Chapter 7 – “Focus: The Start of Your Legacy”

In Chapter 7 of the podcast, J. Thorn discusses the importance of finding a purpose during retirement and creating a legacy, rather than merely enjoying retirement. J. posits that the true purpose of life is to assist others and share knowledge to help them realize their dreams. He shares his personal experience of retiring in his forties and discovering a new purpose in life. The episode encourages listeners to live with intention and find a purpose during retirement.

Sleeping in late and watching TV all day sounds like retirement. But is that how you want to spend your time? Sure, a week or two, maybe even a month of that might be nice to decompress. But then what?

You can hire a financial planner who will help you save money to finance your retirement, but they can’t help you understand your purpose. You can get to retirement, but what will you do in retirement?

Your “accumulation” phase of your life is almost over. Once you have your basic needs met and you enjoy a baseline level of comfort, “mo money, mo problems.” Earning “mo” isn’t a purpose. You need to find one as you enter this new stage of life.

The word “retirement” is loaded and not exactly how you’re going to live the last third of your life, but we’ll need to use that term for now. The word “legacy” feels like a more compelling way to live post-career. Let’s “create a legacy” instead of “enjoying retirement.”

Here’s the simple yet overlooked secret to life: You have only one true purpose, and that is to help others. And the best way to help others is to share your knowledge and teach them how to achieve their dreams.

Living with intention

I “retired” in my forties, although I disagree with the traditional definition of “retirement.” I left my career in education at age 46 in 2017, but not to sleep in late and watch TV all day. In rediscovering my core identity, I’ve reoriented my life. You can have a purpose and make a living. I did it. So can you.

As my children finished high school and prepared for collegiate life and beyond, my wife and I started decumulating. Some might call it “empty nesting,” but it’s more than that—we don’t want a nest at all.

The cars, the house, the things—they all come with strings. I’ve often heard it said that you don’t own your material possessions, they own you.

I’ve doubled-down on living with intention, and as a teacher and storyteller, that means spending more time making art. Advancements in blockchain technology and artificial intelligence have reignited my passion for making music, which is what I spend my free time doing these days. A decade ago I was spending weekends coaching my daughter’s ice hockey team or making repairs on our house. Now I’m writing and recording music because I love doing it.

To start new projects or return to prior passions, meant I had to give up some things I’d been doing for a long time. I’m getting better at quitting—a skill I’ve neglected for most of my life.

In an unexpected twist, getting back to my artistic side has created new possibilities for me to coach and mentor younger folks. Again, my core identity is intact, although in a new phase of life. My career and all the skills I developed in it are still within me. Nothing is being wasted. All that experience shows up as an asset in surprising ways.

Writers, Ink // Episode 8 // January 20, 2020

This clip is from the “Writers, Ink” podcast, episode 8, first published on January 20, 2020.

In this episode, I interview entrepreneur, podcaster, and New York Times bestselling author, Chris Brogan. But as I mentioned earlier, I’m proud to call Chris my friend and mentor.

Just because you have the Reward doesn’t mean you won’t be tested. Expect to face obstacles because it’s the very definition of the cost of living a fulfilling life. The obstacles, traumas, and setbacks define us.

We talk about fear of failure, and how Chris looks at it. He glibly says, “Nobody is looking at you. Nobody cares.” And he’s absolutely right.

You’ll discover that once you’re home with the Reward, you assume everyone is watching. But that’s definitely not true. Everyone is so consumed with their lives that they don’t have the time to turn around and see what others are doing. Nobody is looking at you. Nobody cares.

Transcript:

J.: One of the most famous Brogan memes I could find out there was: “To truly know what works, you have to learn what doesn’t work first.” I’m curious as to what that means to you. What does that feel like to you about learning what doesn’t work first?

Chris: So, you know, I am notorious for ripping off other people’s quotes and making them sound like mine. So Henry Ford said something about, you know, it wasn’t Ford. It was the light bulb guy.

J.: Edison.

