Mastermind

The next day math was canceled for a school assembly. On Wednesday, Christy walked into class with a noticeable bounce in her step.

“Something tells me you have news to report,” Mr. Griffin said.

“My classmates went a bit over the top in the coaching hunt. I now have 36 contacts.”

Actually, I was the only one of her classmates that added anything to the list. I had entered 23 of the names, and Christy had done the remaining 13 on her own.

“Have you called any yet?” Mr. Griffin asked.

“Six.”

“How were the responses?”

“The first five were all no’s. One was kind of a jerk, but the other four were all sweet and apologetic. One was adamant that I could do it myself and recommended that I read the book The Talent Code to learn more about coaching. You’ll never guess which coach that was.”

“The Russian Olympics coach?” Mr. Griffin asked.

“You got it.” Christy winked in my direction. “Then last night, I got my first partial yes.”

“Tell us.”

“I called the coach of State College, Jan Morgan. They finished twelfth in the country last year. Coach Jan invited us to come down for a joint practice on Friday.” Christy bounced in her seat. “Their practice facility is only a half hour from here.”

“Great first step. How about the rest of your list?”

“I have to keep calling them, don’t I? One joint practice is hardly going to get us to win the State Championship.”

“Any other updates?”

“Yes, I’ve been working with my co-captain Jill on our plan. We added two more items to my first notecard. Now it reads:

Mr. Griffin tipped an imaginary hat to Christy. “Any changes to your coaching card?”

“We added one more step there:

“A video…interesting.” His eyes sparkled. “Why’d you add that?”

“Like you said, great coaches know each other. But just knowing another coach isn’t enough, they need to be able to tell our story, to convey why it’s worth helping us out. With a video, we can make the case for ourselves, and give these coaches something they can easily pass on.”

“Great thinking. When do you plan to make the video?”

“I only came up with the idea while reading my cards this morning. I’d like to do it at practice today, though I don’t yet have a plan for how.” Christy looked around the room. “You all said you’d help. Any of you know how to make a video?”

Her eyes skimmed over Jarod and Darnell, then came to rest on me. She knew, as we all did, that I was the only one of us experienced in video editing, let alone had the software to do it. She gave me a beseeching smile I couldn’t resist.

“I can edit it tonight with Final Cut,” I said. “Can you shoot it today?”

“I need to be running practice,” she said. “Could you come and shoot it too?”

I dropped my eyes. “You’d want me there?”

“Of course.” The sound of pity in her voice made me sink lower in my chair. “I’d love your help.”

“OK,” I said, without looking up. “I’ll come shoot it too.”

“Thank you. And stop blushing. We’ll be in swim suits, not naked.”

Note: if you ever want someone to stop blushing, don’t point it out in public. I buried my face in my hands as Jarod and Darnell enjoyed a good laugh.

“That’s wonderful news about the joint practice,” Mr. Griffin said again, probably just to draw the attention off of me.

Christy beamed. “A bonus is that they’re also one of my top choices for college next year. Even if they don’t offer us any additional assistance this year, if I make a strong enough impression at the practice, it might help my chances of getting an athletic scholarship.”

“It might indeed. One thing I love about doing this work is that once you start building momentum down your path, you never know what additional doors will open up.”

A “humph” came from the back of the room.

“Yes, Jarod. You have something to add?”

“No, I’m good.” Jarod crossed his arms and turned his head away.

“You don’t sound so good,” Mr. Griffin said.

“Just bitter and jealous. Let’s not make a big deal out of it.”

“Too late for that. Bitter about what?”

“I don’t want to give Christy a hard time. It’s not her fault.”

“What isn’t?” Mr. Griffin asked.

“That she might have a chance for a scholarship to State. Christy’s a friend—I want her to get it. I’m just jealous because I might go there too, but unlike her, I have no idea how I’m supposed to pay for it.”

“Why not take out loans?” Darnell asked.

“And work the rest of my life just to pay them off? Should I be like my step-brother Mike who turned 30 last month and hasn’t even paid off half of his college loans? At the rate he’s going, it’ll take him another ten years just to be broke.”

“Thank you for volunteering to be the next victim in our experiment.” Mr. Griffin strolled over to Jarod’s desk, a blank notecard in hand.

“No thanks, Mr. Griffin. I’ll pass.”

“I don’t think so.” Mr. Griffin pointed right at him. “Let’s not forget that you were the one who asked for the grade pressure to help you along. You’ve signed a contract allowing me to invoke a 30 day period whenever I want requiring you to read your cards every morning and night. No card, no credit for reading it.”

Jarod huffed.

“As I recall, you need this math credit to graduate. Wasn’t that your reason for taking the class? Now, what would you like to accomplish in these next 30 days?”

