were both big-idea men who changed the world with their work.
And on some level, don't we all want to do that?
Here's a secret to how they did it:
working together they discovered they could do more if they "harnessed" more brain power.
So they formed a small group who were committed to achieving challenging goals.
That's the first part of a mastermind: unusually committed individuals with big goals.
It worked and it's why we know their names today.
The dangerous trap that snares us:
is thinking our 'big break' is going to come from working longer hours.
That‘s just as likely to lead to burnout, especially if you don't feel you're gaining momentum.
Momentum is more likely to come when you join forces and collaborate with others who are are also committed.
Part II
Ford and Edison brought in Harvey Firestone and they began to apply their experience, knowledge and mental acuity to each other's projects.
This is the difference. They didn't just meet and brainstorm and "hash out ideas."
This is the difference-maker.
They used a very specific method to push beyond the limits of what they could do as individuals.
They even went on trips dedicated only to their mastermind group and committed to following the meeting method and process in order to maximize their time together.
As a result, everyone benefitted exponentially. New idea, support, motivation excitement all grew in a way they never could have if they'd worked alone.
The idea came from an author who had interviewed many successful people of that era, Napoleon Hill.
Hill coined the concept of a mastermind in his 1925 book The Law of Success.
Masterminding lets you learn from other smart, successful, determined people who are in a position to give (and receive) objective insights and broader perspectives.
They may be "ahead" of you on their career journey or "behind" you.
The key is you must be willing to let go of hierarchy and both learn and teach.
Someone in your mastermind may have already solved a business problem you're struggling with and vice-versa.
There's more...
They squared out the foursome by adding Warren G. Harding (yeah, a future president).
Each became larger-than-life in his own right, because they amplified each others work and power.
When you mix with people from other industries, it helps eliminate competition and when you follow the process of masterminding as opposed to "getting together" or "brainstorming" it keeps you focused.
The method is simple, yet only works if you really want it.
That's what sparks the knock-your-socks-off potential of this meeting of the minds. If you don't follow the process and method, it dissolves into "Just another meeting."
It takes discipline, but it's easy.
Follow the process and each meeting solves problems, reveals solutions and you feel more supported in your work. And I know that from experience.
I learned the process 10 years ago from a high performance coach.
His "rule" was you couldn't leave one of his seminars without joining a mastermind.
Participating in a mastermind group was vital to his success and he wanted his students to know how to use it.
Results?
Everything in my career started to happen faster.
Working with a mastermind group helped me get my 10 year goal of giving a TEDx talk in one year.
Without the mastermind to keep me focused and accountable and give moral support, no way would that have happened. I had
Support
Fresh ideas
A Sounding board that made my ideas better.
And the best part by far was I felt I was a valuable part of other people's success.
Another amazing result was I generated a lot of precious momentum.
They were my team and I was theirs. That's vital for solo entrepreneurs.
The most consistent aspect is having support when you're working to achieve big things and solve annoying, sometimes paralyzing, operational challenges.
You may not get the "Eureka" solution in every meeting, but you feel more supported to tackle bigger challenges and keep pushing after disappointment.
Want to know more?
learn the mastermind methodology here. You'll walk away knowing:
How to start your own mastermind
The 6-step agenda to run your mastermind session
The one-page prep sheet that's vital to success.
Vital "do this, not that" guidance to increase your chances of success.
This is one-of-a-kind training. Learn it once use it forever.
https://jobhuntschool.com/mastermind-training/
Check out the video👇

The best thing you can do for your career is help someone else with theirs.
In that spirit...
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