2 How to start an Ironmen group
If you’ve bought in to the benefits of meeting with other like-minded men, how do you proceed from here. At this point it’s become obvious you need a couple things to get going.
What you need
- Two other men
- A time to meet
Not much to the list, but tough to establish if you have neither.
Finding worthy companions
Finding two guys who you currently aren’t in a close relationship with is a challenge, no question. Ah grasshopper, this is your first internal challenge! Unless your life is completely surrounded by only women, you probably have some candidates to consider. Things to think about:
- Do you think this person is intelligent?
- Does this person have integrity that you can see?
- Do you see this person as now––or at some future time––on a path toward success?
If you can answer ‘yes’ to these questions, this guy is probably worth approaching. No sense in approaching the guy that sells you grass, ganja, giggle-weed. (Ok, that was a joke in case you missed it. Worse ones to follow).
How to approach said candidate is worth discussing.
- Straightforward approach: “I want to talk with you about this idea I’ve come across…”
- Sales approach: “I’ve come across this idea which has benefits I think you’d be interested in…”
- The Amway approach: “Hey, you look like you’d be interested in success…”
- The Cowboy approach: “Hey Pard (shoot finger gun), wanna saddle up and discuss life…”
- The Alien-Geek approach: “Greetings Earthling, my starship has sent instructions…”
Use whichever approach you’re comfortable with, but it really boils down to getting out of your comfort zone. Think about if you were approached by someone interested in a conversation about building personal success –would you be interested? If you’re hesitant to approach someone because you don’t know them, get over it. You’ll be fine. Another tool to use to snag interest is the Ironmen emails. “Here’s something I get daily and I thought we could grab coffee and discuss what this is.”
Finding time to meet
The second issue, a time to meet, can be a tough one. People are busy, busy. I have never had a conflict at 6 am. When I was younger, Saturday am’s were tough, so I picked Mondays. As I got older, Saturdays 6-8 am’s were better because the only competition I had was sleep. If you can’t forego a couple hours of sleep one day a week to develop a successful life, maybe this program isn’t for you. I actually mean that. You will have to make choices in life and long term success over short term pleasure is one of those critical choices. Luke, choose wisely.
Finally, once you’ve got the two guys and a time to meet, you’ll have to sync up on a few things:
- Purpose for showing up.
- What will the format be? 2 hours? (Yes). How often? (Weekly, can’t establish momentum less frequently).
- Format breakdown: Half the time on catching up on goals, efforts, expectations and half the time in discussion (Yes)
- Group norms: Show up on time, prepared, and engaged.
This general outline, of course, can be modified to your own ideas, styles, and tastes. In fact, regardless whether you adopt this recommendation or not, you’ll be changing things as your group evolves – which it will.