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Episode 640: Needs Versus Wants and The Grey in the Middle

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Join us today for an episode about the reason need versus want isn't simple...

Today's episode is focused on finding the way to decide on a need versus a want...

In today’s episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about what are needs when it comes to money and why that's not clear cut.  I share what are wants when it comes to money and why that's also not clear cut.  I then talk with you about why the grey in the middle can be challenging.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 640 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Derek from strong life coach. I encourage you to find your own journey to building your own strong life. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this, this inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader, He said, I would look at and say,
00:00:29 Oh, that's just a want, nobody, nobody should buy that for somebody else. That actually may be something that for an emotional reason, it's very important to them. And I can't judge them for purchasing it. You know, the old joke is how much car is too much car to buy. How much car is too expensive to buy? Well,
00:00:49 the answer is a car that's about $3,000 more than the car that I can afford to buy welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast,
00:01:11 who learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you. And today's episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about what are needs when it comes to money, what our wants, when it comes to money and why there's this huge gray area in the middle, where our real challenges around decision making can come.
00:01:42 As we talk about stewarding your treasures, wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime, it turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission will come back to support the show. If you enjoy the show,
00:02:05 when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When it comes to money. One of the things that you'll hear people talk about is needs versus once you know, those things that we absolutely need that require money to purchase versus things that we want. What's interesting about that is often when you talk to different people, though, what they define as a need,
00:02:33 and what they define as a want is very, very different. The language we use around what we need and what we want affects how we think about money. Oftentimes if we say it's something that we need, that's a way of basically saying, well, obviously I have to spend money and I have to spend anything I want on this. I have to spend as much as I can,
00:02:59 or as much as I needed to, or whatever I spent is justified because that was a need. And when we think about wants, it's often about when we see someone else doing something that we wouldn't do with money. Well, then that's a want, but the things that we do with money, those are needs, and the truth is that's not really completely accurate.
00:03:21 I mean, the truth is there are some things that are actual needs with money, and there are some things that are actual wants with money. The big problem comes in the fact that in between those two is a huge amount of gray. And even within each category, there are some difference of opinion or ability to have some distinctions between things, as an example,
00:03:49 eating food. Food is a need. You have to eat to survive. If you're in a situation where the choice is between eating and paying something else with money, paying for food is usually the right choice because clearly food is a need. It's a survival thing. Without food, you die without water, you die. Without the basics of functioning, you can have problems.
00:04:17 Most people list needs as food, shelter, transportation, clothing, and basic utilities. But the truth is not, all of those are life and death. You can live without some of those. For some length of time, it may be inconvenient. It may be difficult. It may make things hard, but it's not necessarily going to immediately end your life.
00:04:43 If you don't have transportation as well within those categories, there's a lot of room. Yes, you need food to eat, but that doesn't mean you need to go out to eat every single night and you need to buy filet mignon. In fact, some of the food that you can eat to survive is probably cheaper than some of the food that you actually currently purchase.
