Mastermind Benefits: Fun

We all know how much fun it is to be a writer. We are a strange bunch, finding enjoyment in something that most people saw as punishment when they were in grade school. We enjoy sitting down at a blank page and making words appear where before, there were none.

In fiction, we love creating worlds within our minds and sharing them with others. In non-fiction, there’s great satisfaction in solving someone else’s problem with words, something that doesn’t require much more than a few hours of reading time.

But as anyone who has spent a significant amount of time writing knows, not every day is fun.

Although I do not believe in writer’s block, I do know that there are times when it is harder to bring ourselves to the page. There can be moments of distraction, family drama, chronic illness, or a variety of other environmental factors that might make the job of being a writer less than fun.

Long periods spent alone in a room can become boring. With so many digital distractions at our fingertips, it is not hard to avoid the work for something more fun like social media or video games.

And if you are an independent author and in charge of running your own business, it can become less interesting, the more administrative work you must do. If it is your job to split royalties from an anthology, or to create digital ads, or to email a reader who needs help, these can begin to feel like work instead of fun.

Every mastermind session I’ve participated in has been fun. Whether I’m leading the session or participating in it, I always lose track of time. The conversations begin to flow, jokes are made, and it feels like being home in the best possible sense. I find this incredibly fun, even when the topics can be heavy, complex, or challenging.

Between the mastermind sessions, I think it is a lot of fun to communicate with other members of the group. Whether in a private bulletin board or via email, sharing anecdotes, recommendations, or jokes can really lighten the day and make the work more enjoyable.

If the mastermind has a meeting in real life, this can feel more like a party than work. If you’ve established relationships in the weekly videoconference calls, meeting at a conference or at an event feels more like a family reunion. Although you’ve gotten to know the people in the group, they are still just an image on the screen. But when you shake their hand, look them in the eye, and have a chat over coffee, it feels like a real relationship.

People who have similar interests love talking about them. I can talk to my wife about marketing and publishing, but only for so long before she starts to yawn. But in the mastermind group, I feel as though I could talk about those topics all day long, and everyone in the group would find it enjoyable.

In our modern society, we tend to equate fun with a high price tag. Fun might come in the form of an expensive vacation, a fancy car, or a wardrobe full of the newest fashions. We might feel obligated to attend events that other people think are fun, or we might watch movies, and television shows that people say are fun. All of these require money and time.

And while a mastermind also requires an investment of time and money, the payoff is much higher, and the investment is lower over the long run. I have kept in touch with many mastermind participants that I’ve met over the years. I’ve done so because it was an enjoyable experience.

Emerging research in the field of education has proven that students who are engaged in the learning process and enjoying themselves learn better and faster than those who don’t. In other words, if you are having fun while you are doing something, you’re learning it better than if you weren’t.

This is evident in mastermind groups. Some of the information shared in the calls could be read on a blog post or discovered on a podcast. But the simple act of engaging with a small group of people in real-time is fun, and therefore, a better learning experience.

In addition to the mastermind group itself being fun, there are opportunities to socialize beyond the mastermind group and develop a core sense of friendship in ways that otherwise would be impossible. I’ve gone to concerts and art galleries with other members of the mastermind group, and these activities had nothing to do with the business of writing and publishing, and yet, I was still able to have fun with these people.

All of these relationships were built in the mastermind group, starting with a collective of people with similar interests and passions who also really enjoyed what they were doing, and that is the recipe for creating fun. Want to take your writing chops and business savvy to the next level? Check out The Author Success Mastermind group at https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/join/