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“I love how you keep saying you hired,” Jarod said, “given that you’re asking them to work for free.”
“I know. It doesn’t seem fair given that we did have money for a coach in this year’s budget.”
“So what’s your next step?” Mr. Griffin asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re out of steps on your card. You can already rip up the coaching card you made. And you can cross out step one on your championship card. What are you going to do now?”
Christy laughed. “I guess I was expecting Coach Sue to take charge. She knows a lot more about championship swimming than I do.”
“Never delegate your vision. You’ve put yourself in a much better position by bringing on a top coach. Yet, the question remains, what can you still do to make your goal a reality?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well then, turn to your Mastermind Group.”
“Do any of you have any ideas?”
Christy looked straight at me, yet Darnell answered first. “If everyone hates the coach, then even if she knows what she’s doing, the team might fight her.”
Christy nodded. “That’s true. Dana, Jill, and I will have to work on keeping the team’s spirits up.”
Darnell added, “If you get the rest of the school behind your vision, that could also help get the girls on the team pumped up.”
“I like that. You know, you have a lot of insights for a guy hiding behind a windbreaker.”
“Oh, hiding, am I?” Darnell stood up and began unzipping his windbreaker.
“Yeah, Darnell!” Christy screamed. “Take it off!”
Darnell squirmed but kept pulling down the zipper. He turned his back to the class so he could pull off his jacket without showing us the front. “Introducing the newest fashion in weight loss,” he said and spun around.
On the front of Darnell’s shirt, three block numbers were written in tape: 2 4 5.
“Is that your weight?” Jarod asked.
“Yep.”
“I thought you weighed 246?” Jarod said.
“I did. Yesterday.”
“You’re not afraid that people will make fun of you if you go around with your weight written on your chest?” Jarod asked.
“I’m counting on it. I’ve decided to use the embarrassment as motivation. But I have a sense that when the numbers start dropping below 200, even those who laugh at me now will start respecting what I’ve done.”
“I respect you already, Darnell,” Jarod said. “It takes a brave man to do that. I wouldn’t have the guts.”
“I’ve only got one shot at this. I’ve got to get it right.”
“Why only one shot?” Jarod asked.
“I realized yesterday that I’m either going to come out of these 30 days believing that I’m stronger than my challenges, or that they’re stronger than me.”
Jarod didn’t fire back a snappy comment. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all. His face paled as if he’d been slapped.
“I love the attitude, Darnell,” Mr. Griffin said. “Have you added this to your steps?”
“Yep, and that’s not the only change. My card now reads:
I intend to weigh 227 pounds or less by December 23. To accomplish this, I will do the following:
1. Cut out all soda, ice cream, and other junk foods, replacing them with healthier alternatives
2. Exercise at least one hour per day
3. Use the power of embarrassment by writing my current weight on my chest each day
4. Eat only when I’m truly hungry, and stop eating once I’m full
Mr. Griffin said, “I’m glad to see your steps getting stronger.”
“They have to,” Darnell said. “I’ve lost time and gained weight.”
“Indeed,” Mr. Griffin said. “My gut tells me that more changes await.”
* * *
The next day Darnell wore a bright red sweatshirt with the number 244 taped on the front. Jarod entered after him and, rather than going to the back of the class, he took the seat behind me. Christy sat next to him, leaving all four of us clustered together in the front of the class.
When the bell rang, Mr. Griffin looked up from his notecards and grinned. “New seating arrangements I see.”
Jarod just nodded back.
“Go on, Jarod,” Mr. Griffin said. “Say what’s on your mind. Take as long as you need.”
“I want to be part of this class.”
“Haven’t you always been part of the class?” I asked.
“Not really. I sit in the back and do as little as possible. The only reason I even read my cards each day is so I won’t flunk and lose the credit.”
“What changed?” Mr. Griffin asked.
“At first, it was easy enough to blow off as just another dumb assignment from some teacher who thinks he knows what I need better than I do. But I still read the card. I knew these were my goals, not yours, and the steps made a lot of sense. And I felt like a shmuck each time I read the card, knowing I’m not going to follow through on most of it.”
“That’s why the repeated reading of the cards is so powerful,” Mr. Griffin said. “As we read them, they program our unconscious mind. I can’t read a card without acting on it for long. I need to either destroy it or follow through.”
“Even while I was ignoring my card,” Jarod said, “I watched Christy have all this success finding a coach. A couple of weeks ago, I thought she had no chance of winning the State Championship. Now I think she’s got a real shot.”
“Better than a shot.” Christy punched his arm. “We’re going to win this thing.”
“You know, I believe you will.”
