No matter what industry you’re in, or how long you’ve been in that industry, it’s likely there’s a lot you could learn. Seeking out and successfully finding a mentor could make you better at whatever it is that you do. If you’re feeling stuck in a rut, your mentor could help reinvigorate your passion. Here are a few tips to help you successfully find a mentor and see for yourself just what you’ve been missing.
Find Someone Who’s Doing What You Want To Do
It’s best you find a mentor at the career level or status you’re aiming for. That way, you have someone to help guide your steps as you work to accomplish your career goals. You can gain insight on what steps you should and shouldn’t take and the types of challenges you can expect. Besides seeking a mentor who’s at your career level, you should also seek out a mentor who’s at the financial level you’re aiming for.
Don’t Make Assumptions About a Potential Mentor’s Availability
There is no doubting people live busy lives in this day and age. That said, that doesn’t mean a potential mentor you’ve got your eye on doesn’t have time to offer some transformational leadership wisdom. By making assumptions about anything, you’re already setting yourself up for disappointment before you’ve even started to reach out. Show people you’re worth their time, not that you’re a broken professional who needs fixing and building up.
Seek Out a Mentor Who’s Failed
Rather than focus on successful mentors, don’t hesitate to consider those who have stumbled and made a few blunders in their past. Failures provide unique insights that aren’t always available when you have nothing but success after success comes into your life. Learn from the mistakes of others so you don’t repeat those mistakes yourself and learn those lessons the hard way. Perfection is nice, but it’s not the only route to learning.
Prepare Yourself for Tough Lessons
One thing you have to steel yourself for when it comes to having a mentor is harsh lessons. You have to remember that your mentor isn’t your friend; she or he is there to help mold you into your best professional self. That may require that you hear and experience things you may not want to.
Say your mentor says your current business idea is a bad one, or poorly thought out. Rather than feeling offended, step past that and open yourself up to learning what you can improve. A mentor who says everything you want him or her to won’t give you all the tools and insight you truly need. Don’t find this out the hard way.
Look for Match Energy
Just like you would with a friend or a potential romantic partner, it’s vital you and your mentor have great match energy. A good way to accomplish this is to seek out mentors through your close professional friends. Taking this route better ensures you find someone you get along with and can both help and teach you in the way that suits you best.
Mentors help your potential professional energy become kinetic energy that propels you forward to your next career step. Put these tips to good use in your search.
Energy match and tough lessons Chantal. Amen to both! We need resonant mentors and also, something who shares the truth, alerting us to this fun, freeing and sometimes highly uncomfortable journey. No way around these fears because we need learn the truth from pros; that the journey becomes bumpy sometimes.