Today’s Mandala Message: Determine How You Would Want to Conduct Your Mastermind Meeting
This week I’m working through Principle #46 from Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles” entitled “Mastermind Your Way to Success”. I set my intention today to ponder how I would conduct a mastermind meeting. Canfield shares a proven format for such meetings that can “ensure that each participant gets their needs met and therefore stays involved.” It also involves assigning a timekeeper at each meeting so as to stay on track in the allotted time. He suggests the following steps:
- Ask for Spiritual Guidance by Delivering an Invocation
- Share What’s New and Good (see step 7)
- Negotiate for Time (usually each person shares for 10-15 minutes—during step 4…but on occasion someone may need more time…thus the need to negotiate before starting step 4)
- Individual Members Speak while the Group Listens and Brainstorms Solutions
- Make a Commitment to Stretch (each member then shares what action they will take before the next meeting in order to move forward on their goal—it must be a stretch)
- End with a Moment of Gratitude
- Be Accountable *(by the next week’s meeting, be able to share what action you took)
This format is quite formal and I can see the value in these steps especially if there’s a membership of 5-6 people and as long as all members are in agreement with the format. If you wanted to start your own group, you could use these steps as a guideline or modify them to your needs or come up with your own. It’s your group.
Last year I took a 12-week online class that had the feel of a mastermind group. Overall the class was great. Including the instruction we were a group of 13 (a bit large for masterminding). One thing I wish we had done was incorporate some form of timekeeping…some members tended to go on-and-on every week, with some sessions going well past the allotted time. In one session, it wasn’t until near the end of the meeting that I was able to have time to talk. To be fair the group/class was more of a spiritual-based group (not religious) and the instructor was trying to be kind and generous with members who needed/wanted/or took more time to talk…it would have been nice, though, if we had had a Step 3 as part of our classes.
As for me, my current “mastermind” meetings are just two people each. While our sessions are informal, we do tend to cover these steps to some degree. If I was ever to assemble a formal mastermind group, I would definitely follow Canfield’s suggested steps.
A good mindfulness practice would be to contemplate how you would want your mastermind group meetings to be conducted: formal, informal, or something in between?
So how about you? If you were to start a mastermind group, what, if any, format would you follow? Do you prefer a structured session within a definitive amount of time? Would you prefer it to be more casual? What guidelines would be most important to you?
“Using a Mastermind group
— Alan Collins
is like having access to your own
“personal board of directors.” “
Blessings,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
All Things Mandalas
An Invitation
I invite you to color along with me this year as part of what I’m calling “The Year of Self-Exploration and Expansion” with all of my “Mandalas of the ___” (day, week, month, year). If you’re interested in more of a self-exploration approach to coloring, check out my “Coloring Mandalas as Meditation”. You can download this mandala at MandalaoftheWeek.com.
Mandala of the Day 