—Amy M. Gardner

"Find your team and get to work."

- Leslie Knope

“As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration.  Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.”

- Amy Poehler 

*OK, so maybe I’ve never had a direct conversation with TV character Leslie Knope of “Parks and Recreation." Or with Amy Poehler. But I’m pretty sure if I could, they’d both be in favor of masterminds. And, as we know, waffles.  

Five years ago, I didn’t know what a mastermind was.  Today, I know that my accomplishments over the last four years are attributable in many ways to the focus, accountability, and development that masterminds have provided.  In short, Leslie Knope would approve.  

Let me back up. In case you aren’t familiar with them, a mastermind is a group of people who come together to learn, grow, and hold each other accountable as they move forward on their own goals and dreams. The group is lead by someone with expertise in the topic that is the focus of the group (whether general goal achievement, fostering a business, making a career change, or building your career, etc.).

In 2017, I was in a group that was styled as a mastermind — people in the group took turns researching and presenting on specific topics of interest to all of the participants, we met twice per month by phone or Google Hangouts, and each of us shared our goals and progress towards them with the other members, who took turns doing some informal coaching of each other.  While at first I thought the group was better than nothing, in the end it was almost worse than nothing, because (I now realize), none of us had skin in the game, and there was no designated leader.  Consistently late for calls or join halfway through?  No biggie.  Unprepared to present on the topic you volunteered to present on?  Life happens.  Zero progress on your goals in the last two weeks, four weeks, or six weeks?  We understand.

Basically, while the intentions were good, the lack of a clear leader, accountability, or investment by each of the members meant that rather than being a boost, the group was a drag on my energy as those who were committed to and making progress towards goals got irritated with those who weren’t, those who weren’t often got defensive or took the group off-track. . . . It wasn’t a good use of time, and it fell apart.

Fast forward to January 2018.  I was at an event, Best Year Ever Live, focused on goal setting and achievement and hosted by Michael Hyatt.  During the three day seminar, Michael started talking about his own mastermind offering.  Based on my 2017 experience, I nearly tuned out his comments.  Then I realized even that well-intentioned, if not ideal, mastermind group had helped me.  No matter what other people in the group were doing, I often found myself spending hours scrambling before our calls to make sure I had something to report.  (Think of how much progress you make the day before a conference call or staff meeting and you’ll get the idea.)  If that group with no formal structure, no leader, and no real plan had helped me get results purely by virtue of the accountability those check-ins forced, I realized, maybe something organized, led by people who knew what they were doing, and where I had skin in the game could help even more, and without the frustrations.  

I gulped audibly when Michael shared the amount of the investment in his mastermind — $10,000.  Then I started doing the math on one of those little notepads they give you at conferences.  The life expectancy of an American is just over 79 years.  If $10,000 could help me make the most of that year and the ones to come (applying the strategies I would learn), why not do it?  What was I waiting for — 2018 to not go well so I could just do it in 2019 anyway, having lost the benefits of achieving my goals in 2018?  I don’t know if my logic was sound, but it worked well enough that I renewed for 2019, and renewed for 2020.  Since then I have joined additional mastermind groups and since 2019 we have led Future in Focus Mastermind cohorts. Why?  These are the main benefits I’ve found of being in a mastermind:

Expertise. The Michael Hyatt mastermind has actually changed its name and is now called Business Accelerator to reflect its focus on growing and scaling a business. That’s great for me and the point I’m at in my career, because it’s on a topic where I know I have a lot I can learn, and where the leader — the former CEO of a $200 million company who has built a new business from the ground up — has a lot to teach. I go into every session with my mastermind knowing that I will end it with something new to think about.

Accountability. Frankly, the thought of having to report to other group members that I’m not making progress towards my goals is a powerful motivator. They’re all smart, talented, motivated people, and there’s an element of wanting to run with the big dogs that keeps me trucking along in between sessions.

Pressure. It may sound silly, but investing more than I was comfortable with meant I have pushed myself to go all-in — participating fully in sessions and in between sessions, and making sure I’ve made the most of my investment. You’ll never find me checking my phone rather than focusing in an in-person session, or blowing off the exercises. Just like a stretch at the gym, the financial stretch enabled me to reach farther later on.