00:05:08 And for sure, most of the time, it's cheaper than going out to eat. And yet most of us spend a lot of money around groceries and eating out. And often we can move from a need into a want very, very quickly. You know, there are other things that are clearly wants, you know, going on a vacation to Hawaii is a want.
00:05:31 And does that make it bad? No, because the truth is if you've saved up the money and you've got the money to take such a vacation, and that's a goal of yours, it's something that's emotionally rewarding and you're going to have great experiences, take other people with you, do whatever you want. There's nothing wrong with that. But the problem comes in when we're a slave to our wants.
00:05:53 And because of that, we struggle to meet our, whenever we began putting, going out to eat on credit cards because we're spending money on once take transportation. That's another area. Yes. Getting basic transportation is a need being able to get from point a to point B whether with public transportation or a vehicle you own that is a need. But often what we allow ourselves to do is turn that need into a want because we want the newest,
00:06:25 the fastest, the shiniest vehicle. And we often finance it to do it. See part of what makes something a want is when you're in that mindset of instant gratification. When it's about wanting it right now, when it's about, we can't slow down and make a decision because the truth is the difficulty between needs and wants, comes into that gray. It comes into those areas where for one person,
00:06:56 a $70,000 car is something that is an extravagance. It's something that would, they would then have to finance and pay for over huge amount of time. And I know other people that because of their situation, they own businesses. They have huge amounts of income. They have plenty of saving. And because of that, writing a check for $70,000 car is really not that big of a deal.
00:07:20 When you look at it as a ratio of their income to outgo, it's, it's just, it's like me buying a happy meal. It's not that big of a deal. So it's not as simple as the price of the item. It's not as simple as what the item category is. It's also about your own personal situation. It's about how much income you have.
00:07:43 It's about how much debt you have. It's about how much outgo you have, but it's also about what are your own personal values and priorities what's important to you and your family? What are the things that y'all have decided? These are the things that we're going to focus on. Things that I would look at and say, Oh, that's just a want,
00:08:04 nobody, nobody should buy that for somebody else. That actually may be something that for an emotional reason, it's very important to them. And I can't judge them for purchasing it. You know, the old joke is how much car is too much car to buy. How much car is too expensive to buy? Well, the answer is a car that's about $3,000 more than the car that I can afford to buy.
00:08:28 We often measure things by comparing ourselves to others. And if they're doing something more extravagant than us, we see them as wasting money, but we don't take into account any differences in our situation. So much more than math, the needs and the wants. And the thinking around that is about psychology. It's around how you think it's about how you view things.
00:08:54 It's finding the things that are your why and your priority. And what's really important to you and being able to say no to other things, because you're saying yes to those things that are most important. That's what begins to eliminate the gray and make it where for your specific situation you can identify, needs and wants, and what's different between them. And once you do that,
00:09:22 then the decision making around money gets easier and easier and easier. Thanks for listening. Yeah. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively, listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of treasures,
00:09:57 you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship.com/treasures or text in the U S four four two two two treasures tips. And we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • What are needs when it comes to money... 
  • What are wants when it comes to money... 
  • Why the grey in the middle can be challenging....
  • and more.....

