Multiply Your Brain Power!
Start or Join a MasterMind Group
Thank You Mr. Hill
The MasterMind concept is nothing short of amazing and can play a key roll
in helping you to Design The Life You Love. If you are now in a MasterMind
group, or have ever been, or would like to be in a MasterMind group, there
is one person you should thank. While Napoleon Hill didn’t create the
concept of the MasterMind group, he certainly popularized it in his
classic success psychology book, “Think & Grow Rich.”
In this chapter I’ll discuss the basic concept of the MasterMind group,
our experience with MasterMind groups, how Napoleon Hill discovered this
principle, and the affect his book has had on millions of people. If you
have never read “Think & grow Rich,” I highly recommend that you do. You
can get a new copy of the book on Amazon.com for only $7.00, or a used
copy for only $2.95. I’ve even seen copies of the book at yard sales for
as little as 25˘.
When you start to read the book, please keep in mind that it was written
in the 1920s and ‘30s, and finally published in 1937. The United States
and the rest of the world was in the depths of the Great Depression.
Needless to say, there was a very high level of cynicism in the common man
and woman. Although Hill was born and raised in Virginia, he was a country
boy with a Missouri, “show me” attitude. Consequently, the book is written
is a style that we’re not used to these days. Hill would postulate a
theory or idea, then to “show you,” he presented “case studies” of
different people’s experience with the concept.
People needed a lot of convincing back then before they would take a
chance on some of his strange, “new fangled” ideas. So when you read the
book, it reads in a very old-fashoned way. But take heart, the book is
only a 250 page paperback, so you can get through it.
Here’s the Basic Principal of the MasterMind Group
The basic idea goes back to a principal found in the Bible, that,
"Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in
the midst of them."
This not only applies to spiritual or metaphysical concerns, but also to
the mental energy of creative thinking and the creation of all material
things. Napoleon Hill pointed out that whenever two like-minded people get
together in a spirit of harmony, and with a specific purpose, the net
result is the creation of a “third, invisible, intangible force which may
be likened to a third mind.”
The key elements to a functioning, successful MasterMind group are,
1. Harmony - Everyone has to like and get along with one another.
2. A Definite Purpose - Everyone involved must have a crystal clear idea
of what it is that they want to achieve and experience.
3. Commitment - Participants must be committed to the group, the process,
and serious about what they’re doing, By “serious” I don’t mean ”grim.” I
mean that everyone needs to be actively involved in playing the MasterMind
game.
How A MasterMind Group Functions
While Hill points out that as little as two people can constitute a
MasterMind, some fantastically successful people have had MasterMind
groups with as many as 50 people! That’s what Andrew Carnegie did in order
to become the richest man of his day. We aren’t suggesting that you have
to put together a group of 50 people i order to be successful. I’m sure
the Mr. Carnegie was speaking in corporate terms for his various
businesses.
But if you are a self-employed person or an entrapeneur, a group of six
people will work very well. An amazing thing happens when six, or so
focused people get together to talk about their ideas, concepts,
challenges, problems, and successes. Proactive people of today have so
much knowledge stuffed inside their heads, it’s amazing. Something I might
be struggling with, someone else in the group may well have already been
down that road, and can offer advice and suggestions that could save me
months of time and thousands of dollars. Each member of the group benefits
from not having to reinvent the wheel at every step of their journey
towards success. And when you have members who are information savvy, or
know how to find out things, there may as well be 50 people in the room.
It can be that good!
A highly functional MasterMind Group should meet regularly - perhaps every
three to four weeks. This allows enough time to members to make forward
progress on their objectives and projects, as well as keeping things fresh
and current. A time limit on the meeting will help keep things moving
forward and help members to be succinct in their speaking. A 90-minute
meeting with six people allows each member 15 minutes to share successes,
express concerns, ask questions, and interact.
Where you meet is up to you. If you can secure a relatively quiet place in
a coffeehouse, library, town meeting hall, or restaurant, that would works
for your group. Our MasterMind Group meets at member’s houses on a
rotating basis, that way no single individual has to be the host for every
meeting.