Chris: I had nothing. I was sitting utterly blank. I’m like, I started thinking of other inventors. I’m like, Nikolai Tesla. Edison said…. If we edit that I’ll sound so much smarter. Edison said, “You know, I didn’t learn how to make a light bulb, I learned 1000 ways not to make a light bulb,” or something like that. And that’s the same thing.

I tell people all the time. We people are so afraid of failure. Like if we just erased everything I said for 60 seconds, people are afraid of failure. That’s the answer. And I tell people, “I take 100 shots and hit two. But you’re so afraid you won’t take one. So I am already two shots better than you in this game.”

And to me, I have almost no, so I’m not an airline pilot. So if I missed the runway 98 times, that’s bad. That’s a really low, bad number, right? If I’m a surgeon, and 98 out of 100 of my people die on the table, I am in trouble.

But I can take 100 shots at anything I do. Because it’s so insignificant that every time I win, people are like, “Ah! He won!” People are easily forgetting all this stuff that I failed at. Then there’s this other thing: we are so thinking that the light is glaring down on us we can’t even see. Because we think that the people around us, they’re gonna notice our failures.

“You are such a loser.” No one’s looking at you.

J.: No one cares what you’re doing from day day to day.

Chris: No one’s watching you. Dance like no one’s watching because they aren’t. No, that’s the truth. The only people who are watching are lame people, and they’re just trying to compare you to the thing they already do well. You know what everyone already does well? Stuff they’ve already done. If you’re doing well at something, it means you’ve done it before. If you try new stuff, you’re gonna fail.

Teaching Transformations // Episode 1 // April 5, 2021

This is another clip from the “Teaching Transformations” podcast, episode 1, first published on April 5, 2021.

In this episode, I talk about turning 50 with Dr. Ryan Wooley, who you met in an earlier episode.

A few weeks before I turned 50 years old, Ryan forced me to face a few critical questions. What do I want to do with the rest of my life? What kind of impact do I want to have? Where do I go next?

In this conversation, we try to define “retirement” and “side hustle,” while emphasizing how important it is to have fun no matter what you’re doing.

We conclude that this stage of life is a process of discovery and rediscovery. Again, it comes back to our core identity, the question of who we’ve been or who we’ve been waiting to become.

The good news is that statistically speaking, our generation is living longer than previous ones. You’ll likely have many years, possibly decades, of time left to spend fulfilling your purpose. Now’s the time to start asking yourself questions like, “What kind of impact do I want to have?” or “What do I want my legacy to be?”

You don’t have to, and probably shouldn’t, wait until retirement to ask those questions. You should be thinking about the answers now.

Transcript:

Ryan: What do we think we’re doing here? What is this?

J.: Well, I’ll take the mantle for this because I came to you with this idea, although you were having very similar thoughts.

As we record this, it’s January of 2021. We just finished one of the most incredible years we might ever experience in our lifetimes, in our generation.

Even before the pandemic started, I knew I’m turning 50 this year, and I’ve never really given much thought to my age before. I don’t know how you are with that. But it’s, I really started thinking more about it.

I was like, “Wow, 50, that’s a different kind of milestone.” I started to think about, “Okay, well, technically, I could start drawing on my retirement accounts at 59 and a half. That’s not even 10 years.”

And I think back, 2011 doesn’t seem that long ago. So, I started getting into this highly reflective, somewhat nostalgic mindset of, “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?” It’s not the question that you asked when you’re 23. But when you’re 50, and you see that horizon, you know you don’t have 40, or 50, or 60 years ahead of you.

I was really starting to question, “What is it I want to do? What kind of impact do I want to have?”

Since 2017, I’ve been self-employed. I retired as a teacher and started my own business. I became this J. Thorn character. Now, I wanted to think about, “Where do I go next? What kind of impact do I want to have next?”

I started thinking around this idea of, “What does it mean to be retired when you’re a Gen Xer or a baby boomer?” Retirement looks different now than it did 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago.

There’s a lot out there around how you get to retirement, there’s a lot of financial advice that you can consume in the FIRE movement. But there’s not a lot out there talking about what do you do when you get there. Like, when you wake up and you’re retired, and you don’t have to go anywhere, you don’t have to do anything. Sitting on a beach for a couple of weeks might be cool, or watching TV for a month might be cool, but what do you do with the other 30 or 40 years you’ve got?

