the star collective: where community, coaching and mastermind meet
If you’ve been following Chookooloonks in the last year or so, you’ve probably figured out I have a bit of a thing for houseplants. It’s the new house’s fault: our old house, while cozy, was relatively dark, and growing plants indoors was near impossible. But this new house has a ton of windows, which means there’s a ton of light: so I’ve become a bit of a houseplant addict. Alex shakes her head every time she sees a new little pot enter our house. “The first step is to admit you’ve got a problem,” she says dryly. So, here I am, admitting it.
In my defense, it’s not like I buy all the plants around here. Marcus is pretty enamoured with plants as well (although admittedly, he’s a little more restrained than I am). And occasionally, he’ll come home with a new plant for me, if he finds one that looks interesting.
Which is how I ended up with the little plant in the picture above. It’s a dainty little thing, with delicate, variegated tiny leaves, standing only about 8 inches high.
“What is it?” I asked Marcus when he brought it home, looking for some sort of tag or care instructions in the pot.
“I have no idea,” he responded.
Luckily, however, there’s an app for that: some months ago, a friend of mine turned me on to PictureThis, an app that allows you to simply point your cameraphone at the leaves of an unknown plant, and somehow — magic, maybe — it tells you what kind of plant you have in front of you. I grabbed my phone and pointed. Seconds later, I had my answer.
“It’s a weeping fig plant,” I called out to Marcus, who’d gone into the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. “It’s related to the ficus.”
“Cool,” he called back. “How big will it get?”
“Let’s see …” I looked at the app, and then I grabbed my reading glasses and looked again, to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. “It says ‘It is a tree reaching 98.43 feet tall in natural conditions.’”
Marcus poked his head around the corner. “I’m sorry, did you say ninety-eight-point-four-three-feet?”
I nodded, a little stunned. “Yeah. Ninety-eight-point-four-three.”
He stared at me.
I stared back.
“Well, I mean, it’s not going to be in natural conditions, it’s in our house …” he said weakly.
“… right …” I responded. “So maybe it’ll will only grow half that tall. That’s only … fifty feet…” I trailed off.
I’ll let you know how I do. (Let’s face it, I’m still relatively new to the houseplant thing, so if it grows to even three feet, that’s going to be a success.)
I’ve had our little weeping fig for a couple of weeks now, and I can’t stop staring at it: it’s so pretty. But what I love most about it is the idea that this tiny little plant with its cute leaves has the potential to grow to a tree of a hundred feet, with just a little help from nature, and the right conditions. It’s what I’m hoping for The Star Collective, which I’m so excited to announce to you today: it’s a group coaching, masterminding, networking experience for people who are big on using their superpowers to live a meaningful, purposeful and value-driven life.
This is going to be a very small group — only about 10 people who are willing to commit to 7 months of learning and working together, as we workshop our goals. (There'll even be a retreat for us to meet in real life!)
If you join me, here’s what you’ll get:
• Monthly leadership coaching Zoom calls
Every four weeks we’ll get together on a Zoom call to check in on progress, celebrate wins and learn a new concept for the month ahead. I’ll lead each call, and we’ll begin by getting to know each other, and learning journaling techniques for self-discovery. We’ll take inventory of our accomplishments and motivations. We’ll clarify our values, missions and visions, and we’ll identify goals to actualize them all. And finally, we’ll learn techniques for staying the course: how to bounce back if we veer off course, how to test our goals to make sure they still serve us, and how to tweak our goals to make sure they stay true as we evolve.
• Weekly worksheets, journal prompts, and other thought-provoking material
Each week, you’ll receive material based on the information covered in our zoom call, to further explain the concepts we discussed, as well as provide prompts and information for working through the concepts. You’ll get instructions for creating mind-maps, vision boards and goal maps, among others. By working through the material, you’ll find yourself making thoughtful progress on your goals for your life. (Of course, I’ll be available by email for any questions that arise.) And by the end of our time together, you’ll have a detailed handbook to work you through future dreams and goals.
• A private community for supporting each other
Members of the Star Collective will create community on the platform Mighty Networks, a private, ad-free network that is designed to spark connections with each other. Here, we’ll encourage each other, answer questions as issues arise, and share wins and accomplishments among our Collective.
• Monthly meetings with an accountability partner, to help ensure that you remain on track, and support each other toward your goals.
At the beginning of our time together, you’ll be paired with another Star Collective member to act as an accountability partner. Every month, you’ll schedule time to meet together on your own to work through journal prompts and share progress, and mastermind strategies to support each other through your individual goals.
• An in-person day-retreat in Houston, Texas for goalmapping your goals!
About two-thirds of the way through our time together, we’ll actually meet in person in Houston, Texas! During our day retreat, featuring good food and connection, we’ll roll up our sleeves and really map out our goals. We’ll clarify milestones to achieve our goals, test which milestones feel complicated, and de-complicate them, and leave with a clear diagram charting next steps. Also, we’ll celebrate together!
You can click here to learn more about the collective — and the best news is that applications are now open. I’m doing an application process (where we can actually meet via video conference) to make sure that the group that results is as diverse in experience as possible, so we can support each other in a way that allows us all to grow while we work toward our goals.
Sort of like a little weeping fig.
Click here or the button below to apply, friends. More soon.
A little about the new book.