This week, I’m pleased to bring to you some “guest MOJO”, from our very own J. Shoop.

Many of you know of J. Shoop as a top-producing loan officer with LoanSource/Intero Mortgage, but you may not know that he is also a Certified LifeSuccess Consultant, licensed to teach the coaching material produced by Bob Proctor. (You may recall Bob Proctor from the highly-acclaimed movie, The Secret).

We welcome J’s insights for this week’s installment of Monday Morning MOJO!

Recently, I was having a conversation with one of Intero’s founders, Tom Tognoli, and we were discussing the benefits of participating in a Mastermind group. We agreed that many are missing out on the benefits of masterminding because they either lack a clear understanding of what a Mastermind group is, or they simply don’t know how to find one to join.

The common definition of masterminding is “The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.”

But what does that really mean?

Super Bowl Sunday is coming soon. If you think about it, a football team is really a sort of Mastermind group. When all of a team’s knowledge and effort is combined in a spirit of harmony, working toward a definite purpose, their odds of winning increase significantly. A sense of magic or destiny is often created, and the team appears to be “in the zone”.

Contrast that approach with a less-successful team, say the Raiders (hey, I’m a fan so don’t hate on me!) – But let’s look at their results… For many years they have shown that having elite, talented individuals is not enough. They may all share the same goal (to win a Super bowl), but internally they suffer from their own self-created chaos.

When you are lacking in harmony, you won’t win, no matter how badly you may want to. Or if by chance you do win, the wins will be inconsistent and unsustainable.

So how can we apply this awareness in our lives and businesses?

The idea of masterminding is certainly not new, but it’s probably the most misunderstood and most under-utilized concept in business today. The primary benefit of participation is connecting with a select group of like-minded people interested in helping you succeed.

You’ve likely heard the expression before that “two heads are better than one”. This is because there is a unique energy created when two or more like-minded individuals are connected, and this synergy can be quite powerful.

Mastermind groups bring resources and connections into your world that you would have never had access to on your own. Additionally, you benefit from differing perspectives, input, and feedback, combined with accountability and inspiration, enabling you to maintain focus on the achievement of your goals.

In our lives careers, we are usually solely responsible for our results. Subsequently, we often feel that we need to do everything by ourselves. Yet intrinsically we know that no significant achievements are ever accomplished without the help of others.

And let’s face it. Business can be hard. We sometimes get so wrapped up in the details and the day-to-day “stuff” that we often miss opportunities for valuable feedback that could make an enormous positive impact in our lives and in our careers.

As a benefit to your subscription to Monday Morning Mojo, I’ve put together a Mastermind Coaching series that is available to you at NO CHARGE. (MOJO has picked up the tab.)

We’ll help you to focus on your goals while educating you on the information and principles contained in the book “You Were Born Rich” by Bob Proctor, and introduce you to other authors, lecturers, and speakers who’ve written about these subjects.

For more information on how you can participate in an upcoming Mastermind group:

Send an email today at jshoop@jshoop.com, with Mastermind Coaching in the subject line. We have several time slots available, and we’ll email you some dates for you to choose from. You can participate from anywhere, as we have both live and teleconferencing options available.

I’m looking forward to helping you to further develop your MOJO in 2010!

J. Shoop
www.coachshoop.com