The Table vs. The Trouble
If the last month taught me anything about mastermind groups, it’s that there’s always more shaky ground in people’s lives than I think.
In a matter of days, we went from working through standard issues in our online mastermind groups to consoling and counseling some terrified men. While the details must remain private, I think it’s safe to acknowledge some things. Several businesses in our group depended on ordinary, routine things we took for granted before the Coronavirus scare.
I want to talk here about something you can do to be prepared for the next time everything gets turned upside-down.
But we aren’t talking about how to hoard ammunition or toilet paper. That’s subjective and fear-based. Not everyone on these calls needed reassurance. We also had several members of who experienced spikes in revenue and sales. The inconvenience of the panic was offset by a surge in income. It would be foolish to assume everyone had identical reactions to the surge in fear.
Nobody’s prepared when disasters strike. That’s why we call them disasters. But I do want to say something about the power of “The Table versus The Trouble.”
The Table
Across the globe, in remote and nearby locations, the men of Iron Sharpens Iron continued gathering in the darkest moments of global fear. They had somewhere to go. They had coaches and mentors they could turn to.
Now you might not be a Christian life coach like me. You might not even believe in spiritual things. I’m fine with that. Plenty of people who pay little attention to faith or religion reached out to me during the virus scare. They didn’t want prayer or Scriptures. They just needed someone to listen to them.
But see, fear is a virus itself. It’s more like a computer virus, trying to hack into our “systems” and corrupt our “files.” Our words and body language transmit it. If it can’t escape there, fear will still vibrate from our souls. We will “sub-communicate” it to others.
The Table, as in a master mind group, is a powerful backstop against fear. For one thing, when you create an environment of transparency, authenticity and vulnerability, people feel safe to open up about their fear.
Moreover, for every table where there’s someone caught up in fear, there will also be people who are serene. People living in surrender, acceptance and attempting to ask “what” God is up to, rather than “Why is this happening to me?”
That’s one of the biggest needs the world has right now … someone with the presence of mind to ask a different question than the one everyone normally asks.
Devon LeMaster, one of the young men in our ISI Emerging Man groups, told me how he handled people’s fears. “I never mock or invalidate what they tell me,” he said. “I’ll start out by saying, ‘I can understand why you’d feel that way. It’s certainly a very confusing and fearful time.’ Once they feel safe spilling their guts, they’ll eventually turn the question around to me.
“That’s when I get the chance to tell them how events like this always lead me to ask myself questions. And those questions usually go, ‘What is God like?’ ‘How afraid or surprised would Jesus be if He were standing here?’” What a brilliant way to share the Gospel!
The Trouble
Meanwhile, there’s a savage enemy on the prowl. If you’re like me, you know his name. He has a field day with moments like these, driving people further and further from connection with God.
Make no mistake, the “trouble” is real. I don’t think our biggest enemy was a physiological virus. It was a spiritual virus of terror. As my friend Rabbi Daniel Lapin pointed out, “Recessions don’t happen because people get together to burn huge piles of money in bonfires.” Net worths crumble because people lose hope.
This “trouble” seems awfully intelligent and intentional. People kept listening to its message, and it kept getting repeated. The message also remained consistent, purposeful and aimed straight at our vulnerable hearts. It wasn’t random, suggesting we drink more Diet Coke or take up snowshoeing. Over and over, it kept saying, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
My heart breaks for people without a close circle of trusted advisors in times like these. How calming it was to stay in touch with these men, day in and day out. What an honor it was to walk alongside them through their difficulty, praying and “holding faith” for them. We fought for each other. Bravely. And we’re still here.
Your Moment
If you hear in these words what I hope you hear, it’s that your moment will come. If you’ve given thought to creating masterminds online, your talent and skills have never been more valuable. If there are areas of this that confuse you, I want to briefly offer you The Mastermind Playbook. It’s something we’ve created to help people start, grow and scale masterminds.
I want you to be positioned for the next calamity. There are people in your network who need you. They need to hear your voice, and the voices of other members they trust, to get through difficult times. They need encouragement. They need to know they’re not traveling the road alone. Without question, a mastermind provides exactly those things.
How long do we have before the next crisis? Well, who can say? It used to be, in America, that when these things happened around the world, we hardly noticed them. Nowadays, there’s nowhere to hide. We can’t prepare for specific needs or circumstances. But we can prepare by surrounding ourselves with certain people. We can arm ourselves with strength in numbers to face down fear.
I want you to provide a safe place where people can go when things like this happen. Fill them with people committed to walking through valleys together. That’s the permanent advantage principle of masterminds. Things that shake us to the core can change. But our commitments to one another can hold fast.
If you’re ready to take the next steps in starting a mastermind, I commend you. It’s a high and holy calling, in the time we live. If you need help, let us come alongside you with The Mastermind Playbook.
