Finding People To Help You

Whatever your current project is, you oughtn’t try to go it alone.

Working alone can lead to stagnancy, burn-out and soul-damaging procrastination.

Working with others leads to better ideas, swifter execution and greater resources.

Five Ways To Help You Find Your People

Here are five suggestions of places you might look to build your support system:

1) Create A Group Within A Group

Think of groups/communities to which you already belong and see if you can’t find some like-minded folks to team up with there.

  • Your alumni association
  • Your religious/spiritual group
  • Your book group
  • Your softball team (or perhaps the folks in the bleachers?)
  • Your gym/dance studio/tennis club
  • Your family
  • The dog park
  • Your professional associations, unions, etc.
  • Your recreational group: your choir, orchestra or garden club

Creating a sub-group from an existing group is a great strategy because you already know each other at least a little bit, and you know you have some shared interests.

So at the next meeting, just make a little announcement or pass around a flyer that says, “I’m creating a group that will meet once a week at our local coffee shop to support each other in executing our individual creative projects through brainstorming, cheerleading and sharing of resources.  Interested?  Call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX.”

2) Find a Virtual Group

The Internet is a fabulous place to interact with people from all over the world.  Use normal precautions, of course, and while you might want to be discreet with your personal information, feel free to be lavish in your support and praise of others.

  • Find or create a Facebook Group (super-easy to do).
  • Join the conversation on some Blogs you admire.
  • Check out Etsy.com (website for selling homemade art and crafts) not only for their great merchandise, but to find like-minded artists with whom to correspond.
  • Create a NING.com group – that’s like creating your own private Facebook, sort of.
  • Check out Seth Godin’s “Triibes” group at http://www.squidoo.com/tribesbook and if you’re interested, contact me and I’ll “invite” you to join his online community.
  • Go to BlogHer.com, iVillage.com, Digg.com or delicious.com and find the blogs, websites and online communities that already exist and are just waiting for you to join in the fun!
3) Go Where They Are

Stake out the physical location where potential allies might hang out and start some friendly conversations with both the staff and the customers.  Make sure you follow your instincts – don’t start talking to someone you don’t feel comfortable with.

  • Bead shop
  • Art supply store
  • Specialty bookstore (travel, mystery, cooking, etc)
  • Street fairs and farmer’s markets
  • Craft fairs
  • Theatre companies
  • Libraries and community centers
  • College campus events
  • Take a class!

This has the added advantage of getting you out of the house.

4) Small But Mighty Masterminds

For several years now I have been part of a three-person mastermind group.  We meet on the phone once a week for 90 minutes.  Each person gets half an hour to talk, ask questions, brainstorm, whine and cry…whatever.  We help each other devise strategies, proofread marketing materials, create websites, discuss pricing, solve problems, commiserate and cheerlead.

I guarantee that this weekly meeting has contributed more to my growth and success as an artist and an entrepreneur than any other single element in my life.  Having smart, trusted advisers who are always on my side is better than gold.  They challenge me, hold me accountable and celebrate with me.

Here are some guidelines we’ve used in creating our group:

  • Commitment to the group is critical – we almost never miss a call.
  • Honor time allotments – you can say or do whatever you want with your half-hour, but you only get a half-hour.
  • The relationships are more important than the work – whatever happens, our first and primary commitment is to each other and to our friendship.
  • Confidentiality is key – no gossiping allowed.
  • Celebrate wins – each week we find a way to praise each person for her growth, her success, her honesty…we are all about positive reinforcement.
  • Encourage and keep track of accountability goals.  “Do you want to make a commitment around XYZ?” “Yes. By our next call I will have XYZ done or at least investigated other solutions.” And then the next week we ask about XYZ.

There are lots of books and websites dedicated to forming mastermind groups – check them out, experiment until you find the PERFECT people to partner with and watch your life improve!

5) Just One Friend

Even having one friend to talk things over with can get you started and pointed in the right direction.

But be discriminating.

Make sure your friend is:

  • smarter than you are (at least in some ways)
  • optimistic
  • energetic
  • willing
  • supportive
  • safe (will not gossip, deliberately hurt your feelings or tease you)

Good luck!

And tell me: What ways have you found to build community?

6 of 7: (How To Be The Hero) Why Procrastination Is Genius In Disguise

Here’s Reason #6 in the “Why Procrastination Is Genius In Disguise” series:

Go HERE to get your recording of this information (it’s waaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of the page): http://www.getitdoneteleclass.com/fall/

So far we’ve covered:

1) Procrastination is Genius because underneath the pain of it (the hunger pain), it reminds you of your true desire.

