Yesterday was the first day of my Speedy Startup--a 12-week program I've been running in Bucks County, PA to help people who are unemployed start up their own businesses. We are super-focused on action and learning from doing, so they don't write a "business plan." Instead they set up a bunch of experiments and start testing the hell out of their ideas--seeing what works and what doesn't and pivoting when their original idea doesn't turn out to "the one."  This group is an especially ambitious crew. Several of them have already started working in their businesses and experiencing that learning by doing. How they are approaching their businesses can teach us a lot about our careers too, so I wanted to share some of what they've been learning.  Say Yes and Then Figure It Out One of the individuals in the group is starting a cleaning business. A client asked her if she stripped wood floors. She said "Yes I do!" (even though she'd never done it before) and then went home and spent hours on YouTube learning how to do it. The next day, she went in and did the work.  There was no "I've never done that before" or "I'm not sure I could do that for you." She was given a stretch assignment, said yes, and then got herself ready for the challenge.  Make It Yours Another Speedy Startup participant is starting up a fitness business. One of his offerings is called Club 10--it's a "club" version of working out, complete with club music and a DJ, glow-in-the-dark bracelets and strobe lights. He's taking the drudgery out of working out, making it fun and social.  Working out and fitness is nothing new. But he's putting his personal stamp on it, something all of us need to do in our work.  Work Through Resistance One of the women in the group was a few minutes late to the session. When she came in, she told me that in the week or so before the class began, all these bad things had started happening--kids getting sick, stuff coming up that was distracting her from doing the pre-work for the course. That morning, she'd thought, "This is too much. I'm going to have to drop out."  But then she remembered a video I sent them in the week before we started that talked about Steven Pressfield's concept of Resistance--this force that rises up to distract us from and disrupt our most important creative work. Pressfield says: We can navigate Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or purpose that we must follow before all others.  Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it. (my emphasis)  So she fought the Resistance and showed up.  This can happen in our careers, too--we are disrupted from our most important work and get off course. But when we recognize that this is just Resistance doing what it does, then we can course-correct and go through it. We can show up to do what we're supposed to do. We can create what we're supposed to create.  I'm looking forward to learning with this cohort of Speedy Startup participants. Every cohort has something new to teach me or remind me of and already this group is no exception. 

A few weeks ago I ran across the late Peter Benson's TEDTalk on how youth thrive. Long-time readers of this blog know that this is my goal here--to find ways that we can move from surviving to thriving and that the 4 patterns of career resilience are all about creating a thriving career and life.  What Benson found through his research with young people is that the foundation of thriving is knowing and expressing your "spark." Young people who had this opportunity had higher academic performance, higher engagement, greater compassion, a stronger sense of purpose and less violence in their lives.  Yet sadly, only 1 in 4 teens was on a path to thriving.  I know why. Because most ADULTS don't know their sparks, how to live a life in alignment with those sparks or how to support other people in expressing their sparks. I see it all the time.  What is your "Spark"? In Benson's research, teens IMMEDIATELY knew what was meant by "spark." It is: Your "best self" That skill, quality, talent, interest,  gift, or commitment to something larger than yourself that gives you energy and joy and provides a feeling of being alive, useful and purposeful.   Your prime source of meaning, self-directed action and purpose. Absorbing to the point that you lose yourself in the moment--you go into "flow."  Your spark comes from inside you. It is something that has the potential to make the world a better place for others. It is that "thing" that when you express it, you know you are being your truest, best self--you feel most like yourself.  Your spark can be music, art, writing, drama, design, leadership, sports, spirituality, relationships, social justice, science, programming--almost anything. But you know it when you're engaged in it. It's that thing that makes you feel alive and connected. You can lose yourself in it and you would pay someone else to just be able to DO it.  Your life feels richer and filled with possibilities when you are expressing your spark and it feels dead and numb when you are not.  Your spark is your way of being present in your own life.  And you know when someone else is expressing their spark. Their faces light up. They become animated and excited talking about it. They lean in and are engaged. You can feel the energy of their passion for it. It lights them from within.  Spark as a Source of Identity and Community While knowing our own spark is clearly the first step, Benson discovered that it must also be seen and acknowledged by others. We want and need to be seen, known and embraced by others for our spark.  