I think that’s what this is. It’s trying to figure out, “What is that gonna look like for us? How can we help other people who are going to be in that same situation?”

Ryan: The word “retirement” just bothers me. It conjures images of me, taking my walker out to the mailbox…

J.:… in a bathrobe.

Ryan: Exactly.

We’ve talked about that, you know, “post-career life.” I think there are different ways of thinking about this. We’re using the term “retirement” because it’s what people understand. But I think that we’re really looking at many different flavors of what that means.

J.: For me, the idea of retirement isn’t about not doing anything, it’s more about the freedom to do what I want, when I want and how I want to do it.

Ryan: I remember you using the word “side hustle.” And that’s definitely what it looked like, from my vantage point. Because I, we were talking about your writing and started how much you were doing, I’m like, “Gosh, is he even doing work while he’s here? How is he getting all this done?”

But some of that just ties to your work ethic. You’re a person who, I’ve always admired your ability to just make things habit and really stick with things. I know that’s a big part of why you were able to be so productive early on.

J.: And to, the other part of that, I was having a blast. It was so much fun. I think that’s not in our general zeitgeist enough, this idea of, “Are you having fun?” I think in my early to mid-40s, I lost that. Whether it was the burden of responsibility, being the primary wage earner for my family, the responsibilities of being in a teaching position, or other factors, there were things I was doing that I was good at, but I just wasn’t having fun.

It sounds crazy to get up at 5am and sit and do something that most people consider a punishment. Like most people consider writing a punishment, whether it’s in school or at home. For me, I would, I couldn’t wait to get up and get to the next scene. I think that I would like to say I’m so disciplined, and I’ve developed these habits. But just like being in a band, I would sacrifice a few hours of sleep once a week for band practice. It wasn’t easy, but man, it was fun.

There were moments where, here in Cleveland, this time of year, it’s dark at 5, it’s 10 below zero, I had to load all my amps up into the car. That all sucked, I just wanted to stay on the couch. But once I got to band practice, it was so much fun. That’s what kept me going week after week. So, I think there’s an element of really enjoying what you’re doing that gets overlooked a lot.

Ryan: This is going to be about discovery and rediscovery because that’s what a lot of people do when they make these kinds of transitions in life. They figure out who they are or who they can be, sort of who they’ve been waiting to be.

J.: Hopefully, we’re going to be aspirational here. And I think one of the real top-level objectives I have with doing this podcast and working on this project with you is that you don’t need to and you shouldn’t wait until you get your gold watch, or your placard when you retire to be thinking about this stuff.

Whether you’re 30, 40, or 60, you can be thinking about these things. You can be thinking about the hobbies or the past times, or the experiences you’ve had that were so much fun, and thinking about what those might look like post-career.

So that’s what we’re talking about now. I accelerated that. I moved that way up because I was too stupid to know any better. I did that at 46. You don’t have to do that at 46, but you can start thinking about it. You can start planting those seeds. And hopefully, that’s something we can help a lot of people with.

Teaching Transformations // Episode 19 // July 26, 2021

This clip is from “Teaching Transformations,” episode 19, first published on July 26, 2021.

In this episode, Ryan and I talk about redefining quote/unquote “retirement.”

Ryan analyzes an article from Kiplinger called, “Six Steps to Finding Your Second Act in Retirement.” He shares several stunning facts, like 26% of new businesses are started by people aged 55-64.

We discuss the importance of thinking about “retirement” as you enter your 50s, or starting to plan what you’ll do with that time at least five years before it arrives.

The conversation focuses on the idea of doing things you enjoy, and why still earning money motivates you to keep doing it—why you’ll need more than hobbies post-career.