One thing that we have noticed in our MasterMind group is that because
everyone gets along so well and genuinely likes one another, we were
sometimes eating up 10 to 20 minutes of the beginning of our meetings just
chi-chatting. After a while we decided to be at the meeting place 15
minutes before the meeting’s start time, so that we could get all the
“catching up” out of our systems. It made a big difference and when the
meeting officially starts, we’re ready to get down to business.
One of our MasterMind Group members is a former school teacher and a
Personal Life Coach. When Patt hosts a meeting, she always sends out an
email a day or so before the meeting with a few questions for the group to
focus on for the meeting. Here’s an example of some questions that Patt
posed to the group for a meeting in January.
* What does your Perfect Practice for 2005 look like?
* What does your Perfect Life for 2005 look like?
* What steps will you take to start your new year off on a positive
foot?
Patt also a Life Coach and does this for her coaching clients. It’s an
excellent way to get the mind thinking “out there” into the future. Often
times, self-employed people can get bogged down in the day-to-day details
because we tend to wear all of the hats. My personal area of specialty is
writing and commercial art. However, for our business, I’m also the
webmaster, the IT computer fix-it man, the bookkeeper, the Marketing
Department, and business partner. I also answer the phone, take orders
over the phone, clean the office, empty the trash, and walk the dog. We
also work half days... 12 hours! (we’re working on that part)
My point is that it’s very easy to be a busy fireman, putting out fires
all day long, and not have the time to think about your long-term goals
and objectives. Steven Covey talks about this in detail in his wonderful
book, “First Things First” where he explains how we often get distracted
with things that are “urgent” to the point where we don’t have time to
focus on what’s “important.” This often manifests in running around
putting out fires, all the while complaining that you don’t have time for
planning.
So, a future oriented agenda is a very useful way to keep your MasterMind
meeting focused on everyone’s big picture.When you arrive at your
MasterMind meeting, bring a note pad to jot down important insights or
ideas. It’s also a good idea to bring your DayTimer for scheduling your
next meeting or for accessing information.
How Did Napoleon Hill Come Up With All Of This?
The next time you are in a chain book store, notice the “Success &
Self-Help” section. Except for the books that are rooted in religious
philosophy, every other book came as a result of “Think & Grow Rich.”
Here’s how the ball got rolling.
Napoleon Hill was born in a one-room cabin on the Pound River in Wise
County, Virginia. He began his writing career at the tender age of 13 by
writing for his local newspaper. It was still the early days of the
industrial revolution and long before the days of income taxes. Successful
business people paid no income tax and therefore accumulated colossal
fortunes. Andrew Carnegie was the richest man in America and Bill Gates of
his day. Other mega successful people of the day were Thomas Edison, the
Rockefellers, J.P. Morgan, and others. But Carnegie was “The Man.”
In 1908, twenty-five year old Hill managed to get an interview with Mr.
Carnegie for the small newspaper Hill worked for. After the interview,
Carnegie asked the young reported a question that changed Hill’’s life for
ever. Carnegie asked Hill if he would be willing to study “success” and
distill its secrets. The only condition was that Hill would need to spend
at least 20 years on the project and would have to do this on his own
time, without ANY compensation from Carnegie.
What Hill didn’t know was that Carnegie had been looking for years for
someone to take this challenge. He also wanted someone who would make a
decision quickly - in 30 seconds or less! Carnegie had his pocket watch
out on his desk and was watching the second-hand! It took Napoleon about
20 seconds to say, “Yes Mr. Carnegie, I will accept your challenge to
research and study success for 20 years with no compensation what-so-ever
from you.”
He Got The Job!
Hill also didn’t know that Carnegie has issued that challenge to dozens of
reporters. Remember, Carnegie was the most successful man of his time and
everyone wanted to talk with him and interview him. Where others had
himmed and hawed, asked for compensation, or said, “I’ll get back to you,”
Hill quickly saw his golden opportunity and said, “Yes! I will do it.”
The only assistance Hill received was a letter of recommendation so that
he could more easily interview the other prominent men of his day. It took
Hill over 20 years to interview and distill what he had learned into the
book, “Think & Grow Rich.”
