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Wednesday, 20 Aug 2008
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Chapter
2: The Hidden Key To 'Chemistry'
by
Nelson Tan
We let you in on a little background of how the modern Masterminding
culture first evolved in the 20th century. Some of you heard of
this story before. Nonetheless, it will be a good reminder as
you prepare yourself to become a member of a group which you can
gratefully call your ‘family’.
Napoleon Hill might not have coined the term ‘Mastermind’,
but he was definitely the first author to write so extensively
and eloquently about it in clearly defined text and popularized
it. In the process of writing his transcripts which would eventually
form the all-time mega bestseller “Think
and Grow Rich”, he observed the lives of over 513 of
the world’s wealthiest men for some 20 years, and discovered
that they ALL belonged to a Mastermind group. Each had
a group of peers with whom they received support, encouragement,
contacts, knowledge and advice. Each one of them acknowledged
the power and absolute necessity of the Mastermind group for their
immense success in life, as Napoleon claimed.
Birds
Of The Same Feather...
The above paragraph is not the story, but which we are going to
tell you now and is likely to be true. Napoleon recounted of a
time when he spent a number of days living, eating, bathing and
sleeping (not on the same bed, please!) with Henry Ford, Thomas
Edison and Harvey Firestone (you recognized these billion-dollar
brand names, don’t you?) during a retreat in the woods to
find out for himself, “When these guys are not masterminding
and working together, do they still get together at other times,
and what do they do?”
So what did they do? They went hunting in the woods of course!
Carrying their double-barreled rifles on the lookout for foxes,
deer, whatever, and talking and laughing along the way. That’s
how they arranged to spend their time in recreation as part of
an annual period of rest and recuperation. Apparently, Napoleon
took significant note that not once during the hunting trip did
they ever mention ‘business’. Business was business
and recreation was… recreation.
When it came down to business, as Napoleon continued to observe,
Henry, Thomas and Harvey were already so ‘into’ one
another’s personalities, characters and temperaments that
whatever was communicated between them was also perfectly received,
and the 3 of them, whether consciously or unconsciously, by accident
or design, had blended their minds in such a way that the mind
of each had been supplemented by a super-conscious power known
as a ‘Mastermind’, and that mind has brought each
of them more worldly gain than any person could possibly use to
his own advantage. The group of 3 grew with 6 more members and
they were Wm. Wrigley Jr., who owned the Wrigley Chewing Gum business
and whose income is said to be over $1.5 billion a year, John
R. Thompson, who owned the chain of Thompson Self-Help Launch
Rooms throughout the country, Mr. Lasker, who owned the Lord &
Thomas Advertising Agency, Mr. McCullough, who owned the largest
Express Business in the world and Mr. Ritchie and Mr. Hertz, who
co-owned the Yellow Taxicab business of the country.
Did the culture within the Mastermind group grow more complicated
with size? Apparently not. It was just as effective as before
if not better. Maybe they all went hunting to orientate new members.
...Work
And Play Together
Herein lies today’s lesson on Masterminding: it’s
worth taking time out to speak to your partners about things outside
business. That did not mean you all must go on a camping
trip or a boot camp, but sometimes verbal communication is all
you need to probe further and understand your partners’
concerns, priorities and other aspects of their lives, then with
the hindsight you have gained, you can accommodate them and blend
in with them in situations where so much more are at stake, like…‘business’.
“How
do I start?” you ask. Just pick up the phone and call them,
‘ICQ’ them or ‘MSN’ them and chat wholeheartedly.
It does help to de-stress one another and bring about a more relaxed
atmosphere. Go one step further by inviting them for a weekly
soccer or basketball game.
The hidden key is about how you make optimal use of whatever time
you have with your partners outside of business dealings. The
same principle behind this key also applies to how parents make
full use of their time to be with their kids. The common misconception
about ‘quality time’ goes like, “If I can make
next Sunday the best Sunday my kid will ever have, that’s
quality time.” That’s terribly wrong. Time
cannot be recouped back, and so is quality itself. You
can only channel all your time and energy in specific areas that
are dear to you…with whatever it takes.
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Nelson
Tan is the architect behind Internet
Mastery Center (http://www.internetmasterycenter.com): Create
Your Online Profits with the RIGHT Products, Environment and Mindset!
(You
may reprint this text as an individual article.)
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