2) The nonstop nagging isn’t working (never does).

3) You haven’t moved forward yet because – for whatever reason – it just hasn’t been the right time. And maybe you’ve been a bit scared, which is OK, but we’re not going to let our fear make our decisions for us.

4) You need to get unstuck from the past, bless it correct, forgive yourself (easier said than done, I know) move on in the only way we can: from right here, right now.

5) Allotting some time and money each day to your project allows for incremental progress (baby steps!) and feels GREAT.

The Most Fun, Wackadoodle, Creative, Intuitive, Ingenious 5-Minute Breakthrough Exercise That The Get It Done Workshop Has Ever Invented (so far)

Now – the fun part!

This is a fairly new exercise, so I’d love to hear about your experience with it.

It is designed to help you access your intuition and your inner wisdom, and to help you think about both your project and your procrastination in a new way.

Once again: there are no rules. You can’t screw this exercise up. There is no “right” way to do it.

It’s also designed to be completed in less than 5 minutes.

So take a deep breath, get centered, and allow your imagination to play for a minute or two.

Work right off the top of your head. No pondering allowed.

Imagine A Piece Of Paper

Or, if you feel like drawing, grab yourself an actual sheet of paper.

Now, we’re going to create a little one-frame Fairy Tale about you and your project.

(And if you know anything about the power of myth in our lives, you know that this exercise is not quite as frivolous as it seems.)

The Princess

1) In one of the right-hand corners of the paper, draw an image, symbol or word that represents your project. This is the “princess locked in the tower.”

Again – don’t ponder – whatever idea rises to your mind first is the right one. If it turns out to be not-quite-right later on, you can always revise it. But for now, stick with your FIRST idea.

Maybe you’ve drawn a book cover, or maybe it’s a heart. Maybe it’s an actual princess wearing a nametag that says, “My Happiness.” Whatever you’ve drawn – hooray! Good start.

The Dragon

2) In front of the princess I want you to draw the dragon that stands in the way. This is the dragon of your procrastination.

Give the dragon a name and a shape. Maybe the dragon is a big ball of fire, or a brick wall. Maybe the dragon is a clock or a pile of clutter. Maybe it’s an actual dragon named, “Fear.”

Whatever occurs to you first is just perfect – just sketch it out quickly and don’t evaluate.

The Hero

3) Now in front of the dragon, in about the middle of the page or so, draw you. You are the hero of this story. Draw an image or word that represents you – don’t be afraid to have fun and be silly with this.

The Sword

4) Draw your weapon. This is the sword you will use to fight the dragon. So maybe it’s a sword named, “Good Taste” or it’s a light saber labled “TALENT.” Maybe it’s a smoke-screen or a bow and arrow or a pen or a camera or a flower. Allow yourself to imagine how this weapon is going to help you slay this dragon.

The Sidekick

5) Standing beside or behind you, draw your sidekick. Your sidekick is the person, organization or quality that you know you can count on, no matter what. Maybe it’s a friend or partner, or maybe it’s your sense of humor or your Inner Wisdom. Maybe it’s an angel or spiritual entity, or maybe it’s your MacBook. Just go with your first idea – one that makes you smile – and draw the image, word or shape that represents your trusty sidekick on this journey.

Your Loyal Fans

6) Excellent – almost done. Somewhere else on the page – wherever you like – I want you to draw an image or word that represents me and the participants of the Get It Done Teleclass. Whether you are enrolled in the class or not, I want you to know that we are with you, we are on your side and we have your back.

We believe in you. So if your faith in yourself ever falters, please borrow confidence from us – we know you can do it!

So you can draw us as another sidekick, or as an international army of artists marching over the hill to help you. Maybe we’re the stars in the sky shining down on you, or maybe we’re sound of applause. Whatever makes you feel supported, loved and cared for – draw that image or word.

Fabulous! You’re done! (The End.)

Make whatever finishing touches you like, and then take a moment to notice what this drawing has to teach you.

  • What are you taking away from this exercise?
  • What surprised you?
  • Did anything strike you emotionally?
  • Are you inspired to take any new action based on this drawing?
  • Has there been any shift in your attitude about your project or your procrastination? If so, what?

Feel free to use this exercise anytime you want to get unstuck from some old thinking and show your imagination a good time 🙂

If you want to get the recording of this information, go to www.GetItDoneTeleclass.com/fall and there’s also some more information about the upcoming 6-week Get It Done Teleclass (we start TOMORROW!) at http://sambennett.wpengine.com/workshops/get-it-done-workshop/