You’ll discover your legacy doesn’t mean strictly volunteer work, although there’s nothing wrong with that. Our passions are fueled by compensation, which take the form of prestige, reputation, and money. Statistically speaking, we’re the people starting new businesses, and that’s not a coincidence. We have a beautiful mix of life experience and energy that younger folks don’t. Getting paid to teach, coach, and mentor isn’t in conflict with the idea of “retirement” or “legacy.” In fact, it is just what we need to stay off the couch and away from the television.

Transcript:

Ryan: So, it’s called “Six Steps to Finding Your Second Act in Retirement” by Mary Kane. It was published almost a year ago, on May 22 of 2020.

But before we get into her list, I just want to pull out a couple of stats that I think are interesting that she refers to. She points out that more and more Americans are working well into their “retirement” years. Labor force participation rates for men ages 65 to 69 reached 39% this year, up from 28% in 1995.

That’s a big jump. Rates for older women climbed to 30% from 17% in the same period. What do you make of that?

J.: Well, there are a couple different ways you can look at it. Pessimistically, you could say that people haven’t saved for retirement and that means they have to work longer to sustain their lifestyle. But I think that’s an oversimplified explanation. There’s a lot at play here.

Another possibility is that people are just redefining what retirement means. I don’t know how the labor force participation rates are determined, but if you’re a fully “retired” person, and you’d like to work 20 hours a week at the local bookstore because you just love books, you’re in the labor force, right? But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. It would be hard to parse that out.

We would need some more data to come to any kind of conclusion, but to me, it just says the nature of retirement, and what it means is just not what it was in 1995.

Ryan: Either way, it means you’re not sitting around watching TV.

J.: Correct. That’s probably what our parents or early Boomer definition of retirement was like. You stop working, you no longer get a paycheck, and you’re just at home, or you’re traveling, but you’re not working.

Ryan: Alright. Here’s another one that’s interesting. Some 26% of all new businesses were started by adults ages 55 to 64 in 2017, up from 15% in 1996. That sort of supports your argument that it’s not so much about just having a job because you need one. If you’re starting a business, that requires not only energy but also a level of risk that you probably wouldn’t take unless you could afford to. Right?

J.: Possibly. There’s another thing I don’t have the exact source for, but I know that in the circles I run in, there’s a lot of talk about Gen X really driving entrepreneurship right now. Statistically speaking, people in their 50s are more likely to start a business than any other age group.

I think that shatters a lot of preconceived notions about what it means to be an entrepreneur. It’s not just the Silicon Valley tech bros in their 20s who are creating these startups. It’s Gen Xers that are driving it. I would suspect that four years later, that percentage is even higher.

As you’re starting your 50s, you have a very nice, comfortable on-ramp. You have a lot of time, but at the same time, you know time goes by very quickly at this age, so you don’t want to squander it. I would not wait until I was 60 before I started thinking about this, but yeah, begin early. That just means start thinking about the things you enjoy, the things you might want to do.

I think earning money is a part of it. There’s a lot of studies that suggest there’s intrinsic value for humans in being compensated. It has to be more than just, “Well, I really like to lay on the beach, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

There needs to be some sort of purpose behind it, and purpose is usually driven through compensation. So, this is the time now, if you’re in our demographic. Not to quit your job, but to start thinking about the skill sets you have that you can apply. What are the industries that interest you? What are the hobbies that you have that you would like to get paid for? That’s what I think “begin early” means. What do you think? Am I kind of on the mark there?

Ryan: Yeah, no, I think that’s really what we’ve been talking about through a lot of our episodes. Is it fair to say that our primary message with this project is to get started sooner than later?

As you wrote in the notes, it’s our “reason deeter.” It’s the whole point. We hope this turns into a business idea of some sort because we think it’s that important.

The whole reason we’re here is to start now. There’s no harm in starting now. There’s nothing you can do now that’s going to hurt your future.

Ryan: It does take time. One thing about our life stage that we all share is we have more risks involved, unless we’ve started over somehow in terms of where we live or something like that. Most of us have things to lose. We need to be conservative and start now. Take it slow. It allows the process to breathe a little bit. I think we make better decisions when we’re not on our heels, which is what happens when we reach a place and we suddenly have to make choices. I think we’re saying avoid all that.