“Nothing.”

“If you’re feeling bitter and jealous, there’s something you want.”

“I was feeling jealous at the idea that Christy can get herself a scholarship and bitter because I know I can’t get one myself, alright?”

“Why are you so certain you can’t get a scholarship?”

“State only gives scholarships for sports and academics.” Jarod’s shoe jittered against the leg of his desk. “I don’t play sports, and my grades are barely strong enough to get in.”

“Do you have any idea how many millions of dollars of independent scholarships are available in this country? Many go unclaimed. You’d be surprised at what you might qualify for.”

“Applying for scholarship after scholarship that I’m not going to get sounds like more pointless homework. Besides, it will take away time that I could be using to actually earn money for college.”

“What do you do to earn money?” Mr. Griffin said.

“I mow a few lawns after school.”

“You mow so many lawns that you have no extra time for applying for scholarships?”

“I told you already, scholarships are not for me.”

“I understand. For the notecards to work, it’s vital that the goal comes from you, not from me. What I’m focused on now is not the scholarships, it’s the time. You mow so many lawns that you have so little available time?”

“No. I have time.”

“How much will you make mowing this month?”

“Maybe $250.”

“Could you mow more?”

“If there was enough business, I’d take it.”

“How much do you need to make to go to college?”

“Without taking loans? In-state tuition is not too bad. I’ll need about $20,000 a year to make it work with room and board.”

“What about without room and board? Is living at home an option?”

Jarod shook his head. “Not a chance, Mr. Griffin. I’m moving out the first chance I get.”

“Alright, $20,000 a year. Are you planning on working while in college?”

“I suppose I’ll have to.”

“And during the summers?”

“Of course. But that won’t get me enough to cover my costs.”

“How much do you need to have saved up before you’re willing to start? Enough to pay for all four years?”

“No. One year’s good enough for me. Who knows, I might not even like it when I get there. I’d go if I had $20,000 saved up.”

“And how much do you have now?”

“$7000.”

“School starts in nine months. That means you’ll need to save around $1500 a month, correct?”

“You’re the math teacher, Mr. Griffin.”

Christy squeezed her lips to fight a laugh.

“Perhaps,” Mr. Griffin said, “but this is less a question of math, and more a question of psychology. Rather than creating a nine-month goal of coming up with $13,000, we’re going to create a goal for just the next month.”

“So I’d need to jump from $250 a month to $1500? There’s no way.”

Mr. Griffin turned to the class. “I want everyone to pay attention to the tone of Jarod’s voice. He’s convinced that he’ll never be able to hit a goal of $1500. Notecards are a potent tool when used right, but the fastest way to undermine their effectiveness is to choose a goal that you can’t believe in. If every time you read it, you think, ‘this is garbage, I’ll never be able to do this,’ then you’re not building momentum, you’re killing it.”

“But that’s how I feel.”

“Exactly, so it’s better to choose a less ambitious short-term goal that you can genuinely believe in. Hitting it will build your momentum, and inspire you to set a higher goal over the next period.”

“It’s gotta be way less than 1500 bucks.”

“So you tell me, if you put all of your effort into mowing lawns the next month, what is the absolute highest amount you think you can make?”

“$750 perhaps. If I bust my butt, maybe $1000 at the very tops.”

“$1000 it is. While I don’t want a goal that you can’t believe in, I want to stretch you to your limits. In truth, all of you are capable of so much more than you realize. So Jarod, here’s a notecard. Write at the top:

“Got it. But why the 13th? Today is only the 12th.”

“I’m glad to hear the change in your voice and to see you’re willing to go along. As a result, I’ve decided to give you a bit of a reprieve. With Christy, we needed to move quickly. With you, we have a little extra time to play with, so I’m going to delay starting your 30 day period to give you one more element of the process.

“For today, write nothing more. Your homework, Jarod, is to think of all the steps you can take to reach the $1000 goal in one month. I want the rest of you to do the same, to brainstorm any advice you can give Jarod to help him reach his goal.”

I barely slept that night. The filming for Christy went well, far better than I thought. I don’t know if it was because she introduced me, or because I was just the guy behind the camera, but the entire team accepted me right away.

I planned to video whatever Christy wanted me to record. But it became immediately clear that she had no idea what she wanted the video to look like, nor how to make a video go viral. Her co-captain Jill just shrugged, equally clueless.

I ventured a couple of suggestions, and they seemed happy to let me do what I wanted. No, not happy, thrilled.

“I’m so relieved you’re here,” Christy had said. I, of course, totally blushed again.