When people acknowledge our spark--tell us that it is beautiful and appreciated and that the world is a better place for us expressing it--we feel seen in a way that goes beyond our roles in life or our credentials or experience.  I know that my own spark is about creating space for others to find and express their sparks--to connect to and express their best selves--and that when I receive compliments for that quality, I feel a sense of satisfaction and joy that I feel at no other time.  The Thriving Equation Benson and his researchers found that there is an equation for thriving, one that I find fits in perfectly with my patterns for resilience. This is it: Spark + 3 Champions + Opportunity Knowing your spark is tied to the pattern of Clarity. It is part of knowing yourself and how you fit into the world.  Having 3 Champions is part of the Connecting pattern--who in your life sees your spark, knows it, and actively works with you to help you find opportunities to express it? Who keeps reminding you that your spark is your THING, even when you may forget that?  Having Opportunity is all about the Creating pattern of resilience. How do you regularly find opportunities to express your spark, to manifest it and bring it into the world? How are you acting on the life-giving energy of your spark?  And all of this together--this is how we Cope and show care for ourselves. When you know and regularly have opportunities to express your spark, the rest of your life falls into place. You feel happier, more engaged, less stressed and more alive. Often if we look at why we may be feeling unhappy or anxious, it is because we have not found healthy ways to express our sparks on an ongoing basis. We are blocked from our best selves and that stresses us out.  Awakening the Inner Fire Imagine a world where we were focused on drawing out our own inner fire and the sparks of those around us.  Imagine what we could create for ourselves and each other if we saw, knew and appreciated each other based on those sparks. As Benson found, knowing someone's spark draws us TOWARD them. We are drawn to that light and see past everything else.  Imagine what we could create together if we combined our sparks--a beautiful roaring fire that warms us all.  What a wonderful gift this would be to both ourselves and our children.  Awakening and feeding our inner fire and the fires of those around us makes us Spark Champions. We need more of us in the world.  Human development doesn't come from the outside in--we do not grow by filling ourselves with facts and knowledge and external expectations. True growth comes from the inside out--from lighting our own fire and keeping it going. We are not vessels to be filled, but fires to be lit. What can you spark today? 

Yesterday I wrote about the power of finding your sparks--those talents, skills, gifts, qualities, interests or commitments to something larger than yourself that make you feel most alive, joyful and filled with purpose.  Today, I want to talk a little bit more about your sparks and how they do (or don't)  connect to your career.  Here's the thing. . .  In an ideal world, you would be paid to express your sparks. When we talk about people building a career on their "passions," this is really what we mean.  Many people are fortunate to find a way to get paid for their sparks and I personally believe that part of the value in developing multiple income streams is that you can often turn your sparks into a source of revenue for you.  Seeking to be paid for your sparks, especially in a culture that makes work so central to our sense of selves, is probably the easiest way to live a life in alignment with your sparks.  But although I'm an idealist at heart, I also have a practical edge. I understand that we live in a world that is largely about productivity and profit and that not all of our sparks are going to generate enough revenue to make a living.  I also know that sometimes what it takes to make your sparks generate revenue can kill the joy that you feel in them. Here I'm thinking of an artist friend I know whose graphic design and corporate artwork pays the bills, but a little piece of his soul dies every time he has to use his artistic skills for that kind of work. Unfortunately, the art that makes his soul sing isn't as lucrative for him.  In these circumstances, our work and "career" may need to be structured differently. We may want to look for something that provides us with the income, space and time to express our sparks in the non-work parts of our lives.  And rather than seeing our jobs or our work as our primary source of identity (as our society encourages us to do), we need to shift into seeing our sparks as "who we are." Work is something we DO,  in these circumstances.  But when we think of who we ARE, what makes us special and feel alive--that comes in our spark moments.  If you are able to integrate your sparks into your work and career path, then that's wonderful. But if not, I still think that finding and expressing your sparks should play a major role in how you think about and plan for your career. In this case, finding work that can support the expression of your sparks becomes the goal.  Here's what I know. We are at our happiest, most fulfilled and most alive to our own possibilities when we live a life that honors and expresses our sparks. If you can do that and get paid--fantastic. But if not, then find a way to have what you do to generate income support the expression of your sparks.   

