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What is mentorship? If you’re looking to grow as an individual, then you need to find a worthy mentor – someone that has accomplished a result you also want out of life. A mentor can show you what you need to do to take your life to the next level. But we do have to be careful in the mentors we choose.
Podcast Highlights:
- 00:12 – What a mentor is
- 00:47 – Example – Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid
- 01:04 – If you have a mentor, be grateful
- 01:15 – A mentor can be anyone you respect and admire
- 01:55 – In an ideal world, we would all have mentors
- 02:13 – Self-education
- 02:28 – Questions to ponder
Tweet These Quotes:
- Anybody that has a mentor in their life should be grateful. – Tweet This
- If you want to make your life count, you have to put time and effort into self-education. – Tweet This
Transcription:
Do you have a mentor in your life?
Do you know what a mentor is?
A mentor is someone that shows you the way. They’ve accomplished some result you also want out of life, and they can teach you how to shortcut your way to the same end result.
And “shortcut” is maybe not the best word here. I like Shane Snow’s word for this, which is Smartcuts (get it on Amazon).
Another good term for it might be “growth hacks” or “life hacks”, though these terms have certain connotations attached to them that may not be entirely positive.
Regardless, a mentor can help you work through your challenges and determine what you need to focus on right now.
A great example is Mr. Miyagi in the 1984 movie, The Karate Kid, in which Daniel learns the ways of karate from Mr. Miyagi. Daniel goes from getting pushed around by bullies to winning a local karate tournament by the end of the movie.
Anybody that has a mentor in their life should be grateful. Not all of us have the luxury of talking to someone on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis that can guide and lead us to the treasures.
But – and this is very important – you don’t need to think of mentorship in such concrete terms. It can literally be anyone that you respect or admire, and has some result you want out of life.
You could ask a rich friend to go for coffee and ask them how they built their wealth. You could take your pastor to lunch after church and ask him how to have a great spiritual life.
And today, thanks to technology, you can listen to podcasts by the likes of Tim Ferriss, Pat Flynn, James Schramko, and many others, and be mentored by them. You can read books, watch TED Talks, or find a course that teaches you some aspect of music, business or life you want to know more about.
In an ideal world, we would all have mentors assigned to us the moment we entered grade school. To me, that seems like a far better model for formal education than what’s currently available.
Then, as your interests, passions and strengths shift, you’d be assigned new mentors to show you what you need to do.
But we live in a world where formal education simply isn’t enough. If you want to make your life count, you have to put considerable time and effort into self-education, and that’s why personal development and mentorship are such an important topics.
So I want you to think carefully about the mentors or potential mentors that are now in your life.
You should be asking yourself:
- Whether or not the people you’re talking to have certain results you also want out of life. If not, why do you see them as mentor figures?
- Is there anyone you’re not talking to right now that could be planting valuable seeds in your life, and offering you nuggets of wisdom?
- Who are you taking tips and advice from? If their life is no different than yours, then you should be taking what they say with a grain of salt.
- Do you know what to focus on at this exact moment in time, in your life and in your career? If not, who could guide you in the direction you want to go?
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