What you'll learn:
⓵ Start (or join) a mastermind group
“Two (or more) minds are better than one.”
— English proverb
No single mind is ever complete.
Two — or more — minds always have more power than a single mind.
But only when they work together in a spirit of harmony towards achieving a clear goal.
And this is why you need to form (or join) a mastermind group.
❖ What’s a mastermind group?
A mastermind group is the relationship of two or more minds — working in harmony — towards a clear goal.
◆ Why do you need one?
If you want to achieve greatness and not just mediocrity, then you must associate with other minds that share the same goal. You see, when forming a mastermind group, you can all learn from one another. The group is always better than the sum of its parts.
⓶ Learn from everything and everyone
If you seek success, you need to learn from other people’s mistakes.
Not just from their success stories. You (and every person) are entitled to your own reality. But, once you team up with other minds, your reality changes.
You obtain knowledge and experience that wasn’t there before. Oh yes! Learning from other people’s experiences and education is the best source of knowledge. Always remember this.
❖ Get fast and efficient
The ultimate skill is to go from idea to execution in the shortest amount of time.
Efficiency (getting the job done) and speed (decreasing the time between) should be your main focus when facing a task.
And this is why a mastermind group is crucial. Because more minds working in harmony towards a clear goal are more efficient than a single mind.
Before you form (or join) a mastermind group, you need to understand the following: Each and every single member of the team must share the same goal and work in harmony to achieve it while respecting the leader of the team as well as every other member of the team.
We, as human beings, start something out of a motive. Then, we keep doing it because of a motive and habit. Somewhere along the road, the motive might get lost, but we might keep doing it simply because of the habit.
For this reason, you must always do your best whatever the task at hand. Because, how you do anything is how you do everything. Excellence, then, is nothing more than a habit.
⓷ How do you start a mastermind group?
First, you need to find people who are able to do what is required of them. And then, make sure they are motivated to do what is required.
❖ How do you motivate others?
People respond to 9 major motives. This is the moving force of everything that we (humans) do. And here they are:
- Love (spiritual power)
- Sex (biological but still a powerful stimulant when transmuted)
- Financial gain
- Self-preservation
- Freedom (body and mind)
- Self-expression (leading to fame and recognition)
- Life after death
The last two motives are negative but still very powerful:
- Anger (often expressed as envy or jealousy)
- Fear (including fear of missing out)
❖ Try to understand others first
You can motivate any person with one (or a combination) of these 9 motives. Each person responds differently. Some minds respond better to the emotion of love, sex, and financial gain.
Nevertheless, there are some who will work harder for recognition than anything else. And this is why you need to understand the members of the mastermind group before attempting to motivate them.
You see, these major motives are the alphabet of success when it comes to communicating and motivating other people. So, you need to learn these by heart.
❖ What is the most important trait that mastermind members must have?
A positive mental attitude. Without it — or even worse with a negative mental attitude — members will not only be unhelpful, but they’ll destroy the entire group’s usefulness.
To become useful in any group, you first need to learn the importance of harmony and teamwork. Just by applying this, you can promote yourself to a high position.
And just because you start at the very bottom, it doesn’t mean that you can’t work your way up. There is a high premium for efficient people with a positive mental attitude.
It is often thought that to successfully manage others you need to be an expert in the given field. This is far from the truth. And it’s not essential.
But it is essential to surround yourself with people who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities in the given field. The leader’s job is to keep everyone involved inspired and motivated to do their best through the 9 motives described above.
⓸ You get what you reward
If you want people to excel at their job, you need to reward them fairly. And provide a compensation system that allows everyone (and their salary) to grow as high as they want. This system must encourage initiative, imagination, and enthusiasm.
So those who wish to earn more can have the tools to develop their skills to deserve a more responsible position with better pay.
There are many one-man businesses today. Some are successful too. But we are always limited by our highest goals and imagination. And this is why together we are better. So, if you want to rise above mediocrity, you need to understand the power of blending minds together.
All great businesses require a mastermind group. Any business that runs without a harmonious mastermind group is sure to go bankrupt. Oh yes! Any business that lacks purpose and teamwork is guaranteed to fail.
And this is why every business member needs to put their minds together, choose a clear goal, and prepare a clear plan for reaching their goal.
The team’s power grows out of the harmonious relationship between the leader of the team and all its members. And this is how a harmonious mastermind group can perform even greater things together.
⓹ Blending minds can be good or bad
Every time we blend two or more minds together a universal mind is born. If the mental attitude of the contacting minds is positive (harmonious, supportive, friendly) then the universal mind born is beneficial to all.
If the mental attitude of the contacting minds is negative (antagonistic, controversial, unfriendly) then the universal mind is harmful to all.
The mastermind group doesn’t apply only to businesses. It expands into marriage and family as well. When the husband, wife, and kids put their hearts (love) and heads (understanding) together for the common good of the family then they find happiness, satisfaction, and financial security.
A supportive spouse can be a key moving force. When the husband and wife blend their minds in a spirit of harmony and understanding, they can achieve greatness together. Failure to do so and marriage becomes a thorny road.
❖ Mental attitude is more important than money
Never marry someone just for the money.