To thrive, we focus not on trying to be happy all the time, but on becoming resilient in our lives. Here's my Resilience Manifesto. It's a work in progress.  Know your personal vision and formula for thriving--how does your life look and feel when you are focused on thriving? What does it take to get there?   Act from inspiration, not desperation.   Get curious about your life. Ask more questions and worry less about answers.     Words create worlds--how can you live into the story of your life and find the words to tell a story that celebrates your power and resilience, rather than what feels broken or stuck?   "To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together." Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Who do you want to run with?   Pay attention.   Live more of your own life and less of someone else’s.   Go for direction, not destination.   Seek clarity, not certainty.   Know when you have clarity, but need courage.   Have more conversations and talk about what’s most important, not what’s "acceptable."   Find your sparks. Share them with others. Become a Champion for others to find and express their sparks.    Be your own hero.   Stop being the hero for others and start being the host. Create space for them to find their own inner heroism.   Give yourself permission.   Plan less. Experiment more.    Set goals to please your future self.      Make your own path. Don't follow someone else's.   Trust the mess. Getting lost will help you find yourself.   Know the difference between stuck and resting. Let yourself rest.    Feel and listen to your emotions. Quit shutting them down. Let them tell you what you need to hear, especially  when you don't want to hear it.   Find ways to dance, sing, play and draw your way to transformation. Grow through your joy and ease as much as through your trials and tribulations.    If you don’t like something, stop complaining and change it.   Do these resonate with you? What would you change? What would you add? 

One of the problems we humans can have with setting and reaching our goals is that when we set them, we are thinking of the person we are right now, rather than the person we will become when we meet those goals. We haven't connected with that future version of ourselves.  For most of us, our future selves are like other people--people whose motivations, emotions, etc. we understand imperfectly. In fact, research shows that we treat our future selves as though they ARE other people. (And incidentally, this means that we are less kind and thoughtful about that future person) But research also shows that when we are more connected to that future version of ourselves, we are more likely to do things now that will take care of that person we will eventually become--whether it is the future of 30 minutes or 30 years from now.  Connecting to Your Future Self When I talk about the Connecting habit of Career Resilience, I'm generally referring to the connections we form with other people. But to achieve our goals, we also have to form stronger connections to our future selves. When we envision who we will become and use that to help guide our behaviors in the present, we are likelier to take the kinds of actions that will lead to longer-term health, wealth and happiness. So how to do this? Envision Your Future Self Start by envisioning the Self that you want to be. I personally believe that the most powerful way to do this is through collage--pasting images and words onto card stock or poster board. Start collecting images and phrases from magazines, books and the Web that capture the person you want to become. Then spend an hour or two arranging and gluing them to create a literal picture of who you want to be.  This is a process that can be really powerful, as it often uncovers thoughts or ideas that you may not have allowed into consciousness before the exercise.    Connect to Your Broader Life Dream  Psychologist Daniel Levinson found that most of us have a "Life Dream," something that is often connected to our "sparks"--those skills, talents, passions that bring us the most joy and fulfillment. Levinson found that the life crises many of us experience at different phases of our lives are often the result of deferring or not acting in alignment with achieving that Life Dream: "Major shifts in life direction at subsequent ages are often occasioned by a … sense of betrayal or compromise of the Dream. That is, very often in the crises that occur at age 30, 40, or later a major issue is the reactivation of a guiding Dream … that goes back to adolescence or the early 20's, and the concern with its failure."  By connecting to your own Life Dream and taking actions today that move you toward that dream, you are more likely to avoid these types of crises in your life and career.  So find ways to explore and connect to your Big Life Dream--what is it that THING you want to do or be and how can you take steps now that move you toward that dream? Write Letters to Your Future Self One of the most powerful ways to connect with your future self is to write him/her a letter. Begin the letter "Dear Future Me" and then go on to describe all of the things you're happy and proud about that this future version of yourself has accomplished in important areas of life. For added benefit, be sure to talk about HOW and WHY this future self has been successful. What did they do to achieve these things? This helps you create the bridge between who you are now and who you want to become.  I've found this to be especially helpful to do as part of shorter term planning. For example, write a letter to the Self of 3 months from now. What is he/she up to? How did they get there?  Send Emails To Your Future Self FutureMe is a free service that lets you send emails to yourself at scheduled times. This can be an excellent way to provide yourself with shorter term coaching and motivation. If you want to start changing certain habits for example, you can schedule a series of messages to yourself that ask if you've made progress on that goal. So if you're working on being more mindful, then set up messages that ask "Have you taken a 2-minute mindfulness break yet?" Or if you want to be more intentional about strengthening your connections, schedule daily emails that ask "Have you sent a note of appreciation to someone today?"    Connecting to your future self can be a powerful way to see more progress in achieving your goals. What do you do to support that future version of who you will become? How do you stay connected to him/her so you can take the actions you need to get there? 