Years later in an interview Napoleon explained how after the book was
published he decided to offer a series of lectures on the material in the
book. He ran an advertisement in one of the New York newspapers for his
“Success Seminar.” He said that only about six people showed up on a very
rainy night for the first lecture. Several of the people walked out saying
that they weren’t getting their money’s worth, and he said, “Quite
frankly, I think they were right!”
Napoleon Hill went on to be very successful with his “Think & Grow Rich”
book and home-study courses. After spending over 20 years of asking
successful people, “How did you do it?” it obviously had its affect on
him. Here’s what Napoleon Hill went on to do:
From 1933 to 36, Hill was Presidential Advisor to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt
In 1942, Hill started his “Mental Dynamite" study course in 17 volumes
program.
From 1952 to 62, Hill was Associated with W. Clement Stone of Combined
Insurance Co. of America. He taught his “Philosophy of Personal
Achievement” and did a lectures on "Science of Success.”
Hill published seven books on success.
1928 - "Law of Success" - Published by Ralston Society, Publishers
1930 - "The Magic Ladder to Success"
1937 - "Think and Grow Rich"
1939 - "How to Sell Your Way Through Life"
1953 - "How to Raise Your Own Salary"
1960 - "Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude" (with W. Clement
Stone)
1970 - "You Can Work Your Own Miracles"
Spending time with successful people had an affect on Hill long before the
publication of “Think & Grow Rich.” From 1919 to 1920
he was the editor and publisher of "The Golden Rule Magazine.”
An Odd Collaboration Started An Industry
In his day, Napoleon Hill was regular working man. He was well-read and a
little smarter than most people. For Hill, it all went back to reading. He
loved to read and naturally moved into the field of writing. In his day,
if you wanted to be a writer, you had to be rich or not mind living dirt
poor. But if you like to eat and have a roof over your head, writing for
newspapers was an excellent job.
It was Hill’s natural gift for reading, expressing himself through
writing, and his ability to be a researcher, that set him up for the
opportunity of his life. There’s an old adage that goes,
“Success is what happens when opportunity meets preparedness.”
A golden opportunity given to someone who isn’t prepared just makes the
person look foolish. Imagine how dopey someone would look if the said they
wanted to play their guitar and sing for people, but never practiced. By
the time Napoleon Hill had his encounter with Andrew Carnegie, he was a
seasoned writer, researcher, and reporter. He was ready!
Andrew Carnegie was the richest men in the world in his time. He made his
first fortune starting in the railroad business and eventually investing
in a rail coach car business and an oil company. When is was 35 years old
in 1968 he mapped out his future and decided that he would retire from
business, live on an income of $50,000, better his education, and give
money to philanthropic causes. But it wasn’t long before he was back in
business. By 1975 bought his first steel company and started making rails
for the burgeoning railroad business. Carnegie practically invented the
American steel industry. In 1901 he allowed J.P. Morgan to buy him out to
the tune of 480 million dollars, making him the richest man in the world!
Morgan then went on to create U.S. Steel.
That was the shinny side of Andrew Carnegie. Suffice to say, Carnegie did
not become the richest man in the world by being “Mr. Nice guy.” He had a
reputation as a ruthless businessman. and like many of his generation,
after his success, he wanted to leave behind a positive legacy. Drafting
young Napoleon Hill to study and distill the elements of success was not
Carnegie’s first effort at explaining success to people.
In 1889 Carnegie published his book, “The Gospel of Wealth." In his book,
Carnegie makes the case that there is a moral responsibility of the rich
to serve and be stewards of society. When you consider that his “25
million annual take-home pay, the gap between him and the average man was
enormous.
So here we had the king of the world (money-wise) issuing a challenge to
an everyday man, Napoleon Hill. And keep in mind the enormity of the
challenge. “Success philosophy” has been totally flushed out these days.
But when Hill took the challenge, practically no one was writing about
this. He had to research it all out on his own.
It was because of Napoleon Hill’s book, “Think & Grow Rich,” that a young,
ex-Marine WW II vet, and seeker of the truth, Earl Nightingale found six
works in Hill’s book that started the entire audio publishing industry.