Marry someone with a positive mental attitude. Because — even though it might be easier to grow 1 million into 2 million and 3 million (arithmetic sequence) than going from 0 to 1 million (geometric sequence) — with money you can buy a doctor but not health. Food but not appetite. Insurance but not safety. Bed but not sleep. House but not home.
Money is not everything. Your mental attitude is.
You see, the mastermind principle is not an artificial principle. It’s as immutable as any natural law. And brings tangible and practical benefits to everyone who uses it, no matter their occupation or the industry they operate in.
⓺ Knowledge is just potential power
No one is ever educated enough to achieve greatness without applying the mastermind principle. Just like adequate schooling doesn’t guarantee success, a lack of schooling doesn’t validate failure.
You see, knowledge is just knowledge until it’s applied. With knowledge, you gain potential power. But first, you need to organize it and take action towards achieving a clear goal. Only then knowledge becomes your superpower.
Similarly, money is just paper until it’s put to good use. Money should be a tool that people use. Not the other way around. You got that? Good.
Onwards.
❖ Theory and practice are not the same
Schools don’t teach you what you need to succeed. Because it’s just theories. You need more than theories to succeed. You memorize all the theories. But you take a look around in the real world and you realize you haven’t even been born yet.
And this is why you learn more by applying and not just by reading.
The difference between education and schooling is the whole world. Read that again.
There’s a huge difference between having access to knowledge and being educated. To educate means to develop from within and to grow through use.
Education doesn’t mean acquiring and storing knowledge. Always remember that.
❖ Take control of your mind
Before you apply the mastermind principle you need to learn to take control of the power of your own mind (more on how to do this later on). The purpose of this is to learn how to remove self-imposed limitations in your own mind. You — and everyone else — are free to live your life in your own way. And there is absolutely no reason to set (or accept) limitations or have low expectations.
You should never compromise on your full potential. You were put on this earth to be all you can be. There’s a massive difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. Choose wisely.
❖ Poverty isn’t a valid excuse
By taking control of the power of your own mind, you can blend it with the power of other minds and go after your goals and achieve them — no matter if you were born in poverty.
Because being born in poverty is not your choice. But the choice of rising above poverty is yours (and yours alone!). And poverty can be a great teacher. You learn to take nothing for granted and expect nothing you don’t earn yourself.
You don’t want to be given the prize for free. Like in any game, you wouldn’t want to be given the trophy. You should earn the prize. Money is just another game. And that’s the beauty of it. You learn the rules, and then try to play it as well as you can.
⓻ How to organize a mastermind group
Here’s a 4-step plan to organize a mastermind group (even though every group can be slightly different depending on the education, experience, personality, and mental attitude of the leader):
❖ Step 1: Choose a goal
If you don’t know what you are after, then how can you reach your goal?
❖ Step 2: Choose mastermind group members
Every member’s goals should be aligned and in complete harmony with the object (or goal) of the group. Choose based on education, experience, or simply of the goodwill a person has established in their relationship with the public.
❖ Step 3: Choose the motivating force
This should be equal to (or greater than) the service provided so that every member profits in proportion to the value added. Forget this, and the group is destined to fail.
Every member should think and act for the maximum benefit of the entire group. Members who are unable to do this must be replaced upon discovery.
To avoid indecision, inaction, delay, and thus the usefulness of the group, you must act on a specific plan, meet at a specific time, and aim towards a specific goal.
If you seek success, you need to have clear goals — and clear plans — backed by non-stop work until you achieve your goals.
I’m sorry to break it to you, kiddo, but there’s no shortcut to success other than non-stop work. Day in, day out. And this is why you need to force yourself to grow beyond your current self.
Intelligence is not fixed. If you stop growing, then you are no longer intelligent. Not all the brains in the world are sufficient to enable a single person to achieve outstanding success without putting in the work. Read this again.
The leader of the group should always lead by example. A leader is not someone who simply has the last word. But someone who seeks to serve all.
The No.1 tell-tale sign of success (or failure) of a mastermind group is the mental attitude of each member. This determines the extent and nature of the cooperation of the group.
Any employer who wants to run a successful organization needs to work in a spirit of harmony and mutual helpfulness with their employees. Some employers don’t understand this and mistreat their employees.
The best way for employees to assess the quality of their job is by observing the way they feel (on Sunday night) about going to work on Monday morning.
❖ Step 4: Keep the relationship confidential
Never discuss the object (or goal) outside the group (unless the object is of public service). And before telling someone your goals, remember that the best way of telling the world what you intend to do is by showing the results.
Keep your goals in your mind and don’t announce them before you achieve them. And you don’t even need to start with gigantic goals (if it scares you). Just start small and increase them by a little bit as you go. Until the big goals seem small. And the unattainable seems attainable.
Don’t believe that you need to have goals so big that they scare you. If something scares you, then you won’t go after it. And then what have you achieved? Nothing. Instead, break your goals down into bite-sized chunks. And take on a bite at a time.
A mastermind group, to be successful, needs to be voluntary and focus on providing the greatest possible benefit to everyone — without any special privileges to anyone.