With half an hour left in practice, I’d already gotten all of the emotional shots done. I had more than enough film of the girls talking about their coach, talking about their vision. When everyone went along with my more conventional suggestions, I got a bit more bold, only to find that I got no pushback on those ideas either.

I spent the rest of the time taking fun shots, hoping to make the film entertaining enough that coaches would want to pass it on.

I finished the editing at 5 am. I left my computer to complete the rendering process and passed out for a couple of hours of well-deserved sleep.

“Whose idea was it to put arm floats on the freshmen?” Jarod asked. We all stood huddled around my laptop watching the completed video.

“Kelvin’s. Of course.” Christy shot me a bemused smile that I gratefully returned.

“I thought it would be a funny way of showing how they’re struggling to bring the new girls along without a coach.”

“Very clever,” Mr. Griffin said. “The more viral the video, the easier time you’ll have finding a coach. Have you sent it to anyone, Christy?”

“Not yet. Kelvin just finished it this morning. But I did speak to five more coaches yesterday. One actually called me back from a voicemail I’d left.”

“Anyone else say yes?”

“Actually two more did. One asked me to video a practice and promised to send feedback.”

“That’s great. And the other?”

Christy puffed out her chest. “The coach of the US Olympic team took my call. He said he’d do whatever he could to help us out.”

Jarod shook his head. “People always say stuff like that. Did he offer anything?”

Christy shoved her face in his. “Actually, Mr. Attitude Problem, he did. He’s going to be in the area in January, and he offered to attend one of our practices.”

“Fantastic,” Mr. Griffin said. “The best coaches often teach more in a few hours than an average coach can teach in a year.”

“There’s more.” Christy danced in her seat. “He told me to send him our video, and promised to send it around and post it on his Facebook page.”

“Nicely done, Christy.” Mr. Griffin high-fived her. “Now, if everyone will take their seats, I want to hear how you did on last night’s homework.”

“Homework?” Darnell asked.

“You were all supposed to brainstorm ways to help Jarod mow $1000 worth of lawns in the next month. What did you come up with?”

“I’ve actually been thinking about it,” Jarod said, “and I’ve come up with a few ideas.”

“Go, Jarod!” Christy said.

“I want to hear all of your ideas,” Mr. Griffin said, “but not yet. First I want to hear from your classmates. Anyone?”

Silence filled the room.

“Nothing?” Mr. Griffin raised an eyebrow. “I’ll admit I expected this group to take homework a bit more seriously. You did hear me give you all the assignment to brainstorm ideas for Jarod, did you not?”

I’d worked so hard on the swim team’s video that this other assignment completely slipped my mind. I deliberately avoided looking at Jarod, but in the corner of my eye, I could see his head slump.

“Maybe he could call the 20 greatest mowers in the world?” Christy teased.

“Thanks a lot, Christy,” Jarod replied.

“Sometimes even jokes contain wisdom,” Mr. Griffin said. “There’s hardly a profession on earth that doesn’t have its failures and its millionaires. Many of those who today own multi-million dollar landscaping businesses started out just like you, mowing one lawn at a time. Joking or not, Christy is right that one of those people could almost certainly give you advice that would take you years to work out on your own. Anyone else?”

“On a more serious note,” Christy said, “what if you printed out a flyer and put it in people’s mailbox?”

“Actually,” Jarod cut in, “I already—.”

“Not yet, Jarod. I want you to listen first. Who else has an idea for Jarod?”

“What if you went around the neighborhood looking for homes with totally overgrown lawns?” Darnell said. “They might be more likely to hire you.”

“Could be.” Jarod made a note.

It would have been so easy last night to do a few Google searches on successful landscaping practices. Instead, I forgot all about it and let Jarod down. Why? What had gotten us all so excited about Christy’s goal that was missing in Jarod’s? Then it hit me. It was her story. The murdered coach, the dream of becoming champions. It was compelling.

“What about your story?” I asked.

“My story? I’m a guy who mows lawns.”

“I know. But…” I closed my eyes and tried to find the right words. “It’s like…”

“What?” Jarod demanded.

“Go on, Kelvin,” Mr. Griffin said. “You’ve got something. Take as long as you need.”

I got to my feet and began pacing, as if the desk was somehow constraining my thoughts. “Christy thought she was just a girl on a swim team looking for a coach. As Mr. Griffin said, if she called all of these famous coaches and said, ‘do you know anyone willing to coach some girls for free?’ they all would have laughed at her. But making the video, it occurred to me how much stronger her true story is. It’s a story that when coaches hear it, they immediately want to help. I bet they can’t help wonder what would happen to their own teams if they were suddenly killed. That’s got to awaken something in them.”

“It’s a good story,” Jarod said, “but how does it help me? I’m still just a guy who mows lawns.”