The moment you learn to separate your wants from your needs, your vision becomes clearer. ― Kemi Sogunle

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 639: Accountability Means Regularity

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Join us today for an episode about the key to accountability...

Today's episode is focused on why consistency is so important for accountability...

In today’s episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your talent, I talk with you about why accountability requires regularity and consistency.  I share how you can surround yourself with accountability.  I also talk with you about why achieving accountability is important.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 639 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Gina Johnson from synergy mindset coaching. I encourage you to find your own journey from surviving to thriving. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader, Then you become the person that others are frustrated with,
00:00:34 and they're going to call you out. And you're either going to leave the group and go back to your old ways. Are you going to step up and begin to perform in a way that you've never performed before? But the truth is accountability is the tool that allows you to do that. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:01:00 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your talent.
00:01:30 I talk with you about why accountability requires regularity, how you can surround yourself with accountability and why this is so important to achieve your goals. You've heard me talk about developing your talent and what are the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.
00:01:57 Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. One of those interesting things that we often don't want,
00:02:31 but really need is this idea of accountability. Accountability is when you've taken on responsibility for something, or you've decided that you're going to do something, and then you allow others to actually hold you to that agreement. It's a way of almost making a contract with other people around you. And by the way, accountability and responsibility belong together. One, the most disruptive things you can have is when you're accountable for something but not responsible.
00:03:04 Other people are responsible or when you're responsible for something, but not held accountable. That separation of responsibility and accountability creates problems. But I wanted to talk today about how you can actually find accountability in your life. What does it take to have people hold you accountable? And one of the key ideas that I've found for true accountability is consistency. Regularity. It's about having,
00:03:35 not just someone to hold you accountable, but having a specific group or set of people hold you accountable in a regular way. This is one of the reasons that mastermind groups or accountability groups can be so effective because by having that set time and place, you have a set group of people. They hold you accountable to those actions. Same thing happens, you know,
00:04:03 in like a networking group, if it's done well like a BNI or chamber by having a set group of people who all hold you to a certain set of expectations in a regular pattern Toastmasters, all of these are examples of groups that why part of the reason, at least that they work is because of having that consistency of holding you to a certain set of standards from a certain set of people with consistency across time,
00:04:32 that regular pattern helps you become more accountable. So if you want to increase the accountability that you have around a goal, that's why you need to invest in some sort of regular pattern of accountability that could be joining a mastermind group that could be hiring a coach that could be forming your own accountability group. That could be joining an organization that will hold you accountable to certain set of goals.
00:05:03 How you do it really depends on what kind of goals you have, where you live. What do you have available to you? But there's literally dozens and dozens of ways that you can find accountable groups that will hold you to specific goals. This is one of the reasons sometimes hiring someone like, you know, hiring a marketing guru. If you want to work on marketing in your business,
00:05:27 hiring somebody to help you do something in LinkedIn. If that's what you want to change, hiring someone to be a health coach. If you're working on your health goals, it's one of the reasons this works is because that adds a different layer of accountability. And because you're paying money, you generally have a tendency to take it more seriously as well. That's one of the values of coaching as well.
00:05:51 Why is this so important to you to find accountability? Because the truth is, as we talked about yesterday, we have a tendency to underestimate our own ability to be blind, to certain weaknesses of ourselves. By having someone come in from outside and hold us accountable to things that we've said are important to us, our own goals, our own drives our own priorities,
00:06:17 our own values, but allowing someone to call you out when you're out of alignment with those things, gives you the ability to see it because the truth is we often see things in others, much easier than we see them in ourselves. We all have our own blind spots, but by inviting accountability in, from a group or from others, it porpoises you,
00:06:41 it forces you to open your eyes and examine your blind spots. And when you do that, you begin to grow. You begin to push further. You begin to move out of your comfort zone and allow yourself to really begin to learn and develop a new set of skills. It's one of the fastest ways to make change. Now, some people don't like accountability because it feels bad.
00:07:08 It can hurt subtitles for someone to call you out when you're not doing the things that you're supposed to do, it can frustrate you. But the truth is without that level of accountability, it's harder to make as fast a progress. The truth is we can all make more progress when we go together than when we go alone. And accountability is about inviting other people on the journey.
00:07:32 And one of the most powerful things is when there's mutual accountability. So if you're working with a group of people and they're holding you accountable, and you're also holding them accountable, then it really works. Otherwise if different people have, some people are performing and others are not, then you begin to resent those people who are not and holding the group back,
00:07:54 that creates frustration. If you've agreed to do a certain thing and you don't step forward and do it, then you become the person that others are frustrated with. And they're going to call you out. And you're either going to leave the group and go back to your old ways. Are you going to step up and begin to perform in a way that you've never performed before?
00:08:17 But the truth is accountability is the tool that allows you to do that. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively, listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of talent,
00:08:51 you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent. Or if you're in the U S you can text four, four, two, two, two talent tips, that's talent tips to four four, two, two, two, and get those tips until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures,
00:09:19 develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Why accountability requires regularity...  
  • How you can surround yourself with accountability...
  • Why this is important....
  • and more.....

No individual can achieve worthy goals without accespting accountability for his or her own actions. - Dan Miller

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 638: Dunning-Kruger and Time

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Join us today for an episode about the way the Dunning-Kruger effect messes with time...

Today's episode is focused on why you need to understand this bias when planning your time....