Peers and coaches. The other members in my mastermind cohort and our coaches are smart, motivated, and interesting. Being around people with whom I have some things in common, but not everything, has meant access to a diversity of experiences and opinions that has helped me as I’ve considered big decisions in my professional and personal life over the last year. As much as my friends, mentors, family, or spouse may want to help me, the coaches and other members of the mastermind have been a more balanced sounding board that tends to bring more honest advice.

All this said, I have gotten a tremendous amount out of my mastermind groups.  

There are some things, though, that I would’ve changed about my own experiences, and all of that has gone into the development of Apochromatik’s Future in Focus Masterminds.  

First off, rather than 12 months or 3 months long like most masterminds, Future in Focus 2021 Attorney Masterminds are 6 months long.  We’ve found that 12 months can create the impression that there’s plenty of time, while 3 month masterminds can be too short — heaven forbid, for example, that the flu moves its way through your house, or you have a new baby that quarter.  Six months (April through September) is long enough to make more progress than you can imagine, but short enough that you will still have time to fly solo for the last half of the year, applying what you’ve learned and implementing the next steps you’ll design during the mastermind. (We include quarterly check-in calls for two subsequent quarters as an extra boost to keep you on track.)  

Second, our Future in Focus Masterminds are led by two Certified, Professional Coaches who work every day with clients on their career development and career transitions.  Media of all types— from ABA publications and Corporette to Monster and NBC— quote us on these topics as well as on time management, goal setting, and achievement. 

Third, we’ve seen how important it can be to have one-on-one coaching in what are often called “spotlight sessions” during a mastermind (where one person is coached by the mastermind leader in front of the rest of the group).  While the person being coached always has “aha” moments during and after the session, the benefits for the rest of the group are huge as well. That’s why we have those sessions not just at the full day launch, but also throughout the monthly momentum calls.  (And, with small cohort size, everyone will have the chance to have these sessions, not just a few people.)  

We also have also seen the huge leaps our one-on-one clients make through coaching and have noticed how not having that in our own mastermind program has been a disadvantage.  That’s why Future in Focus Masterminds include two monthly one-on-one sessions with an Apochromatik coach (in addition to the sessions in front of the group) to make sure participants are making the progress they want, troubleshoot any issues, and help them keep going.

My own first “mastermind” experience involved people who I never met in person, whereas my second involved only in person meetings and limited virtual communication between sessions.  I’ve seen firsthand the difference it makes in terms of trust, connection, and focus to bring the group together in the right way. That’s why Future in Focus Masterminds kick off with a weekend together to build the trust and connection, and work through material that would be impossible to digest and learn with the day-to-day distractions of home and work. Over the past year we have been constantly developing new ways to effectively do this online.  (We also include weekly virtual communication via Facebook or Slack to maintain momentum, in addition to monthly gatherings via video calls.) 

I’ve also experienced the advantages of a small group over a large one, which is why the Future in Focus groups are capped at 10 per cohort, to ensure that everyone gets to know each other and builds the relationships that will make members trusted professional and personal resources for years to come.

My own mastermind experiences have sometimes left me wishing our leaders drew on broader expertise, which is why Future in Focus masterminds include monthly bonus video calls with other experts: Heather Hubbard on business development for attorneys, recruiters giving their tips to the cohorts making a career transition, and so many more. We have amazing new experiences planned for our 2021 cohort.

Based on my own experiences, I’ve seen how productive and helpful it is to have people who are carefully selected – not just people who can afford the cost.  We customize the cohorts to ensure a fit among participants.  

Finally, I’ve seen how it’s easier to get more out of a mastermind when you’re all in, which is why we’re offering big bonuses — from LinkedIn and resume reviews to additional coaching hours and even additional tools and resources — to those who join now.

If you’re ready to invest your time and resources into finally achieving your goals in 2021, I hope you’ll listen to Leslie Knope (and her alter ego), and consider how to harness a group of people who challenge and inspire you to change your life.  Or, as Leslie Knope said, “find your team and get to work.” And if you’d like to learn more about Apochromatik’s Future in Focus 2021 Masterminds, click here.