The Trading Mastermind

I'm a huge fan of author Napoleon Hill. One of his 17 Principles of Success is that of the "Mastermind Alliance."

"A mastermind alliance consists of two or more minds working actively together in perfect harmony toward a common definite objective. Through a mastermind alliance you can appropriate and use the full strength of the experience, training, and knowledge of others just as if they were your own. No individual has ever achieved success without the help and cooperation of others." - Napoleon Hill

My opinion is that any individual can achieve SOME success, but not to the level they are capable of if they DO NOT have a Mastermind Alliance. Great and massive success and accomplishments are only made if one has a Mastermind Group that they have access to.

The key is to pick people who are excellent at what they do and are constantly pursuing improvement and excellence. People who have the wisdom to know that there is always another level and that they realize they do not have ALL the answers. Humble people with a strong self image. Not selfish people with low self-esteem that have to put others down to feel better about themselves. Not 'know-it-alls' who pretend like they have all the answers, because, once again, their low self-esteem begs them to so they can feel better about themselves.

You need nurturing, supportive, and positive people - people that are working to live by all of Hill's 17 Success Principles.

The Relationship - You want to place a very high premium on these relationships and friendships and partnerships. Mastermind allies are instrumental to the progression of the group as well as each individual. You want to choose individuals that are different from you in experience and knowledge but complement what your goals are and generally have the same goals you have. There has to be a high level of trust within your alliance.

How do you build your Mastermind alliance? You have to go back to the very basic sales concept of WII-FM. "What's In It - For Me." Each and every member of the mastermind must have a personal benefit from being a part of the membership. Each member must be able to bring something strong and unique to the table. Each member must also be able to wildly benefit from the relationship and the input, guidance, and feedback from the others.

So when building your group make sure that the members understand the mutual benefits and those benefits must be such that they really light a fire under everyone in the group to help/contribute/learn/share in order to advance all the members of the group forward.

Trading can be a lonely lifestyle. It's hard for many to stay motivated at times and it's hard for many individuals to see past their conditioning and their patterns. I believe that the road to trading mastery is so much more easier and enjoyable when you have friends that you are working and developing with.

It's important to have Mentors and Coaches that will be honest with you and provide you an objective and fresh perspective. Often times we get so deep into what we're doing and our programming we lose sight of the big picture and the errors we are making.

If you do not currently have a mastermind group or some key people or a coach who is helping you trade consistently well and profitably, then you need to get to work on that immediately. I tell my students:

"You don't know what you don't know. You can't see what you can't see."

A coach or mentor can open your eyes to a new fresh perspective. A member of your mastermind alliance can help you see what you don't see now. There may be a whole other world out there that you haven't seen yet in regards to trading and investing. It's there, but maybe it doesn't exist for YOU now because you don't see it. You COULD see it, and are able to see it, but you don't... yet.

So if you don't have a mastermind alliance... it's time to get cracking on putting one together. And don't rush it. The quality of your members is of HIGH importance. If you don't have a trading coach, it's time to get one.

The key is to make sure you are constantly measuring your progress and if your Mastermind alliance, coach, and/or mentors are not working for you, how about now would be a good time to look at a change?

Tom Willard has over 15 years of trading and investing experience and he trains and teaches others to make money consistently in the markets through simple and powerful techniques.

Visit http://www.tomwillardtrading.com for more information about how to gain access to his free educational trading and investing resources.

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