A big mistake a lot of us make in our work is to confuse our careers with the jobs we have right now. This is a problem because we end up confusing job management with career management. And believe me, there's a difference.  Job Management When you are managing your job, you focus on: Accomplishing current tasks and responsibilities Attending company/organization-sponsored training Networking on behalf of your company Doing things right and meeting company/organization expectations There's nothing wrong with any of this. Job management is necessary to keep your current position and will help you develop your reputation for future opportunities.  The problems arise when every ounce of energy you have for work is poured into your current job, with nothing left over to think about and prepare for a future that most likely will not be with your current company or organization.  Job management is about pleasing your current employer. Career management is about creating your own path.  Career Management When you are managing your career, you still do some of the job management tasks I identified above.  But you are also carving out time, attention and energy for thinking through and acting on your own goals and desires in your career. You: Regularly reflect on your career--what you are learning, what you want to be learning, how you are using your strengths and sparks.  Seek out and create relationships that support your own growth and development. Are in charge of your own learning, recognizing that your knowledge and skills are YOURS and that they are one of your main sources of competitive advantage. Assess your company's professional development opportunities and know when it's time to strike out on your own.   Treat your career as an experiment, taking risks and trying out new ideas and possibilities. Pay attention to what's going on in the larger world--other industries and occupations--and to how these trends may impact your current job and your future.  Have a layoff plan, recognizing that no job--NO JOB--is permanent.  Most of all, you regularly assess and develop your habits of career resilience. When you build your resilience, then you are automatically paying attention to managing your career.    So here's the question for today--Are you focused on managing your job or managing your career?    I've published a free Resilience Assessment here. See how many "Yes's" you get!

    Often when we set goals for ourselves, the missing link between setting the goal and achieving it is accountability. We have a plan we intend to execute, but we haven't set up ways to hold ourselves accountable for following through. As a result, we later return to our goals, wondering what happened.  So how do we build accountability into our plans? Here are four ideas to try out. 1. Connect to Your Emotions Chip and Dan Heath in their book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, argue that for any change to happen, we need to connect to the emotional component of our brains. We assume that all action and decisions are logical, when in reality, most of our behavior is being driven by the more hidden emotional part of our brains.  When you are setting your goal, you need to dive into the emotional component of why achieving this goal is really important to you. Find ways to visualize your goal (this is where inspiration boards can be helpful) or write about why it's important to you to achieve this goal.  The more you can connect to your deepest emotional desires, the more likely you are to achieve the goal and to follow through.  And if you can't connect to the emotions, then you might want to ask why this is a goal for you. If you can't FEEL its importance, maybe it's not a goal worth having.  2. Email Prompts and Reminders to Yourself Last week I talked about planning with your future self in mind and pointed you to Future.me, a free service that allows you to schedule a series of emails to your future self.  The next time you set a goal, figure out what actions you want to take and set deadline dates for yourself to accomplish these things. Then fire up Future Me and set up a series of email prompts to be sent out on appropriate dates.  Use the prompts to motivate and inspire your future self. You can include images with your email, so maybe include some pictures that will inspire you or maybe some quotes. If you have videos that might be helpful (I have some videos that get me pumped up when I need to take certain actions), include those as links in your email too. Experiment with asking yourself questions, like "Hey--did you call those 3 people you were planning to contact yet?"  Or try positive reinforcement--"I know you've already made those calls--you should be feeling really good about yourself right now."  The nice thing about using Future.me as an accountability partner is that you can also use the emails as a way to plan ahead for the actions you want to take to achieve your goal. By planning out your email campaign with yourself, you're also creating a concrete plan for getting to your goal.  3. Get an Accountability Partner Last week I started facilitating the Business Leadership Academy I run for a local Chamber of Commerce. In the first session I have participants identify their leadership goals for the year and then what they want to achieve between now and our session next month. Then I have them partner with someone else to talk about how they can be accountability partners for each other. You can do this, too.  