“I know you are,” I said, “but a week ago, Christy was just a girl who swims. The story was sitting there the whole time, but we couldn’t see it. Mr. Griffin had to stick it in our face before any of us knew it was there. Could there be a great story lurking there for you too?”

“Like what?” The tension in Jarod’s voice made me hesitate. He was not a guy I wanted to pick a fight with.

“I don’t know. Maybe the fact that you want to mow lawns to go to college. Maybe people will feel better about paying you if they’re not just thinking about their lawns, but also where the money will go?”

Jarod’s foot jittered on the tiled floor, and he chewed the inside of his cheek. He was at least thinking over what I just said.

Out of words, I felt like an idiot standing up before the class, and quickly retook my seat.

“I’m glad you got that out, Kelvin,” Mr. Griffin said. “There’s more wisdom in your words than you realize.” He paced up and down before the class. “Did anyone notice what just went on here?”

When no one responded, he continued, “Do any of you remember Napoleon Hill?”

“Wasn’t he the notecard guy?” Jarod asked.

“No, I’m the notecard guy. But you’re correct that the notecards rely on his discoveries of how to train your mind toward a goal. We just saw another one of his core principles in action, the Mastermind Group.”

“Mastermind?” Christy asked. “Like the game?”

“No, Christy, not like the game. The concept of the Mastermind Group is to bring together others whose expertise and ideas complement your own.”

“How can they compliment my ideas?” Jarod asked. “You didn’t let me share them.”

“Not compliment, complement, with an ‘e,’ which means to add to what you’ve done to enhance or improve it. I didn’t let you share your ideas first because I knew how reluctant the class was to come forward. Had you shared first, I expect they would have simply deferred to your ideas, and been even less forthcoming with their own.”

Mr. Griffin turned to the rest of us. “Let me emphasize: when you defer to the ideas of others, you do them no favors. Jarod may not choose to adopt any of your suggestions, but I guarantee that sharing your ideas activated his mind and got him thinking in ways he wouldn’t have done on his own. Am I right, Jarod?”

“True.”

“Now that you’ve heard them, you can decide which ideas you want to keep, eliminate, or synthesize with your own thoughts. Let’s hear what you’ve come up with.”

“One minute.” Jarod scribbled on his card. “I’m making some quick changes.”

“While Jarod finishes, let me make my intentions clear. From this point on, this class is your Mastermind Group. That doesn’t mean your classmates are the only ones you can turn to for help. Feel free to seek additional guidance, as Christy is doing with her coaches. But it does mean you’re expected to show up for one another. When a classmate shares an idea, don’t just listen or even appreciate it. Look for flaws, alternative perspectives, opportunities missed. The best Mastermind partners are not gentle; they say what’s on their mind, though ideally without mockery, Christy.

“If your idea is being torn apart, don’t sit meekly and take it. If you think you’re right, give reasons. If you hear a glint of wisdom but aren’t sure you fully grasp it, hash it out until you own it. Those of you who work out know your muscles grow when they’re challenged. Your brain works the same way.”

“OK, I’m ready,” Jarod said. “Here goes:

“That second part I just added now.” He nodded at me.

“How do you feel about your list, Jarod?” Mr. Griffin asked.

“It feels good. I’m still not sure it will get me all the way to $1000, though.”

“You’re probably right. But it doesn’t need to—not yet. How much do you think you can make putting this new plan into place?”

“I don’t know. Maybe $600.”

“You see the power here? You’ve only been working on this for one day, and you’ve already more than doubled your productivity.

“Reading the card, along with putting the steps into motion, will activate your mind. You’ll begin to realize that some of these steps are more powerful than others. You’ll reorder them, scratch some off, and develop better ideas to take their place. Commit to this process and I feel certain that your card a month from now will look little like it does now.”

Derek Andrews’ parents were out of town. Again. So, of course, he was having yet another party. And, of course, I wasn’t invited. Still, I wasn’t going to some lecture with Dad.

He ended up taking Mom on condition that they eat at her favorite Italian restaurant afterward. I stayed home to babysit Megan, who in all honesty was old enough to hire herself out as a babysitter. At least it was easy money. All I had to do was order pizza and let her watch whatever she wanted on Netflix, and she left me alone.

I found Napoleon Hill’s book online and started reading it. It was kind of interesting in that century-ago-English sort of way. It got me thinking about the notecards. I looked at the crumpled cards piling up in my bedroom trash can. There was no way I could ever share any of those in class. Besides, my goal was not remotely realistic.

Hill’s book dropped out of my hand, and I sank back into The Martian. Mark Watney might be freaking out, but I could think of worse fates than being stuck on a planet all by myself.