In today’s episode about investing in yourself by stewarding your time, I talk with you about the Dunning-Kruger effect and what it is.  I also share how this affects your planning and day and how you use your time.  I also share some tips on what you can do about it.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 638 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Rob burger, author of retire before mom and dad. I encourage you to find your own journey to true financial freedom. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader. But to do that, you have to be willing to be open to being challenged.
00:00:32 You have to be what I would call coachable. You have to have the ability to allow disparate thoughts to come into your head. If you're closed minded and assume that everything you know is right, and that you are the expert in all things, then by definition, you are a walking example of the Dunning Kruger effect. Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:00:59 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true color. In the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's episode about investing in yourself by stewarding your time.
00:01:27 I talk with you about the cognitive bias called the Dunning Kruger effect. I share how this affects your planning and your time management and how you view the day. And I give you some tips about what you can do about it as we talk about stewarding your time. Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without just taking too long,
00:01:49 it turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission, we'll come back to support the show just that quick. If you enjoy the show, when you are ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. You know, there are a lot of ways that our brains are wired.
00:02:16 Our cognitive biases, things that we're designed are made and the way our brain works and thinks about things actually interferes with our ability to do well and succeed. And one of those biases is called the Dunning Kruger effect. Hey, Ron mentioned it on Monday's episode. And basically what this says is this effect is a bias where you wrongly overestimate your knowledge or ability in a specific area.
00:02:47 And it tends to happen because of a lack of self awareness that prevents you from accurately assessing your skills. You know, this, this idea goes back the late nineties where these psychologists, Dunning and Kruger, it's two different people. We're studying how people ascribed their own skill. And what they found out is when they did independent testing of skills and ranked people so that there were people that were above average people that were average,
00:03:18 and that were people that were below average, the people in the lowest grouping of skill ranked themselves to be above average and skill over 60% of them said that they were above average. And this idea that when we're low at a skill level, we think of ourselves as experts is a well known effect. And the truth is that having sort of confidence and having the ability to think,
00:03:49 you know, I can do this is one of those things that gets us up and going in the day. It's one of those things that causes us to, to succeed in many ways, but it also is a blind spot at times. And by the way, it can happen to you. Even if you are an expert in one field, you may have the Dunning Kruger takeover in other fields,
00:04:11 you know, have you ever noticed how on Facebook people that are one minute they're constitutional law scholars and the next minute they're epidemiologist and the next minute they're experts in national politics and the next they're experts in world politics and the next they're experts in astronomy and astrophysics and medicine and hell. The point is all of us tend to think of ourselves as experts and above average and knowledge across a wide variety of areas in less.
00:04:42 You recognize the fact that your experience and skill in one area generally do not transfer to others. You can't recognize your own competence and the level of ability and less. You can step outside of yourself and look at what you're doing objectively. And what's interesting is as you begin to learn about a topic, then when you get past a certain point, you recognize the fact of how little you actually know.
00:05:15 And so experts in an area actually have a tendency to underestimate their ability to know Dunning Kruger has kind of a double curse because it causes you to perform poorly in an area. And then it actually causes you to not recognize that you're performing poorly in an area. This has a, an effect on our planning and our day to day. Because oftentimes when we're thinking about doing things,
00:05:46 if it's something that we're doing for the first time, or we've only done once or twice, we very quickly begin to overestimate our own ability. We think that things are going to go better than they are. We think the day's going, gonna just perfectly lay itself out and everything's gonna fall into place. And we're going to have this perfect ideal day and we'll get everything on our list done,
00:06:08 and nothing will hold us back. And we don't leave any sort of room for things to go wrong. We don't leave any room for mistakes. We don't leave any room for the fact that that task that you thought was going to take you. 30 minutes is probably going to take you three to five times that if it's the first time you're doing it,
00:06:28 the truth is that this effect rares, its ugly head. When we plan our day, it rears its ugly head. When we look at our goals and think about all of the things we want to accomplish, because if we're trying to do goals in a new area for trying to plan time in a new area, one where we don't have expertise, then we generally overestimate our own ability and underestimate how long it's going to take us.
00:06:56 This is one of the reasons that one of the time management techniques they'll tell you is to estimate how long a new task is going to take you and then multiply that time by three, four or five. And that's the amount of time you actually want to allow for it. Now, again, this is true for a new task. If you're truly have become an expert in a particular task,
00:07:16 then it's much easier for you to say this is how long that's going to take. But that takes time. That takes experience that takes doing the same task over and over again, to develop that routine. When you're doing something new, doing it for the first time, you want to recognize the fact that you're going to underestimate your ability. You're going to think that you're better at something than you are.
00:07:40 That is what this effect does. Some of the things you can do, obviously you can change how you estimate time, but you also can recognize that you have to play your own devil's advocate. You have to plan against your own biases rather than blindly accepting them. Challenge your own conclusions, challenge your own thinking. Look for your blind spots by asking for other's opinions.
00:08:07 This is one of the reasons that outside accountability around time can help us manage it. Because if you feel a hundred percent confident, having someone from outside, look at it and be somebody who asks challenging questions, it makes you step back and think about it can be very, very helpful to allow you to reset and refocus and then actually put a more accurate estimation of your ability and your time into place.
00:08:36 But to do that, you have to be willing to be open to being challenged. You have to be what I would call coachable. You have to have the ability to allow disparate thoughts to come into your head. If you're closed minded and assume that everything you know is right and that you are the expert in all things, then by definition, you are a walking example of the Dunning Kruger effect,
00:09:04 and that will not allow you to succeed in using your time. Well, no matter what, thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of time,
00:09:37 be sure to sign up for our stewardship of time tips series, by going to inspired stewardship.com/time or texting four four, two, two, two time tips. And that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • The Dunning-Kruger effect and what it is...
  • How this affects your planning and day and how you use your time...
  • Some tips on what you can do about it....
  • and more.....

