The power of a Mastermind

Why Group Wisdom Beats Going Solo 

In the last post I discussed whether a mastermind is right for you.  In this post some of the pitfalls of going solo and the power of a mastermind and group thinking, along with some of the neuroscience.

Being a business owner means wearing all the hats.  You’re the financial director, the sales and marketing director, the operations manager, the customer service department and much more.  All of these roles come with their distinctive challenges.   Challenges that you probably didn’t sign up for.

When you're the only one making the decisions, solving the problems, and driving the strategy, it's easy to get stuck in your own head.   You start looping through the same ideas.  You second-guess your direction.  When you’re deep in the long grass all you see is weeds.  All this adds friction to the growth of your business.

This is where a group of your peers and a mastermind comes in.  Being part of a mastermind is one of the smartest tools for your business growth.  Spending time with your peers oils the gears and reduces the friction as you accelerate the growth of your business.

Why Going Solo Has Its Limits

As solopreneurs or small team business owners, we often default to handling everything ourselves.  And while you may be smart, you’re still limited by your own internal wiring.

Working solo soon reaches a ceiling.

• You bring the same lens to every challenge.  
  • Our brains work in two modes - fast, pattern-based thinking (system 1 thinking), and slower more critical thinking (system 2 thinking) which is harder.  The first step is generally system 1 thinking and when our brains find a similar pattern to the challenge we face, we often stop looking.  But not every challenge, even a similar one, has the same solution.
  • When under stress (and many of the business challenges we face come with uncertainty and stress), the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain which governs rational decision-making (system 2), can quickly become overwhelmed.  When this is overwhelmed it is difficult to think clearly or strategically, and we rely more heavily on often flawed but faster pattern-based, system 1 thinking.
• You miss blind spots you didn’t know were there.  
  • We can be prone to confirmation bias where we subconsciously seek information that supports what we already believe and can blind us to other alternatives.
• You can’t access what you don’t already know.
  • Even with the mass of information available to us, through the internet and other tools, we can only deal with what we know.  We miss all the other potential solutions that we don’t have the time to research and try.

The result?

Many challenges are not dealt with efficiently and progress feels slower than it should.

Masterminds : An alternative approach (and Why It Works)?

The power of a mastermind and collective peer-based problem solving in a Mastermind brings other diverse perspectives, based upon different experiences and different expertise, together around a shared goal. 

It’s not just brainstorming.  It’s about building momentum through the shared insight, accountability, and idea cross-pollination that comes when you collaborate with your peers.

In a strong group setting with like-minded, growth-orientated and supportive members, (the right mastermind) you get access to:

• Different ways of solving the same problem
  • Different expertise and experiences open up different solutions.
• Ideas you wouldn’t have come up with on your own
  • The extra experience and expertise of other members bring in new ideas that you may not have access to with your current experience and expertise.
• Support that keeps you moving even when self-doubt creeps in
  • When we support or help others, we often become invested, following the unfolding story and this accountability can encourage you to keep taking action.
• A safe space to test ideas before launching them
  • While the ultimate testing ground is the real situation, having others around during the discussion can lead to some obvious challenges being identified without having to play it out in real life, saving time and reducing risks.

There are also some neuroscience ideas backing the effectiveness of this.

•  When we observe others working on problems and creating solutions, mirror neurons help us to understand and adopt new ways of thinking.  
• When in a trusted group the “connection hormone”, Oxytocin increases.  This can boost openness, creativity, and willingness to try new ideas.
• By offloading some stress of decision-making to the group, we can reduce the cognitive load on our prefrontal cortex.  This can allow us to also use our own critical thinking (system 2) more and reduce the reliance on faster, less energetic pattern-based thinking (system 1).

Working in a mastermind with your peers, isn’t just about advice.  Being in the right kind of room, with the right kind of people and thinking can also supercharge YOUR thinking and your brain.

Why It Works Over Time (Not Just One-Offs)

The more frequently you engage in collective thinking:

• The faster your brain builds new neural pathways around problem-solving
  • Your brain is like a muscle, using it more strengthens it and repeated problem-solving activities, build up the ‘muscle’ of problem-solving.
• The more comfortable you get with constructive feedback
  • The better we get at using feedback the better we can learn and grow.
• The more your default response becomes strategic (system 2), not reactive (system 1)
  • By spending more time using strategic thinking, you build up a pattern of using strategic thinking and in good old system 1 thinking it becomes the default pattern for dealing with challenges.

It’s neuroplasticity in action. 

When we have repeated exposure to diverse ideas + a safe environment for experimentation and feedback, we can build a real change in how we think and lead.

But …

Even a one-off experience in a Mastermind can result in breakthroughs, new solutions and actions. 

So …

If you’ve been

• Bouncing from one challenge to another 
• Struggling to overcome the friction and build up a head of steam
• Second-guessing your next move

You don’t need another solo sprint. You need a Mastermind to think with.

Because one smart brain can do a lot.  But many smart aligned brains!

Let’s Get You in the Right ‘Room’

AGame Masterminds is running a number one-off mastermind sessions for solopreneurs who are ready to break the stalemate, oil the gears and trade isolation for momentum.

• Just 12 seats
• One focused session
• One powerful opportunity for clarity, feedback, and action
• No fluff. Just a room full of like-minded people and great thinking.

DM me “Mastermind” or Book a Call to see if it’s the right fit for you