My Reality Check Bounced! - Jason Ryan Dorsey [44]
Step 2: Assemble an All-Star Tag Team
Once you have your mentor, or are on your way to getting one, you’re ready to start assembling the rest of your tag team. Creating your tag team is similar to recruiting for a professional sports team. You figure out where you’re strong and where you’re weak, and then seek tag team members who add to your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.
The cornerstone of Jimmy’s tag team is his mentor Dan Cogdell. Dan provides Jimmy with guidance, belief, and credibility, so what Jimmy needed to reach his Future Picture was client referrals. To get these referrals, Jimmy built an all-star tag team consisting of the influential people in his city: old-school millionaires, young high-tech executives, prominent attorneys who don’t handle criminal defense—even a rap music producer. Each of these well-connected people brought his or her own skills, ideas, and contacts to Jimmy’s quest. The sum of their networks explains Jimmy’s rapid success and hints at what’s possible for you when you create your own tag team.
In your case, the tag team you want to assemble may be to help you get into the grad school of your choice, earn a promotion at work, start your own business, or assist you in getting your first book published. Whatever Future Picture you want for yourself, building a tag team will make it easier to realize.
Twenty-seven-year-old Stephanie has seen a tag team turn her biggest insecurity into a point of strength and courage. Stephanie, like many twentysomethings, jumped into the work world right after graduating college. In the transition, she always had an excuse about why she shouldn’t exercise or eat healthy. She assumed her metabolism would always keep her looking and feeling good. She was wrong.
About three years out of college she was so embarrassed to look in the mirror that she put her makeup on in the dark. She hated the way she now looked, but felt helpless about how to fix it. She more depressed she got about her body, the more junk food she ate, and the worse she felt. Then she went to the doctor for her annual checkup and learned that her cholesterol was off the charts. The doctor said she had to change her health choices or pretty soon she would be at risk of everything from a heart attach to diabetes. It was the wake-up call Stephanie needed.
The doctor suggested that Stephanie join a group of other women who were in a similar position. He said the camaraderie, emotional support, and accountability would help her get on the right path and stay there. Stephanie found a group like this in her community and began meeting twice a week. The sessions were part exercise, part cooking class, and part group therapy. At first Stephanie didn’t want to open up, but when the group leader shared how she had lost over sixty pounds and kept it off Stephanie knew she was in the right place. It’s been over a year since Stephanie joined her group, which she dubbed the Big Butts No-More, and she has lost over forty pounds! She says the secret to her success really isn’t a secret: by surrounding herself with other people who cared about and supported her, there was no way she could fail.
Whether your vision for the future is starting a rock band, opening an art gallery, designing a new videogame, or losing forty pounds and keeping it off, your tag team will make reaching that vision easier and more likely. The seven positions you need to fill on your tag team should match your Future Picture and multiply your strengths.
YOUR SEVEN TAG-TEAM DRAFT PICKS
Niche Tag. Your Niche Tag has a skill, background, expertise, or talent that specifically fits one specialized area of your Future Picture. If you want to open an art gallery, this person would have owned an art gallery or have collected your type of art. If you want to design a new videogame, this person might be a software