Find someone who is also working on some personal/professional goals and spend some time talking with each other about what those goals are, your timeline for completion and actions you want to take.  Then work out how you can each hold the other accountable for achieving your goals. Maybe you will schedule a weekly or bi-weekly check-in phone call with each other to talk about progress. Or you can set up a system for emailing and checking in.  It can be easy to blow off our accountability to ourselves when we are the only people aware of progress, or the lack thereof. But if we have to report in to another person, that takes accountability to another level. I'm working with an intern right now who is also building up her business. She told me that she's gotten more done in the past month to move her business forward than in the 6 months prior simply because she doesn't want to have to tell me that she didn't do anything to work on her business when we have our bi-weekly calls.  Having a partner can provide not only inspiration and motivation, but also a sense of responsibility to another person that can make the difference between action and letting things fall through the cracks.  4. Start a Mastermind Group If you want to take accountability to a whole other level, especially on an ongoing basis, consider starting a Mastermind Group.  This is a group of 3-5 people who share a desire to work on achieving personal/professional goals together.  Using a group to achieve goals expands both your network of potential supports and connections, as well as your access to resources and information. And if you think disappointing one person feels bad, try reporting to a group that you made no progress on your goals! If you want to use a Mastermind group, this tends to be a longer sort of commitment to working together, so you would only want to go this route if you really want to participate in this level of accountability and support. If you are serious about achieving your goals, though, this can be one of your most potent sources of support and accountability.    Building in intentional accountability strategies is key to achieving any goal. These are just a few suggestions for making yourself more accountable to yourself.  What experiences have you had with accountability strategies? What has worked best for you? _________________________________________________________________ How prepared are you for the age of permanent career management? Take this free career self-assessment to see how resilient you are!

In today's economy, 5-year and even 1-year career plans don't make a ton of sense. Too much changes too quickly and it's difficult to anticipate where things will be a year or 5 years from now. But beyond that, our careers are living, evolving entities that require regular care and feeding, work that is best done in a shorter time frame. The Problems with Longer-Term Career Planning One issue with longer planning periods is that it's easier for us to procrastinate. We feel like we have lots of time to make goals happen, so we keep putting off taking action toward those goals. But when we are dealing with a 30-day time frame, we can be more nimble and agile. We have a shorter horizon for achieving goals and this encourages us to take concrete actions. We can more easily "course-correct" and we are having to be accountable to ourselves on a more frequent basis.  Also, 30 day time frames encourage us to be more experimental with our careers. We can say "let's see what happens if I spend the next 30 day's focused on doing this." That's enough time to see some real results, but not so long that it feels like we're committing to something more "permanent."  How to Plan in 30 Day Increments 1. Figure out what you want to work on for the next 30 days.  Start by figuring out where you want to focus your attention for the next 30 days. I would suggest doing this Career Resilience assessment to give you a snapshot of where your career is at and what actions you might want to take. Or you may  know that you want to do some work in one of the 4 practices of career resilience (Clarify, Connect, Create, Cope).  Another way to start is by looking at your calendar for the next 30 days. What's already coming up and what does it suggest to you about the goals you want to work on? Where are opportunities for experiments coming up?  You can also look at where you feel like you're having problems or challenges. Are you totally stressed by work and feeling like you need to look at your time management? Then maybe that's a place to go. Have meetings been an utter bore and you want to change things up? Then put your focus there.  2. Decide on Goals and Actions Once you've figured out your area of focus, decide on goals and actions. What do you want to accomplish and how are you going to accomplish it?  Start by thinking about what you COULD do--brainstorm the possibilities.  Then look at what you WILL do--select the actions or activities that feel the most interesting and filled with energy for you.  So, for example, let's say that you've decided that you need to do more to expand and diversify your network (that "Connect" practice of career resilience).  