Working together pt2

The home that I live in was bought by a group of supposedly like minded individuals who all agreed to a certain vision for the world. Originally there were six of us who intended to use this home as a springing off point to bring our vision to the world. And for awhile it seemed like things were going well. The number of people living under our roof increased to I believe twelve at one point. We had weekly group meetings to handle all of the issues that came up each week.

It became evident over time though that nearly all of the people living here were only concerned about petty day to day things and not at all interested in the group vision and goals. We were unable to have conversations that revolved around our vision because certain people would not let us get past simply ridiculous daily problems. Meetings that should have taken no more than a few minutes routinely started taking seven hours or more. People dreaded Sunday evenings and did not want to be there at all. These meetings which were absolutely essential in making it so that our group could continue to exist became something that nobody wanted to attend.

Most of those people are gone now. Of the original six only three remain. There are a couple of other people living with us as well but those are people who are not ready yet to share our vision of change for the world. They are still at the point of focusing inward on themselves and getting themselves the way they want to be first.

My vision has not changed and nor is it likely to. But in the beginning I did not see the power of harmony. I felt that it was okay for people to disagree and have different overall goals as long as they were still willing to contribute to the group when asked to, whether in the form of rent, chores, or simply imparting their knowledge and experience whenever necessary. I have learned that if we are all facing different directions we will not end up going the same way. We all need to be focused in the same direction. I see now that harmony is a necessity. Without harmony group goals are impossible.
The point of this is that we have lived in this house for about seven years. And in the last two years, with less people, we have made more progress towards our vision than we did in the five years  before it.

Before inviting a person to work with you to accomplish a goal, find out if that goal is important to them. Find out if they are interested in the goal just because it seems like a cool thing be able to say that they did or if it is something they find truly worthwhile. If they are not into what you are doing for the same or very similar reasons as you are the chances are good that you should not have them as part of your mastermind group.

To sum up. Harmony is what makes it possible for a group to handle issues better and more efficiently than the same number of individuals that make up the group could. And with even one person causing discord your group once again simply becomes a series of individuals.When in a group, seek harmony where possible. Where it is not, be okay with the results not being any greater than whatever you could accomplish on your own. Or find another group.