“Really? I was expecting some snappy remark.”
Jarod shook his head. “That’s what I’m trying to say. I don’t want to be the guy sitting in the back cutting jokes anymore.”
“Did you get a lobotomy?” Christy said.
“Something like that. I owe it all to Darnell.”
“Me?” Darnell’s head spun. “What did I do?”
“You came in here a total mess on Monday. I’m sure you stuffed your face on Thanksgiving last year too, and probably never thought twice about it. But because of your stupid card, you came in here crying like a 246-pound baby. Don’t be offended, but that’s what I thought. Seeing you was the final proof I needed that Mr. Griffin was just some jerk who came in here thinking he knew more than us but was just as clueless as most teachers.
“Then yesterday, Darnell, you displayed more guts than I’ve ever had in my entire life. I saw you take a look at your life and decide you want more. It made me look at my attitude and wonder why I wanted so little for myself.”
“So what do you want from your life, Jarod?” Mr. Griffin asked.
“In the big picture, I guess I don’t know yet. For now, I want to hit the goal on my card.”
“Have you followed through with anything on your card?”
“A bit.”
“Let’s read it off and start from there.”
Jarod read:
I intend to make $1000 between November 13 and December 13. To accomplish this, I will do the following:
1. Call all past customers who have not hired me in a while to see if they’re interested in working with me again.
2. Print out a flyer and pass it around my neighborhood to get new customers. The flyer will not only say that I mow lawns, rake leaves, shovel snow, etc., it will also say who I am and why I want the money.
3. Keep my existing rate for customers willing to commit to one mow/lawn care per week, and raise my rate by $10 for one offs.
4. Call people with successful landscaping businesses until I reach someone willing to give me advice.
“Of these steps, which ones have you done?”
“Numbers 1 and 3. I’ve gotten quite a few more jobs than normal just by calling up past customers. And no one has given me a hard time on the rate change at all.”
“So how much have you made since November 13?”
“$260.”
“Look at that,” Mr. Griffin said. “Even with weak follow through, you’ve already passed your old monthly average.”
“That’s one way to look at it. Another is that I’ve already blown over half my time, and made just over a quarter of my monthly goal.”
“True. The clock is ticking on your goals. What’s been the story with numbers 2 and 4?”
“Just lazy, I guess.”
“Is laziness your issue?”
“Not when it comes to working. I have no problem doing lawns. But when it comes to those other things, I just can’t seem to get started.”
“Class, pay attention to the steps you don’t find yourself getting around to. Jarod might tell himself it’s laziness, but my guess is it’s intimidation.”
Jarod thought about this a moment. “Yeah, I do find them intimidating.”
“Intimidation is like an arrow, pointing out precisely where you most need to grow to succeed.”
“So I need to push myself to try harder on those?”
“No, try smarter. First, let’s reword those two steps so it’s impossible to wiggle out of them or push them off. How quickly can you get a flyer made?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never made a flyer before.”
“Do you have any experience with graphic design?”
“That’s not my thing, Mr. Griffin.”
“Is it any wonder you’ve made zero progress on this step? How many more lawns do you need to mow to become proficient at graphic design?”
Jarod laughed. “I see what you’re saying. So now in addition to all the extra work, I need to take time to learn graphic design?”
“No. As you said, that’s not your thing. Core to the Mastermind principle is that you can’t be great at everything. Rather than chasing a multitude of skills that are beyond you, leverage the power of those who already excel in that area.”
Jarod turned to me. “Kelvin, you did a great job with Christy’s video. Do you know how to make flyers too? Could you help me out?”
“I can do that,” I said. “Come by my place tonight, and we can get it done.” Jarod knew where I lived; he used to come over all the time to play when we were kids. It had been almost ten years since he was over, though.
“Before you go to Kelvin’s, I suggest you go to a print shop,” Mr. Griffin added. “They can help you figure out your size options and give you the precise dimensions Kelvin will need to make the flyer.”
“It’s better if I do that,” I said. “I’ll need to know details such as the bleed. They may even have a template. All that can be confusing for anyone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
“If you could do that for me, it would be amazing,” Jarod said.
“OK, let’s assign number 2 a specific date,” Mr. Griffin said. “When will you have the flyer delivered?”
“Let’s say it will be designed today, printed tomorrow, and passed out the next day,” Jarod said. “So December 3.”
“Great, add that to your step. Now, for number 4, I suggest adding the requirement of having one conversation per work day, voicemails not included. That way it’s crystal clear. You’ll know when you read your card what you have to do and whether or not you’ve accomplished it.”
“I don’t like it, but I’ll do it. My card now reads:
I intend to make
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