Writers, Ink // Episode 50 // November 2, 2020

This clip is from the “Writers, Ink” podcast, episode 50, first published on November 2, 2020.

In this episode, I interview thought leader, marketing genius, and international bestselling author, Seth Godin.

Knowing when to quit is one of the most difficult decisions we face in life. Godin wrote a book called, “The Dip,” and in this conversation, he defines the Dip along with examples.

Although this conversation took place before “Quit” by Annie Duke was published, having a “kill criteria” before starting anything helps us to avoid the Dip. In other words, identify when you’ll quit doing something before you start. As Seth says in the interview, “Don’t start something if you aren’t willing to do what it takes to succeed.”

You’ll discover that quitters do win. We quit bad habits and bad relationships without a second thought. Quitting in itself is not bad. Before you can start something new, you have to make space for it by eliminating something else. Knowing what it takes to succeed before starting makes it easy to know when to quit.

Transcript:

J.: One of your favorite books of mine is “The Dip,” and I find myself pulling it off the shelf all the time because I’ll get so far into a project and I think, “Do I keep going? Or am I not getting traction? And how is that related to my passion?” And how do you navigate through the dip yourself?

Seth: Right. So, for those of us, for those who are just joining us, The Dip is a force of nature. Well, it’s a force of economics. Anything that is valuable is valuable because, at some level, it’s scarce. Because if there’s an infinite amount of it, we won’t go out of our way to get it. And if it’s a human endeavor, what makes it scarce is that at some point, it got really hard to do well. That is The Dip.

The Dip is that gap in between starting something and getting to the other side. So, most people’s life, they have encountered a dip in February of any given year, because you join the gym at the beginning of the year, and you quit in February. The people who make it till April end up in good shape, but most people don’t. And so we define good shape as that thing that most people don’t have because they couldn’t make it past February.

And the argument of the book is, if you’re that kind of person, which is almost all of us, don’t join the gym just assuming you’ll be able to keep doing it. Either, don’t join the gym at all, or when The Dip shows up in February, welcome it and push your way through. But quitting in February is really stupid because that’s what everybody does. It’s a trap.

So the answer to the obvious question of, “How do I know when to quit?” is… Try to see it before you begin.

Before you decide to make it in rock and roll, take a look at who has come before you. What did they have to go through to get to the other side? Because that’s what you’re going to have to go through 99% of the time. If you’re not prepared to go through that, don’t start. But if you are, then the third year you’re sleeping on the floor of your van, you should say, “This is exactly what I expected,” not, “Oh, this isn’t my passion.” You should have been grown up enough to decide three years ago that you weren’t prepared to sleep on the floor of a van for three years, and not started or just made it your hobby, because there’s nothing wrong with that.

And what I think the book has contributed to people is a knowledge that there’s nothing wrong with quitting. There’s nothing wrong with quitting early. People quit things all the time. And if you’re doing it in service of finding the resources to do something worth doing, then I think its a great idea.

The Author Life // Episode 37 // November 9, 2021

This clip is from “The Author Life” podcast, episode 37, first published on November 9, 2021.

In this episode, I talk about cohort based learning with my co-host and good friend, Crys Cain.

In this conversation, we discuss the effectiveness of mastermind groups, including some of the specifics that can make or break a cohort.

We acknowledge the importance of a leader, guide, or coach of a mastermind cohort and why that role is necessary in this kind of learning environment. My experience leading a mastermind group reinforced my core identity and provided a new and exciting way for me to help others.

Whether it’s blockchain, the metaverse, or AI, you’ll need to adapt or get passed by. But there will always be a need and demand for teaching, coaching, and mentoring. An AI doesn’t have life experience. It can’t do what you can do.

You’ll discover that “cohort-based learning” is a buzzword now, but you’ve been around long enough to understand that the most meaningful and purposeful projects involve sharing your expertise with others. The faster technology advances, the more guides we’re going to need to lead.

Transcript:

J.: The cohort-based learning model is where you move with a group through the course together in real time. So whether that’s a matter of weeks or months, there’s a start point and an endpoint. An instructor or a leader brings the group through together to the desired result at the end.

