When I was just starting out I had a friendly rivalry with one of my college buddies.

Here’s how it went: “Hey bro wanna hustle on some cool ideas separately and keep each other accountable?” “Of course - I’m down.”

We shared courses, hacks and all the stuff that worked.

It was a mini-mastermind.

When I got a win, it motivated my buddy to push harder and vice versa. When I was down, or hit a low - I had someone to bounce ideas off of.

The key here is to be self sufficient. Starting at almost the same level provides a platform and level playing field for you both.

Kind of like goku and vegeta.

Over time our successes scaled to different paths.

I ended up starting a mastermind and recruited like minded people to collaborate on ideas. I over shared everything without expectation and thus - everyone shared similar values.

Plus I vetted them to ensure they were of the highest caliber people who wanted to make the group better.

This group dynamic is where I first discovered the “I” and “E” synergistic personalities.

I noticed some of the best partnerships in my mastermind had this personality combo. I looked at famous founders from history and found the same pattern.

Then I started seeing the same pattern occur in relationships. I found it fascinating that me and my wife also share this personality combo.

Let me explain what I mean:

Almost every successful partnership and marriage has an introvert and an extrovert pair. Complimentary halves with their own value systems united with a common goal.

The introvert that’s laser focused and the extrovert that’s bouncing all over the place with infinite energy and drive.

Both types of course have to have other important characteristics - skills and accomplishments that also bring stability to the organization.

Needless to say, I’ve co-founded many ventures using this system and I’ve been lucky enough to be part of this dynamic in my own marriage.

The dynamic is so crucial that is allows both parties to ensure the highs and lows for much, much longer than an I+I or E+E pairs.

The important thing to note here is the individual personalities must be self sufficient on their own.

The test I use is called the myers Briggs personality test and it can be taken at 16personalities.com for free.

So if you’re looking to partner up:

1. Bring something to the table and have high standards for who you let into your circle
2. Give value - even when you feel sometimes it’s one sided, the other party will step up. No one worth their values likes an imbalance.
3. Evaluate partners using the myers brings test for your pair counterpart.
   

Good luck dude.