⓼ 1+1=10
Listen, kiddo, when two (or more) agree on a common goal nothing’s impossible.
You see, a person’s time plus another person’s time equals extraordinary time. When two people blend their minds, their skills and talents don’t just get added. Oh no! They get multiplied instead.
Now, imagine what ten people can do when working together — in complete harmony — towards a common goal.
You can increase your individual potential power by 100 just by blending your skills and talents with others. And that’s why greatness can never be achieved by a single mind. Ever.
Make no mistake, home relationships have a critical importance on your business and your professional achievements. It is imperative, then, to apply the mastermind principle within marriage.
⓽ How do you apply the mastermind principle in marriage?
First, by choosing your spouse wisely.
You need to be open about how you intend to make a living. And make sure the other person approves of your chosen occupation as well as the methods of going after your goals.
Now, you should never drop your dreams and goals for anybody as you won’t be the same person without them.
A marriage will always be stronger when both husband and wife show interest in each other’s work and family income.
This can lead to a mutual understanding when it comes to the household as well as personal expenses. A family operating as a harmonious unit will happily adjust their expenses to fit their goals.
❖ Spend meaningful time together
And this is why you (the married couple) need to devote an hour of your time to a weekly mastermind meeting.
So, you can discuss important factors of the relationship, goals, concerns, and so forth. You see, when you discuss with other people in a spirit of harmony, it helps you put your own thoughts in order too.
If you remember one thing and one thing only when it comes to marriage, then let it be this: You should never take things for granted.
If you want a successful marriage, then you need to set time aside — regularly — for a mastermind meeting between you and your husband (or wife). You should treat this time with the same purpose and formality as organizations when discussing their business matters.
❖ Put romance on a pedestal
A perfect marriage can never be based on physical attraction (sex emotion) alone. It must be kept on a high pedestal of romance too.
But you can transmute the sex emotion (just like many others have done already) to create, build, lead, and excel in your chosen industry and business instead. Because love and sex (when combined) can stimulate your creativity and be the very elixir of life.
The warmth of a man’s — or woman’s — love and affection can work wonders when it comes to personal success in any calling. And this is why you should never ignore the call of romance.
Romance can yield a priceless material and spiritual return. So, strive to keep the fire of romance burning for as long as possible.
Because romance can not only fill your heart with drive, dedication, and discipline but also raise your thoughts to a whole different level.
So that every thought you think, every relationship you engage with, every plan you create, and every mistake you make, can push you towards your chosen goal.
Romance can transform poverty, hunger, depression, anxiety, and any other negative state into an effective and unstoppable power for success. It can also be the spark that sets your imagination on fire and force you to take action.
⓾ Choose your surroundings carefully
Be careful of who you come in close daily contact with. Whether it’s family, friends, colleagues, or business associates, you’ll always be the sum of your surroundings — including people. You should try to borrow and learn from every person’s knowledge and experience.
Consider the world as a huge schoolroom where you have abundant access to the greatest education (other people’s experience).
Study the methods of those who are successful but learn from those who failed too. Learning what leads to failure is also of great importance. In fact, failure can teach you more than success ever will.
You can form an occupational mastermind group with those you work with. Those who qualify of course. The rest, tactfully avoid! This way you can learn from your superiors too.
Of course, you need to use one of the 9 motives to tap into someone’s education. Some will be willing to offer their knowledge and experience more freely than others.
❖ Be a lifelong learner
You can also form an educational mastermind group. You see, kiddo, our education is never finished. If you seek greatness, then you need to be a lifelong student. And try to learn from every possible source. Especially from those who have specialized knowledge and first-hand experience related to your goals.
Learning through casual conversation among friends is crucial too. Nobody can go through life without cultivating meaningful friendships. You should try to extend your circle of real friends (within reason) and offer your help when needed without expecting something in return. And you might not be able to foresee this, but the time will come when they’ll return the help.
You can learn from books too. But remember this: It’s better to master 1 book than to read 100 different books. And it’s much better to apply what you learn than to just keep the knowledge from 100 books without applying it and leaving it to collect dust.
⑪ How do you master a book?
By reading it at least 3 times. Taking notes. And applying a small bit as you go. Until it becomes natural. It takes time. Lots of time. But it’s worth it, kiddo. And, as with everything in life, any book that isn’t worth reading 3 times, it’s not worth reading at all. Never forget that.
You should carefully choose your reading as your daily food intake (more on food later on). Because, just like food helps you grow physically, reading can help you grow mentally.
But make no mistake, random reading (even though pleasing) is rarely helpful towards achieving your goals. And just like we have a limited calorie intake allowance per day, we have a limited time for reading too. So, wasting time on random reading should be avoided.
And remember: There is no free time. As a matter of fact, nothing comes for free. Everything has a price. And we pay that price one way or another.
⑫ Spend your time, money, and calories wisely
Because these three will determine how healthy and wealthy you are. And yes, health comes before wealth. And every sick person knows that.
Because if you ask a sick person what they want, they’ll always want just one thing: Health.
So, remember this every time you feel unlucky. If you are healthy, then you can do whatever you want. You can — and should — go after your dreams and goals. Read that again!
Moving on.