Napoleon Hill Started It, and Earl Nightingale Gave It A Voice
Earl Nightingale came from a blue-collar family in Long Beach, California
in the days of The Depression. His family was “poor” like everyone else’s
family in Long Beach. Earl liked to tell about how, as a child, if you got
a hole in the knee of your pants, no one ever thought about how to earn
some extra money to buy a new pair of pants. Instead, they thought about
how to fix the pair of pants. Then you ended up with “fixed pants.”
Earl’s mother gave him the best gift he ever could have received... a
library card. This was Earl’s ticket to freedom and adventure. He read
everything he could get his hands on and we apparently the only member of
his family with the book-bug.
There’s an old saying that goes, “be careful what you read, because that’s
what you’ll want to do.” Earl was reading adventure books with stories
that took place in foreign lands, and it wasn’t long before young Earl
started talking about going of some of the far-away places he’d been
reading about. He used to tell the story about how one relative said to
him, “Why would I want to go THERE? I didn’t leave anything there.” Earl
said that statement always left him with a sinking feeling, as if the only
reason you would go somewhere is because you had left something. Clearly,
Earl Nightingale marched to be beat of a different drummer.
So to satisfy his dream of seeing the world, Earl joined the Navy... right
before World War II. Earl Nightingale was a sailor on one of the ships
that was blown up at Pearl Harbor in 1941. It took him a few years to get
over that experience, but after he was discharged from the Navy, Earl knew
what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a radio announcer. Nightingale took
a job a dinky little station in Arizona and worked his butt off for a
year, perfecting his style and delivery. His coworkers called, “Network”
because everyone knew that Earl had is sights set on being a “network
announcer” for one of the big three networks.
Within a year, Earl had a contract with CBS network radio in Chicago. He
was in the big league with the big boys as a network announcer and writer.
He liked to say how all those hours of delivering local radio ads as if
they were network sponsor spots, really paid off. Earl eventually went on
to do radio shows and was the voice of “Sky King,” a very popular
adventure radio show.
But here’s where Nightingale encountered Napoleon Hill’s “Think & grow
Rich” book. Earl had been a seeker of wisdom and truth since he was a kid.
One day, while browsing around a used bookstore in Chicago, he found an
old copy of “Think & Grow Rich.” It was in that book that Earl found what
he’d been looking for all those years, “The Key” to success, when he read
the words...
“We become what we think about.”
That was IT! Out of all of the hundreds of thousands of words in the
English language, those were the six he was looking for, in that
particular order... “We become what we think about.” So, once again,
Andrew Carnegie was touching the souls of future generations. Through the
mist of time, Carnegie found Earl Nightingale through Napoleon Hill.
Nightingale didn’t become a life-long career radio announcer. That wasn’t
to be his life’s stream, it was just a stepping stone. Being in the radio
business, Earl saw a need, and set about to fill it. Earl clearly saw that
radio stations had a need for interesting material that they could use as
filler material. Earl started writing, recording, and marketing a
subscription series to sell to radio stations titled, “Our Changing
World.”
Earl would write and record a three minute essays and then have ten essays
pressed on to a vinyl record - five per side. The ten recorded essays
could be used by radio stations for two weeks, after which, they would
receive another record with ten more essays. The idea was a huge success
and within a few years, radio stations all over the country were buying
Earl Nightingale’s “Our Changing World” series of programs. He also became
a nationally known celebrity and used his success to launch a speaking
career. He also bought an insurance company and eventually a waterfront
restaurant in Florida.
Nightingale teaming up with Lloyd Connant and formed the Nightingale-Connant
Corporation, becoming the first audio publishing company in America. In
1956, Earl recorded and produced one of his masterpiece works, “The
Strangest Secret.” This work is available on cassette tape and CD. Borrow
it, rent it or better yet, BUY IT! It’s like finding a suitcase full of
diamonds. Earl’s work obviously touched the hearts and souls of millions
of people, because “The Strangest Secret” is the only spoken recording to
ever have gone gold. That’s right, over a million copies were sold!
So what was Earl Nightingale’s “strangest secret”? Well, it goes back to
Napoleon Hill and “Think & Grow Rich.” The strangest secret is this...
