Thinking Out Loud and Master Minds

Years ago I had to take a big test.  A six hour test. It was a newly required test, the first of several, for my job. It had been a while since I’d studied or taken tests and I knew that if I failed I would have another chance. But I didn’t want to plan for second chances. I wanted it to be one and done!
 
Oh, and this is long before online material and tutorials and study guides. It was paper. Lots and lots of paper. Paper that spilled over the tables and chairs in our small apartment. Paper that multiplied as I slept!
 
The test was the General Securities Representative Exam, also known as the Series 7. It would qualify me as a Registered Representative in the world of stock brokerage. That wasn’t my plan, but I needed this certification as a foundation for the manager tests that would follow. So I learned about bonds and stocks and margin and options and government debt. I could tell you all about IPO’s and syndicates and more than you’d probably care to know about things I can’t even remember now.
 
So why bring it up?
 
It was then that I realized how beneficial the act of thinking out loud was. I suppose I could have just talked to myself but it really helped to have a listening ear.  Dear hubby was elected. I found that as I explained short calls and long puts and the difference between margin requirements and maintenance it became so much clearer to me. I found myself with questions to look up that hadn’t occurred to me before I’d regaled him with this exceedingly tedious material. I was able to make analogies to things I understood better. The material actually started to make sense and become part of my knowledge base rather than rote facts to remember until I hit the submit button at the testing center. 
 
I learned that thinking out loud changes things. Hearing yourself ask a question allows for the possibility of more answers to emerge. Talking it through helps to integrate the ideas deeper and allows new ideas to form. Commitment and accountability go deeper
 
Every single person who has been a member of Your Creative Edge: A KMI Master Mind has cited this as one of the things that helped the most. They say that having someone mirror their thoughts back to them shifts their perspective. They tell us they had wrestled on their own with a particular goal or project and a KMI Master Mind made them feel connected and ready to take their next step. They found that the receptive, creative and compassionate ears of their fellow master minders let them feel more creative and be more compassionate with themselves.
 
How would being able to think out loud among a creative, compassionate group of people feel for you? That’s just one part of a KMI Master Mind that works hard for you.
 
There’s a 10 week Your Creative Edge: a KMI Master Mind starting April 18th.  Find out more here. See what the others are talking about!