I was like, “Wow, that is revolutionary.” I’m being sarcastic.

Crys: I’m sitting here going, “So it’s online school for adults, right?”

J.: Yeah, it’s school. That’s what it is. And it kind of made me laugh because I was like, “Yeah, I did that for 24 years.”

This idea that somehow bringing people through a learning process together is like something new. I was like, “Okay, that’s fine. I’m not trying to… I’m not going to throw shade on that podcast or that revelation, but it’s something I’m seeing a lot popping up now. And I’m like, “Hey, guys, we’ve been doing this for a long time.”

So I thought it would be an interesting question to ask you. Because I think, in all fairness, school is not the same as being an adult. I think the big differences with adult learning and a cohort-based learning program, you’re opting in, you’re investing in time and money, whereas school is compulsory, you have to be there. And that’s a completely different thing.

So, Crys, have you recently been in any type of online learning cohort? And if so, what’s that experience been like? And if not, is that something you would desire to do?

Crys: Yeah, I actually… these are the classes that I do finish. The most obvious one that comes to mind is the mastermind that you’ve been calling the platinum level in The Author Success Mastermind that you’ve been doing for. We’re coming up on… is it three years now?

J.: Three years, I think.

Crys: And I’ve finagled my way in the very beginning and have been with it ever since. Three years of being in a classroom every week, lovely. Clearly, I like it. So I’m still here. And I’ve done shorter ones as well. Becca Syme does her Clifton Strengths ones. She’s got ones that are like every week for six weeks, and intensives that are everyday for a week. I’ve done a weekend one with Mary Robinette Kowal on short stories.

The thing I really like about having these kinds of classes when I’ve participated in them: One, you get to know your classmates. So you’re not just showing up for the one-to-many instruction from the teacher to everyone. You’re showing up for the interaction with everybody else.

In some classes, there are assignments where you are connecting with other people and reading each other’s stuff, like in Mary Robinette Kowal’s class. In others, like with our mastermind, you’re seeing these people every week, getting an update on how they’re doing every week, answering really intense questions when it’s their turn on the hot seat. You’re all learning the same things, learning the same vocabulary to talk about problems.

So there’s that community aspect that’s very similar to when you are a kid in school, and you’re going through your classes with the same people for… I didn’t actually go to high school. So I don’t know what that looks like… about a year in grade school, the same people for an entire year. And that’s your community. But it’s your chosen community, often in a chosen field of interest.

So it’s not, “Oh my gosh, we’re sitting here complaining about history, or science, or math.” No one complains about English literature, I’m just saying that. But you’re all focused on something that you have chosen and are excited about doing. And that is definitely an elevated aspect of it for me.

J.: Yeah, absolutely. And I’ve been involved in countless online learning cohorts in the publishing world over the past decade. And I think the most recent one is… I don’t remember the name of it, it might have been the Freelancers Workshop through Akimbo. This was back when Seth Godin was still part of Akimbo. It’s now some sort of nonprofit… I forget what the designation is, but he doesn’t, he still promotes it. And he loves it, but he’s not running it anymore.

But I was in there when he was doing it. And there is a camaraderie and an accountability that takes place because you’re all experiencing the same thing at the same time. And you’re much more likely to finish. I think the completion rate on those Akimbo workshops is 90% or higher. You’re there for other people, and not just because you purchased something.

Now I will say, and I’m being completely honest, but you guys know I’m a Seth Godin fanboy. So I’m being completely honest. The only thing I wasn’t crazy about with Akimbo is that there were hundreds of people in the cohort. And that it was fine. But like I only had one interaction with Seth, the whole whatever it was, 19 weeks, or however long it was. And I really didn’t get to know many people well because the group was just too big.

So I personally, I love… I think for me, like 25 is probably like the max, if I’m in a group of 25. I feel like I can get to know people from week to week or from session to session, but any more than that, and you lose some of that magic. So that’s been my experience.

Crys: Yeah, I think especially with online, it does need to be smaller, because there is less opportunity for chance encounters outside of the “classroom” where you might be able to connect with a slightly larger group.