One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision. – Bertrand Russell

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 636: Invest in Yourself – Interview with Aaron Walker – Part 1

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Join us today for Part 1 of the Interview with Aaron Walker founder of the Iron Sharpens Iron Mastermind...

This is Part 1 of the interview I had with speaker, mastermind founder, and serial entrepreneur Aaron Walker.  

In today’s interview with Aaron Walker, Aaron and I talk with you about Masterminds.  Aaron shares how they can be used for intentional self-development but only if you really have the right mindset.  He also shares a great tool for building your own masterminds.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining us on episode 636 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hi, my name is Aaron Walker, I'm president and founder of the mastermind playbook. You know, masterminds are a great way to intentionally grow yourself and invest in others. And one way to be inspired to serve others well is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my good friend,
00:00:27 Scott Mader And what I'm learning each and every day. There's a new methodology. There's a new tools out there. There's new processes and there's new systems. And so each and every plateau that you arrive at, there's something new to learn. So I think the enemy is having to know everything before you launch otherwise you'll never launch. And so I just suggest that you learn as you go Welcome.
00:01:02 And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. Go learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world In today's interview with Aaron Walker,
00:01:34 Aaron and I talk with you about masterminds. Erin shares, how they can be used for intentional self development, but only if you really have the right mindset, he also shares a great tool for building your own masterminds and lots more. One reason I like to bring you great interviews. Like the one you're going to hear today is because of the power in learning from others.
00:01:58 Another great way to learn from others is through reading books. But if you're like most people today, you find it hard to find the time to sit down and read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible, go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from.
00:02:23 And instead of reading, you can listen your way to learn from some of the greatest minds out there. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books. The same way you're listening to this podcast. Aaron Walker has founded more than a dozen companies over the past 41 years. He attributes much of a success to having surrounded himself with his mastermind counterparts.
00:02:49 Aaron spent a decade meeting weekly with Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Ken Abraham, and five other amazing entrepreneurs. Aaron is founder of the iron sharpens iron mastermind that now hosts or 15 groups with national and international members. Aaron, as the Arthur of the view from the top, a must read to fully understand how to live a life of success and significance.
00:03:16 Also the founder of the mastermind playbook and incredible resource for starting running and scaling your own masterminds. Erin lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife, Robin of 40 years, and he has two incredible daughters and five beautiful grandchildren. Welcome to the show. Aaron Scott, Thanks for having me, buddy. I've been so looking forward to this and I'm excited that you're having me today as your guests.
00:03:46 Well, and, and you know, I've, I've been, uh, you're one of those folks that's been on my list for a while of getting on the show. I love listening to your Facebook when you go and do the videos I like watching you out and walk in there and talking to everybody, uh, you know, we've we were talking before we got started about some of the folks that we have in common and I I've heard great things that I know you're going to add tremendous value to Lister today.
00:04:10 So I'm looking forward. Well, I appreciate that, buddy. Thank you very much. You're very welcome. So, you know, when we think about this, one of the things that, uh, the listeners hear me talk about all the time is this idea of self-development T you know, growing ourselves so that we can turn around and serve others,
00:04:28 help others pour into other people. If you really had to sit down with someone and give them some advice on two or three things that they should really focus in on, what do you say to people when they really are recognizing they want to transform their lives, but they're not even sure where to start yet. Well, can I give a little context to my answer?