“We become what we think about.”
Nightingale-Connant Took It Into The Mainstream
Earl Nightingale was “the voice” and the “front man” in the Nightingale-Connant
company. Lloyd Connant was the “business-man and operations man” of the
company. In the early days, they were producing sales and motivation
records, as well as Nightingale’s “Our Changing World” radio station
record series.
But in the mid-’60s there was a new audio medium that was beginning to get
a lot of attention. Audio cassette tapes were initially used for audio
voice messages. It wasn’t until Dolby Sound came along that audio
cassettes went mainstream. The Dolby noise reduction system eliminated
“tape hiss,” thus allowing music recording companies to produce music
cassette tapes. It wasn’t long before portable cassette tape players were
cheap and everywhere. Things really took off when cassette players were
offered in cars.
Here’s where Nightingale-Connant took this new technology and ran with it.
They saw an untapped market of people who were spending many hours a day
either commuting to and from work, or their jobs had them on the road.
What a perfect opportunity to offer a product that would turn wasted time
driving, into learning time? The company started offering six-cassette
sets of tapes on just about anything you wanted to learn - success
psychology, sales training, time management, money management, life
skills, relationships, and more. They attracted the best names in the
motivation and inspiration world. For $45 back then, you could get
six-hours of specialized information from people such as; Zig Ziglar, Leo
Buscaglia, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Dennis
Waitley, Tony Robbins, Robert Allen, Robert Ringer, and many others.
The prices have gone up since then, but it’s still a bargain. For only $60
to $80 you get six-hours of time with people that you can’t hire for over
ten times that rate per hour! Plus, you can listen over and over, until
you really understand what the author is talking about. You can go back
and relisten months or years later and still learn things that you missed
in previous listenings. When you look at it this way, programs such as
these are dirt cheap and we should be adding several programs to our
personal library every year.
Much of what I have learned over the years I owe to my MasterMind of
Nightingale-Connant consultants. And to think, it all goes back to
Napoleon Hill saying “Yes!” to Andrew Carnegie.
Here are a few basic points about forming a MasterMind group:
- Invite people who have a similar situation, such as self-employed
people, or people with very similar interests.
- Invite people who are dedicated to the achievement of their goals.
Having clearly defined, written goals should also be a requirement.
- Invite people who are ready to make some significant forward progress in
something that they have a lot of passion about. Remember, MasterMind
groups are about being pro-active players in life. It is not for people
with a “wait and see how things turn out” kind of mindset.
- Establish regular meeting dates and a specific length of time for the
meetings.
- Allow a little time before the meeting for everyone to say hello and
catch up on what’s been happening since the last meeting. This will clear
out space for meaningful group discussion time.
- Allow each member time to fully express themselves. At the same time,
when you are speaking, be aware of how much time you are using. This may
require that you give some serious thought to what you want to talk about,
so that you can be a succinct as possible. This will also allow more time
for the group to share ideas and new possible solutions.
- Avoid hot-button topics, even if you’re in agreement with the issues.
Since you only have a limited amount of time, you can save the juicy
topics for later.
- Avoid the temptation to rush in with a fix. Many times we think outloud,
and in the process of expressing ourselves, we either see our own solution
or provide the group with unknown facts that could have an affect on
possible solutions. Not rushing in with a fix also allows members of the
group to feel that they’ve been heard.
- MasterMind meetings are also a great place to practice your listening
skills. Someone once said that God created us with two ears and one
mouth... and we function best when we use them in that proportion.
Powerful listening is really an exercise in paying attention and
maintaining your focus. If someone is talking and your mind is wandering
or preparing what you want to say as soon as the other person finally
“shuts up,” then you’re really not listening. When we really LISTEN to
others, they love it. From an energetic perspective, when we are actively
listening, our attention and energy is focused on the speaker, and they
can most definitely feel it. The experience for the speaker is that they
often can feel a sense of heightened clarity and awareness. That’s because
your attention is energetically feeding them.
- Try to keep your group size to about 6 or so people. If you have more
you might have to have longer meetings so that everyone can have enough
talk time.