You can decide that you will set a goal of meeting and connecting with 4 new people by the end of the month (1/week) and that you are going to experiment with some different ways to make those connections. Maybe you will try attending a local Meetup in an area of interest to you and making a connection there. You will also reach out to your existing network to ask for an introduction to someone you've been wanting to meet. You get the idea.  The point is for you to identify a goal and then the strategies you want to use in the next 30 days to get there.  4. Schedule the work! I'm a firm believer in putting your career activities on your calendar. What's scheduled gets done. So take some time to lay out your plan on your calendar, selecting specific dates and times to work on your plan.  5. Build in accountability and a plan for keeping track of your results. Figure out how you will hold yourself accountable for doing the work in the next 30 days.  I would also suggest building in some opportunities for reflection, at least at the midpoint and the end of the month.  6. Execute This is self-explanatory. 7. Evaluate At the end of the month, evaluate your progress, what you accomplished and what you learned.  8. Rinse/Repeat Use what you've learned to set new goals and actions for the following month. Where you want to focus now? How can you build on your progress so far?    Periodically (once a quarter, twice a year), you should take a step back to see where you've been and where you want to go. Working in 30 day increments doesn't mean that you don't take longer-term looks at yourself and your situation. You just plan and implement differently.  As you become more skilled at doing your 30-day experiments, you can begin to see longer-term patterns or ideas to explore--maybe you will spend an entire quarter focused on building connections and create 3 30-day plans that really help you dig more deeply into making that happen. Or you decide that you want to start a side gig in the next 6 months, so you lay out your plan in those 30-day increments.    With a 30-day approach to career planning, you can keep the focus on taking action, learning from your experiences, and then iterating into the next opportunity. You are more likely to stay focused on key goals and to keep taking action toward achieving those goals.  A 30-day plan can be one of your most effective strategies for career transformation and it's definitely one to try out--at least for the next 30 days. . .    _______________________________________________________________________ Are you stuck because you're mired in the quicksand of a toxic workplace? My new self-guided online course may be just what you need! 

  Meetings are an inevitable part of our professional and personal lives. If you're lucky, you are attending or running meetings that are structured to be positive and productive, but my experience tells me that not many people are that lucky.  Still, there are two simple things you can do in every meeting that will help you grow, regardless of the quality of the meeting. They are easy to incorporate and will help you make sure that you get something from every meeting you attend.  1. Build connections and deepen relationships. For every meeting you attend, be on the lookout for ways that you can either connect two people who don't know each other  or find a way to deepen a relationship that already exists.  For example, you're attending a meeting outside of your organization--look for a couple of people who may not know each other and do an introduction, explaining why you think they should know each other.  For internal meetings, where you are more likely to know everyone in attendance, look for a way to deepen the relationship. One of the best ways to do this is by asking someone a positive question, like: Tell me about a small win you've had this week--I'd love to hear about a success!  What projects are you working on that I could help you move forward?  What are you feeling most proud of this week?  What are you feeling most positive about this week? At first it might feel awkward to do this, but you will find that the more you practice asking these questions, the more comfortable you will become. These will also open up a more positive relationship with the person you are talking to.  2. Facilitate the sharing of learning The second thing you can do at every meeting is to facilitate the sharing of learning from the meeting. While someone may be responsible for keeping minutes, this usually is more about what tasks need to be followed up on and who will be in charge of that task. This is usually not about what is being learned. What I'm suggesting here is that you focus on what is being learned during the meeting--insights, information, etc.--and then volunteer to do a brief summary to be emailed to the group. If someone mentions a particular website or article, that could be included in the summary. If the group arrives at a particular insight or idea, that would be included as well.  This doesn't need to be long--often a few bullet points will do the trick. But if you get in the habit of being the steward of learning for a meeting, this will not only help you focus on what is being learned, it will also position you as someone who is helping the group learn from its experiences as well.    With these two simple tasks, you can make EVERY meeting meaningful. Try them out for 30 days and see what happens. . .  _________________________________________________________________ How prepared are you for the age of permanent career management? Take this free career self-assessment to see how resilient you are!