00:04:51 Can we go back a little ways? We'll go way back just for a moment. Uh, I was 18 when I started my first business and, uh, we were very blessed and fortunate to sell out to a fortune 500 when I was 27 years old. So I already thought I knew everything. It was like, Hey, I got this figured out.
00:05:09 It wasn't that hard. And then as I went on in business, I discovered that I really needed personal and professional development more than ever, because there were more opportunities out there. And you and I were talking just a little bit earlier, Dave Ramsey invited me to join his mastermind group, uh, decades ago, Dave, and I've been friends since the early nineties,
00:05:29 when he first started the show. And shortly thereafter, he invited me to join his mastermind group. And I said, I don't even know what a mastermind group is. And he started laughing and he said, just come to my office next Wednesday. And I'll introduce you to the guys I've invited. And so I'll win in. And right out of the gate,
00:05:47 they started talking about reading these books. And I raised my hand. I said, Hey, this, I, I don't want to rain on anybody's party here, but I don't like to read. And Dave turned at me, looked, and he said, I don't care if you like it or not. You're going to read. And I started laughing and I said,
00:06:02 you're serious. He goes, I'm dead serious. He said, you just don't learn through osmosis. You just don't go to bed and get up the next day smarter than the day before. So get to reading the book and, you know, Dave, he's hardcore, you know, I was like, dang, okay. So man, Scott, that introduced me to a personal and professional development,
00:06:23 like nothing I've ever experienced and that's been decades ago now, but today, you know, I'm an avid reader and I don't know how many books I read a year. I don't even keep up with it anymore. But the thing is, is that we've got to be in a place to where we're hungry for new information. And for me personally, you know,
00:06:42 I love Ted talks. I love podcasts. I love to read. I love to go to conferences. And when Dave really opened my eyes to the education that I could receive from reading, I started investigating other opportunities and that's just opened so many doors to conferences, Ted talks, podcasts, interviews, uh, one-on-one interviews like we're doing today. It just really set me on a quest in order to learn more. one of those things that comes to mind,
00:07:13 you know, so I'm an avid reader as well. And, and actually when I was in corporate leadership and managed a team of directors, uh, they got to the point where they'd walk into my office with a problem and they'd say, so other than the book, you're going to recommend our read. What else can we, you know, that was just,
00:07:32 they knew they were getting a book, but when they left, when they left my office, you know, that was always, always going to happen. So when you think about reading a book growing like that, the one of those things that you can do is you're sitting down effectively with a expert and getting to have them pour into you right then.
00:07:52 And there that's an obvious one. You know, people talk about it all the time reading, but at the same time, there's 10 million, 557 books out there. How do people kind of begin thinking through where do they start with all of this? Well, I think it's the obvious answer is what is your interest? What are you trying to accomplish through your development?
00:08:16 And through that process, uh, I've discovered that I need different things at different times on my journey. And so we were in the bricks and mortar business for 35 years, and now I'm in the online space for about eight years. And so the education is quite different. The authors are quite different that I read and study about today. The conferences are different that I go to today.
00:08:39 So I think a lot of it really rest on what it is that you're interested in. Now there's personal development that we can do that, uh, doesn't matter, you know, what niche market you're in, there's personal development out there. Uh, I'm very interested in spiritual matters. And so there's personal development growth and there's professional, but then there's spiritual.
00:09:02 And so it just depends on what you're looking for. Coaches is another thing that I've really invested in heavily. I hired dr. David Krueger. He was over the psychology department at Baylor university. And I said, well, I want to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. So I went to a guy that was very qualified to teach me their strategies.
