We all need someone to look up to.
There’s something incredibly important about having someone in your life, who you can go to for advice when it comes to things in both your personal and professional life.
A mentor will have years of wisdom, knowledge, and guidance to share with you, which will undoubtedly help guide you in making smart and informed decisions. They’ve been where you currently are, and have navigated the ups and downs of their own journey to find what works, and what doesn’t.
A mentor can be anyone that you look up to in some way, this isn’t about age.
It can be an attitude, lifestyle, career, or relationship you respect, and want to learn more about. I highly suggest looking within your work place for someone that you could learn a lot from.
I was lucky enough to find my first mentors when I was 23, and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today had it not been for this amazing couple, who for the first time gave me something to aspire to.
These two incredible men pushed me to question:
- Where I was living.
- What I was doing.
- Who I wanted to ultimately be.
They never just handed me anything, but constantly challenged me to think critically about my life and the choices I was making.
In the past year, I’ve found myself another amazing mentor, who has challenged me to dig deeper when it comes to my love life, my career, and how I see myself. Additionally his partner has since become a mentor in some ways as well, and has inspired me to push even farther with my own activism.
I’m beyond grateful to these men, who have since become family. They’ve all truly changed my life in many ways, and they’ll never know how much they all truly mean to me.
CHALLENGE:
Find yourself a mentor.
This challenge isn’t going to be completed right away, but you can start reaching out to people you look up to now.
Think critically about what it is you’d like to achieve. If you’ve been following along then yesterday’s challenge should’ve already opened you up to being honest about what your dreams are. Use those dreams as a starting point for thinking about people you may know, or know of, that could help guide you in making those dreams a reality.
You can have one mentor, or you can have many, but remember this is a relationship you will want to nurture, so I would suggest starting with one.
EXAMPLE:
Reach out to the head of your department at work, and ask them to have coffee.
Send an email to someone who lives in the same city as you that you know to have a lot of experience in a field you’d like to grow in.
Ask your social network if they know of someone who would be able to answer some questions you have about a certain field.
Get creative.
There are so many avenues today to reach out to people we look up to, and worst case scenario, you don’t hear back from them.
I’ve made incredible connections with people I respect very much through social media, and they’ve since become friends and mentors.
I can almost promise you that if you approach someone with maturity, politeness, an open mind, and curiosity they’ll be eager to share their wisdom with you.
Collaboration is the key to success, so start nurturing the relationships you already have, and building new ones as well.
You never know who you’re going to meet, and how they can change your life. You just have to be willing to get out of your own way, remove fear, and be open.