- If you can’t find a MasterMind group, start your own! Remember, all you
need is one other person. You can find people to join your group by
attending professional association meetings and asking around. Most of the
people in our group are members of a local holistic health organization.
Many people like to think of Life as a school because it seems that we
keep having “lessons” to learn. There are many perspective on this, but
let me close by sharing this.
Modern living has become more complex that anyone ever imagined. There is
so much to know and only the same number of hours in a day. A big part of
success and happiness in Life is knowing “where” to find the information
we need to move towards our goals and aspirations. Fortunately, you don’t
have to go it all alone, there’s LOTS of help out there. A MasterMind
group may very well be exactly what you’ve been needing to get you to
where you’ll be living the life you love.
In Closing...
I know this went on long, but how we got to this point isn’t something
that most people know about. The MasterMind principal is something that
has been around probably since the time the smartest and bravest cavemen
put their heads together to improve things in the tribe or clan. For
better or worse, humans and been forming small groups to conspire to a
particular cause. When groups gather for a specific purpose and a
harmonious way, BIG things can happen. Ideas trigger previously unseen
ideas that otherwise would not have come out. Creative power can grow
exponentially when two or more gather for a specific purpose.
You may have to start or participate in several MasterMind groups before
you find or create one that really works. Karen started a MasterMind group
once, but one of our participants didn’t want to have a structure and
didn’t like the concept of goals. One person liked to remain flexible so
that he could take advantage of things that might just pop up. There’s
nothing inherently wrong with this, but it is a slightly different version
of the “wait and see” way of being. This is what many call “living by
default.”
We were fortunate enough to be invited into an excellent MasterMind group
where everyone is playing full-out, but in a balanced manner. It’s really
a very unusual group of people. If was because of being a part of this
group that Karen and I have sought out training and become Personal
Coaches. This single invitation to join a MasterMind group has truly
changed our lives for the better.
The End
K. Scott Teeters is a Personal Life Coach, Reiki Master, and author of
"It’s Time To Wake Up: Reiki & Other Essential Tools For Spiritual
Awakening" published by Llumina Press. Scott’s “Wake Up” website is a
metaphysical candy shop loaded with essays, insights, awakening tools and
tips, and amazing images. The website address is: http://www.itstimetowakeup.com
Scott and Karen will be offering “Design The Life You Love” ebook,
workshops, and teleclasses by early Summer 2005.
They also have a very cool, online metaphysical gift store. Stop on by for
a visit at: http://www.freespiritgifeshop.com
Scott lives in Medford, NJ with his wife and business partner Karen, Spudz
their beagle dog, Mittins the tuxedo cat and Twiggy the tabby cat.
For information about Scott’s Personal Life Coaching services, visit his
website at: http://www.lifeyoulovecoaching.com
To schedule a FREE 30-minute coaching call with Scott, you can e-mail him
at: lightoak@comcast.net
K. Scott Teeters is a Personal Life Coach, Reiki Master, and author of
"It’s Time To Wake Up: Reiki & Other Essential Tools For Spiritual
Awakening" published by Llumina Press. Scott’s “Wake Up” website is a
metaphysical candy shop loaded with essays, insights, awakening tools and
tips, and amazing images. The website address is: http://www.itstimetowakeup.com
Scott and Karen will be offering “Design The Life You Love” ebook,
workshops, and teleclasses by early Summer 2005.
They also have a very cool, online metaphysical gift store. Stop on by for
a visit at: http://www.freespiritgifeshop.com
Scott lives in Medford, NJ with his wife and business partner Karen, Spudz
their beagle dog, Mittins the tuxedo cat and Twiggy the tabby cat.
For information about Scott’s Personal Life Coaching services, visit his
website at: http://www.lifeyoulovecoaching.com
To schedule a FREE 30-minute coaching call with Scott, you can e-mail him
at: lightoak@comcast.net
This is an excerpt from Scott & Karen
Teeters’ soon to be available e-book titled, “Design The Life You Love &
Have Fun Doing It.” This dynamic new e-book will be available by the end
of April 2005. For more information about this e-book, go to
http://www.itstimetowakeup.com.