00:09:23 Now that I want to learn like LinkedIn, for example, I've hired a coach for that. I've hired coaches for internet marketing, uh, to learn how to build funnels. And it just depends on what you're trying to learn as to the Avenue that our approach. So one of the things that I've run into is when we start thinking about this, you know,
00:09:47 you, you walked into a mastermind with Dave Ramsey and anyone that knows Dave Ramsey knows that he's going to hold your feet to the fire. You know, that's just, that's him, that's him in a nutshell. But at the same time, I've, I've run into people as a coach and, and friends and other folks where one of the things that's holding them back is this,
00:10:07 this mindset that they have of, I've always got to learn something else. I've always got to get one more piece of knowledge before I'm ready to start. You know, once I know everything, then I'll get started. You'll never start. What would you say to those folks? Well, the thing is, we're always learning in the more I learn,
00:10:24 the more I find out, I don't know, know, years ago I was in the diamonds and gold business and we had a very successful company in Nashville. And I probably knew more about diamonds than 99% of the public, but I knew enough to know that I really didn't know much at all. And I think it's that way in every industry that we get.
00:10:46 And there's no way I could have ever learned everything that there was to know about diamonds and the more we learn the new opportunities, the more doors that open up. And I think it's that way in any industry that we're in, you know, we've scaled masterminds. Now I was going to coach two people when I started years ago. And today we have 19 mastermind groups and we're nine different countries and what I'm learning each and every day,
00:11:09 there's a new methodology. There's a new tools out there. There's new processes and there's new systems. And so each and every plateau that you arrive at, there's something new to learn. So I think the enemy is having to know everything before you launch otherwise you'll never launch. And so I just suggest that you learn as you go. So we've talked about masterminds a couple of times and listeners know I'm a huge proponent of masterminds.
00:11:40 Um, your, your mastermind is one of those that's out there that, that I've heard great things about. I've had friends that have participated, uh, in years. And I know that currently you're launching the mastermind playbook. So can you for somebody that maybe this is the first time they've heard the show, they don't know what a mastermind is, what is it,
00:12:01 and how can we find the right ones to participate in? You know, there's a Scott, there's so many different mastermind groups. There's the industry specific groups, there's general mastermind groups, and you can come up with all kinds of definitions. But when really when you have two or more people working together, kind of for the attainment of a specific purpose,
00:12:27 you really have a mastermind group. But I have found personally that is most effective when there are eight to 12 members that really meet regularly. And that is, uh, a, provides a leverage that is a valuable asset. And when you have total access to these people, you have different life experiences. You have professional insights, you have relational influence and it's of unbiased,
00:12:59 trusted advisors. You have a greater amount of ability to be enlightened. And so there's something really magical about the power and the strength of a unified force. And I just want to encourage the people that are listening today, that when you subject yourself to the scrutiny of others who embrace your core values, you really sure to find a higher level of success and significance in your life.
00:13:28 So think of a mastermind group as a board of directors, people that don't have a dog in the hunt, they don't have anything to gain or lose as a result of the advice they give you. Then they're going to tell you the truth. And when you meet with those persons on a regular basis, we meet in our groups weekly. You're able to do life with them and you're able to give them good advice based on their particular needs.
00:13:52 And so for me, I just summarized it in saying, it's really your own personal board of directors. And you mentioned earlier, there's a ton of different kinds of masterminds. Uh, you know, in terms of, of maybe everybody's in the same industry, maybe it's a diverse group, maybe they're all entrepreneurs. Uh, I, I know sometimes it's even all men or all women,