I was in a five-day, 60-person really intense business workshop a couple years ago. And while I didn’t get to build relationships with every single person, that was fine. That number really worked for that group because of the breadth of experience while still providing a very intimate gathering.

J.: Yeah, there’s no question about it. And you and I know this because you’ve been in the mastermind group from the beginning, but there are… there are several people who have been in the mastermind from the moment it launched and many of us have met at multiple real-world events since then, I don’t want to… I don’t want to name people, but like there are people who have been to multiple events we’ve been hanging out together there is, there’s definitely a connection that takes place when you have an online cohort of a reasonable number and you get to know people, it just naturally bleeds over into real life. And those relationships that people have with each other and I have with those people are some of the strongest friendships and business relationships in my life.

Crys: I have now stayed at or visited enough people’s houses from The Author Success Mastermind that I’m seriously considering, like getting little like lapel pins that say, like “Crys was here,” that I give to people when I crash at their house.

J.: I love that.

Crys: Yeah, I just thought of it right now. I’ve been trying to think of something that I would give people when they do stay at their house, but a specific like, TASM [The Author Success Mastermind] member one that just popped into my head, I was like, Oh, I really liked that. I want to do that. TASM members look out for your special Christmas here pin.

Now, one of the reasons we have The Author Success Mastermind, this mastermind called the mastermind, is because I don’t know like the last five, ten, fifteen years “mastermind” has been the buzzword. I’m assuming we’re not going to change to “cohort” because it’s the new buzzword. But this way isn’t new, this the style classroom isn’t new. I’m really curious why you think it’s become a buzzword all of a sudden.

J.: I wish I knew. I really wish I knew. There was some pushback on one of the things that I published around masterminds. And the pushback was on me saying that, I think there needs to be someone who guides the group. You can have a Facebook group, and everyone just does what they want. But I’ve found in my experience, both as a teacher and a learner that it really helps have someone guiding the ship, someone who knows where the group needs to go or who’s had the experience that the group wants. That’s the responsibility that I’ve accepted. And you’ve accepted as leaders of this community like and I think we have a responsibility to not just sit on our hands and go, “Let’s just be purely democratic and you guys just do whatever you want.” Because that’s not why people are there. They want guidance, they want leadership, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

So I’m not saying there’s not a place for very flat, hierarchical democratic groups, but like, the online learning cohort, and masterminds are not those. And when I joined masterminds, I want to follow the leader, I want someone whose path I want to emulate, or I want to follow. And I there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t feel any guilt for saying that.

I don’t know why “cohort” is the new buzzword or why this has come up other than maybe it’s given the people who run them the permission to say, “I’m the person who will create the cohort.” Maybe it’s as simple as that.

I don’t know, someone has to design that experience. It doesn’t just happen. There are things that happen when you put a group of people in a room together. There will be things great things that will happen. But one thing that won’t happen is an experience being designed.

So yeah, we’re not being over authoritarian or demanding, but we are crafting an experience. We are laying down the map of a journey and asking people if they want to come on it and that just doesn’t happen. That has to be designed.

Crys: 100%

Closing Thoughts

I’m currently teaching others how to teach, staying true to my core identity while still earning enough to make a living. I know this will be my legacy, my ability to help others get what they want.

An incredible sense of peace and possibility exists when your motivations are pure. There was a time when you were driven by ambition or accumulation, but that time is over. You can see the endgame and even though you’re not there yet, you realize that time in “retirement” spent on the couch is wasted time. You can and should teach, passing along the skills and values that have benefited you.

Question

What will you do in retirement? Who will you help?

In the conclusion to the story, we’ll examine how to transform culture and leave a legacy.

Credits

Mentorship by Brian Clark, Jerod Morris, and Trudi Roth

Podcast concept by Jerod Morris

Written, narrated, and produced by J. Thorn

Editing by Miranda Weingartner and Trudi Roth

Audio editing and production by J. Thorn

“Twisted” and “RetroFuture” courtesy of Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 at creativecommons.org