Pulling A Power Group Together

With 2016 just around the corner, I wanted to send this out to the universe to help us all kick the new year off with a BANG!

BTW – if you’re interested in doing the same thing I did here and would like some help/advice, you can comment below or message me directly on the Your Higher Level Life Facebook Page.

I’m the kind of person that likes to do things myself when I can – partly because of curiosity (hey, I wonder if I can do that), partly because of lack of trust (e.g. car mechanics), and who knows why else…However, I’m also aware of my own limitations, and how others have helped me – with advice, wisdom, input, ideas, money, connections. Having experienced the power of working with a group of supportive individuals, I craved having that support again.

Here’s how I pulled an amazing group together overnight, and maybe you can use this to do something similar to pull your own like-minded group together to help each other accomplish goals with crazy effectiveness

I decided to bring some of my close friends together to create a ‘Success Mastermind’ meeting. We had done this very thing some time back, maybe 10 years ago now. We’d brainstorm for ideas, bounce ideas off each other, all that good stuff. It was great. Then life set in. One of us moved out to California to work at Apple. Another was working his way up the corporate ladder (now a Senior VP at a major broadcasting company). Others, like me, simply became more busy with life, kids, and just keeping it together. The meetings fizzled.

So I emailed whom was left of my former group, and not much had changed. Everyone liked the idea, but pretty much everyone was busy for one reason or another.

One morning, I was thinking about all the awesome people I’ve connected with over the years, and I figured, why not open it up to anyone that has a positive vibe, that’s interested in being MORE successful (whatever that means to them). That morning, I sent a few texts from home, and then I called a few more people on my drive to work. The responses were amazing…

Me: I’m getting a meetup started…A success mastermind setup…Support group / etc…positive energy and people motivated to have an awesome life – you interested?
Awesome Person 1: Who wouldn’t be [interested]
Me: That answer rocks dude!
Awesome Person 1: Seriously I’m down. That should be anybody and everybody’s answer.

And one of my favorite responses:

Awesome Person 2:“HELL Yeah, I’m interested!”

Less than a week later, we had an initial conference call to kick things off. One of my friends offered his conference room… boom! Awesome location locked down. The next month we had our first meeting. Out of a list of 25 people that were ‘interested’, 10 people showed up. Some couldn’t make it for legitimate reasons, and the rest? Well…perhaps this is just how they’ll continue to show up in life. It’s the group of 10 that showed up that is important. Showing up is the first step, the first filter that separates the do-ers from the do-not-ers. I have to admit I couldn’t have hand-picked a better group out of the 25, or a better size. The group gelled immediately, and found its own vision and path. It was amazing.

It seems to me that 10 people is a perfect size for this sort of thing. More people and the group size becomes unwieldy, there’s not enough time for people to really fully share, and it’s hard to connect with everyone on a deep level. While I don’t have any experience to back this up, it seems like 8 is a great lower bound – ourself plus 7 others. There’s a lot of brain power there, and the group is easily handled by our capacity and time constraints.

After that first meeting, ideas came flooding in on how we can make the most of our time together, how this ‘group think’ could be applied to nearly any purpose, agenda, or goals – either goals for the individual or a common goal amongst the members.

I’m reaching out to the others that couldn’t make the first group to test out getting another monthly group going – possibly with a different intent or purpose based on the needs of those involved. I’m also considering helping start groups with a clear purpose that is a common goal for everyone involved (think something more philanthropic here), and I think it can be powerfully positive

Here’s some fodder for thought – around why a tight ‘Power Group’ can be such an effective agent of action and change:

7 Reasons To Pull Your Own Power Group Together Now

1.) Be more decisive

When faced with a tough decision, we can sometimes be hit with analysis paralysis. At the very least, a tough decision can induce a large amount of stress. Decision Fatigue is a very real thing. Having a partner or group to consult can often lead to a quick decision – even if it’s a light affirmation of your hunches, it can be enough to move you to take action immediately instead of wasting your precious mental energy while attempting to make the best decision.

2.) Be Accountable

It’s all too easy to break promises we make to ourselves. How many times have you kept all (or even some) of your New Year’s resolutions? Having someone as a partner is powerful. The more public and open you are with your commitments, the more likely you are to make a legitimate effort to stick to them. The idea here is the fear of having to publicly admit failure is a force that pushes against the impulse to quit when you encounter a certain amount of resistance or difficulty. A trusted accountability partner can ideally call you on your BS, remind you of WHY you made the commitments, and help you more consciously choose your path of action.

3.) Encouragement

Positive reinforcement is huge. It’s one aspect of the fundamental forces that forge our core behaviors. This, like Being Accountable, is related to our desire for social approval, and hearkens back to the encouragement that we received (or wanted to receive) from our parents or caregivers. A friend telling us “That was AWESOME!”…”I can’t believe you pulled that off!!!” is POWERFUL. How many times have you had something amazing happen, and you couldn’t wait to tell someone… ANYONE…what just happened? Telling someone, and getting that positive feedback, encourages all the effort, work, perseverance, and courage it took for you to MAKE that happen, so you’re more likely to push through future challenges as they come up.

4.) Set Clear Goals

We don’t technically need others to help with this, however, it’s very easy for us to fall into the habit of working ‘toward our dreams’ without clear goals when we aren’t holding ourselves accountable. Working with a partner, coach, or group will force us to get clear with what we truly want… to spell it out. We then see where we are, where we want to go, and what the next steps are to go in the right direction.

5.) Don’t Overlook The Obvious

When we are too close to the problem, it can be hard to be objective. How many times have you been looking for an answer to have someone walk up and point it out in 2 seconds. Again, this can impact our ability to take action – particularly if we’re concerned that we might miss something if we’re not careful. Having someone to quickly confirm that everything looks good – that we’re on the right track can be very useful.

6.) Two Minds Can Be Better Than One

Sometimes we need to be off on our own, letting our minds wander freely without distractions and come up with novel ideas. Other times, we need to take those novel ideas and thoughts out of isolation and share them with others. Bouncing ideas around with people of different backgrounds and disciplines can yield very creative solutions, as, say, people can apply patterns they’ve learned from studying Biology to solving Structural Engineering problems.

7.) Your Network’s Network

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that there is immense power in one’s network. Think about the aspects of your life, including your own creation, that have occurred simply because of a chance encounter between two individuals. If you read the life stories of any highly successful person you will find that their lives are what they are in large part because of the people in that person’s life, and people they knew. A simple concrete example is comparing two job applicants – one applies through the standard channels on a company website (along with 10,000 others), and another applicant knows someone at the company that personally recommends him/her to the hiring manager… BOOM, applicant 2 wins every time!

So – who do you know, and what is YOUR Power Group going to accomplish together in 2016?