There's a fantastic African quote that's one of my all-time favorites.  To go fast, go alone. To go far, go together. I have a firm belief that when it comes to giving birth to a dream, we are more likely to make things happen when we are working with other people than when we try to do it all on our own. Making a dream happen is a marathon, not a sprint, and we need support along the way. Unfortunately, American culture is very hung up on the myth of the individual genius--the inventor who toils away alone in his basement or the "Lone Ranger" entrepreneur who builds a multimillion dollar business from the sweat of her (singular) brow.  Forget that these stories of not needing anyone else to be successful are completely false. They are an enduring part of the culture and they reinforce this idea that we are solely responsible for our own success.  But the reality is that although there are actions and tasks that only you can do when it comes to making a dream or project happen, working toward your goals with a community of like-minded people can turbo-charge your efforts beyond what you would imagine. Here are 6 reasons to connect with (or create your own) Mastermind Group to achieve your dreams: 1. Community Support When you are working on your own to achieve your goals, it can be very isolating and lonely. Humans are social creatures (even those of us who are introverted) and we do best when we feel like we are part of a community.  A Mastermind group of like-minded folks who are working together to achieve their personal and professional goals creates an environment of support and belonging that increases your positive feelings and helps you feel like you are connected to something larger than yourself.  You are also able to share your individual trials and tribulations and provide each other with support during difficult times.  And celebrations of success are much sweeter when you do it with a community of people who have been working with you on the way.  2. Accountability One of the most important reasons to work with a Mastermind Group is the accountability factor. Each time you meet, you share goals and progress and your fellow Mastermind Group members can help you keep on track toward achieving your goals.  Ideally you find people to work with who are willing to call you out (with compassion) if you aren't making progress. They can notice where you tend to get hung up and make suggestions and provide support when you stumble.  They can also give you the nudges you may need to keep making progress and be there to talk to when you need to brainstorm about how to deal with obstacles and challenges.    3. Resources Mastermind Group members can also be a great source of resources--be that information, new connections, ideas, whatever.  In fact, one good reason to create a Mastermind Group is to pool your resources and give each other access to your networks. You may find that there are services you could share or investments you could make together that bring multiple dreams into reality.  4. Feedback One of the best things I've gotten from my own participation in  Mastermind Groups is the opportunity to get feedback on projects or ideas. I can easily get stuck in my own head and when I present my project to my Mastermind friends, they are able to quickly point out where I need to get out of my own way or might think differently.  They are also able to offer me different perspectives and reactions. This has helped me revamp my projects or revisit assumptions I was making.    5. Inspiration Mastermind Groups can be great sources of inspiration. I've had multiple situations where talking through an unrelated problem or challenge for one member has given me fantastic insights into something I'm struggling with on one of my own projects.  At other times, I've been down about a project that has been dragging on and my Mastermind friends have been able to remind me of my original motivations or just give me  a badly-needed pep talk.  6. Opportunities Something else a good Mastermind Group can bring is opportunity. I've found in particular that when other people know what you're working on, they tend to be on the lookout for possibilities that might connect to your dream. More than once I've been given leads or new opportunities because of my involvement in a Mastermind Group. And I've done the same for others.    Whether your goals are personal or professional--or a combination of the two--a Mastermind group can be a key strategy for achieving them.  What's been your experience with Masterminds? Have you ever started or been a member of one? How has this paid off for you?    _________________________________________________________________ How prepared are you for the age of permanent career management? Take this free career self-assessment to see how resilient you are!