Lance Wills' Blog – "Internet Lifestyle Trends" (subscribe)!

What is YOUR “Personal Legend?”

Rarely, if ever, do we stop and take an inventory of our life.

What are you building? What is your objective in life right now? Where are you heading and what is your strategy for getting there? What “metric” are you using to track your progress? Are you tracking your progress at all? Is your future being “programmed” by your environment, as I learned from my experience as a Marketing Communications Analyst at an NBC TV station? Or are you actively programming your own future?

Regardless of your answers to the preceding questions, no one can do it all by themselves.

Napoleon Hill spent 25 years of his life studying this concept, as manifested in the lives of America’s greatest entrepreneurs, leaders and innovators, and came to the conclusion that all great people relied on, and were a part of, a “Mastermind” group.

A Mastermind group is a collection of individuals with the shared goal of personal success. Not only are they looking to build their own success through the actions, insight and support of the others, but, they too, are also looking to contribute to the success of the other members.

So it makes sense that each of us should apply this principle to our own lives and reap the benefit of unlimited possibilities, personal satisfaction and wealth. But how does one find the time and place for such a nebulous endeavor?

The answer is simple, you must form your own Mastermind group, and that’s exactly what I did.

I knew that I wanted to track the progress of success in my life in four areas beyond my career, namely health, wealth, relationships and spirituality. I spent an evening putting down my thoughts in the form of my own pseudo Business and Marketing plan for my life. Of course this would be an ever changing, iterative process, but perfectionism equals inefficiency, so I took my rough draft and got to work.

I decided on the title of “Your Personal Legend Unleashed – Mastermind Alliance” because of the inspiration that I received from one of the greatest fables in Personal Development. Do you know which one?

Then I created the following logo for the group that embodied the brand that I was trying to communicate.

Accessing the deep resource of Meetup.com, a website where like-minded individuals can seek each other out, I laid out the foundation for my unique group and was nearly immediately inundated with interested soul searchers. So how would I decide who to trust with the success of my life? Well, answering that question was quite easy.

Since I anticipated this dilemma, I programmed into my listing a few questions that applicants were required answer. Very few people read the short description and included the answers with their inquiry. I know that focus, and attention to detail are what separates the committed from the dilettantes, so my talent pool shrunk down to about 20% of all applicants. This was turning out to be a study in human behavior; I was already starting to feel like Napolean Hill.

After reading the responses of some incredible, self-realizing individuals, I was able to easily decide on the charter members.

In future posts, I will be reporting more on this incredible journey. In the meantime, I have included a link to the group’s page.

http://www.meetup.com/Your-Personal-Legend-Unleashed-MasterMind-Alliance/

Feel free to leave your comments below, and I hope that I can inspire you to create your own Mastermind Group and begin living Your “Personal Legend!”

(If you do, please tell me about it!)

At first, I thought it was a mirage, but it turned out to be an oasis; an oasis of talent, ideas and activity, that is!

It started as innocent as most things, a mere “Meetup” with the Tempe nerds. I must admit, I was having a tough time finding credible talent in Phoenix; “it’s like a desert here!” (Please tell me that you got that one.) Tired of having my Craigslist Internet gig postings flagged by disgruntled CHUDs, I decided to take another approach. Little did I know what a gem I would stumble upon from this auspicious beginning.

Over lunch, I learned that the bulk of the Tempe nerds are Internet savvy talent that spend their days at the Gangplank studio in Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix. Housed within the Gangplank studio location are several different Internet companies, including Integrum, 40 and more. But of particular interest is the “co-work” space that is available for unaffiliated talent to occupy while working on their own projects.

How can any outsider focus on their own projects when there is so much energy, kindness and activity at Gangplank? Xbox 360, Wii and darts, just to name a few of the goings on. But the most popular game is Dangerball, a type of billiards game that I’ve only heard of at Gangplank.

The motif of Gangplank, as if you couldn’t tell by the name, is pirates, argh!

Regardless, there is a true sense of community here and every person has been nothing short of kind. Perhaps that is why I have devoted much of my time here as of late, working on my own Internet properties. I am anxious to contribute and am working on heading up a “Pitch and Partner” night to pair talent up with business minded entrepreneurs. This type of climate has already generated some start-ups including DateDesigner.com, SimpleSeating.com and AuthorityLabs.com. It’s no wonder, as every programmer who I have spoken with is currently working on bringing to life their own project of passion.

It is truly inspiring to see the founders of Gangplank creating their own slice of Silicon Valley, in the middle of the Arizona desert.

Keep an eye on this enclave of talent, it’s only a matter of time before the next great iPhone app, twitter derivative or dot com juggernaut comes out of Gangplank. So, matey, check out GangplankHQ.com, argh!!!