00:14:15 you know, depending on, on the organization, what are some of the questions that people should ask or filters, what things they can look for to know that maybe this is a mastermind, they want to try out and see how it, you know, see if it's a good fit for them. Yeah. There again, to give you a little bit of context,
00:14:34 I've got to give a preemptive strike here. Before I answer that question. Uh, decades ago I was so focused on making money that I almost lost my family. Thankfully I didn't Robin and I will celebrate 40 years of marriage next month. And we're recording this in 2020. And so it's been an amazing journey, but we've had difficulties along the way,
00:14:59 like most marriages that have survived for four decades. But what I've really discovered was, is I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did. And I tell people often now I came home with a pocket full of money to a house full of strangers. And what would have happened is my marriage would have been wrecked. I wouldn't have had a good relationship with my children.
00:15:20 And it took a major life upheaval back in 2001, where I ran over and killed a pedestrian on my way to the office. And it really rocked me to the core and it really made me set up and pay attention to what was going on. And, uh, it was the mastermind group that really kept me grounded and helped me work through that and help me focus on what was important in my life.
00:15:48 And so for mastermind groups, I think one important quality is that they need to share the same core values. If you're in a group that don't, it's hard to reach a consensus, if you don't have the same core values. So for us personally, in iron sharpens, iron, our core values are honesty and integrity and authenticity and transparency. And without those,
00:16:15 we really can't grow to the place that we need to go. The other thing that you need to ask is, is what are you going to do exactly as far as taking me on a journey? Is this something that we're just going to get together and hang out and talk about ball scores and the biggest fish you called, or are we really going to dive in personally,
00:16:36 professionally and spiritually, are we really going to cover the dynamics of my life? That's going to move the needle. And we have huge accountability in our groups. We even have a 10 question, accountability tool that we fill out each and every week that heightens our awareness to the things that are the most important in our life. And we call you out on those things,
00:16:56 how you treating your spouse and your children. Are you working ridiculous hours? Are you saving money? Are you taking care of yourself physically? Uh, we changed the questions every 90 days. And so we're always covering very important topics in your life. So you've got to get a good understanding if you're just looking for a coffee club or you're looking for a group that's really going to take your life to the next level.
00:17:21 So those are some of the main components that I would look for to be sure that I was vested in a group of people that had the same core values that was really going to take me on a journey to help me grow in those three areas of my life. Awesome. All right. Awesome. Thanks so much. So is there anything else Aaron,
00:17:44 that you'd like to share with the listener? You know, when I was a child, my had a saying that I didn't like at the time it was can't, couldn't do it and could did it all. And I've adopted that as a mindset and a mantra for my life and people are afraid to fail. And I used to tell my daughters failure is in not trying,
00:18:07 not in, not succeeding. And so I would say fear missing an opportunity more than you, fear of failure and adopt a mindset of you can do something and you too can be highly successful and significant on this journey that we call life. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively,
00:18:42 listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, please, please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes rate. All one word iTunes rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed until next time,
00:19:17 invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I ask ​Aaron about:

  • Masterminds...
  • How masterminds can be used for intentional self-development but only if you really have the right mindset...
  • A great tool for building your own masterminds....
  • and more.....

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What I'm learning is every day there is a new method, tools, systems.  So each plateau has new things that you need to learn.  So having to know everything is the enemy.  Learn as you go... - Aaron Walker 

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