Whether for career goals, academic goals or personal goals, everyone needs guidance and advice. Mentorship is the best way to progress in life; there is nothing better than riding on people’s shoulder to walk you through rough paths and help you become a better version of yourself.
A mentor is someone who consents to train you by sharing their knowledge, expertise, and skills with you. People with mentors to guide them often end up more successful than their contemporaries because they are counseled by those who have their best interest at heart. However catchy and interesting mentorship might seem; it doesn’t translate to picking anyone out of the box as a mentor. Choosing the right mentor is critical to achieving your goals because a wrong mentor could mar your path.
Before choosing a mentor, you should have weighed these factors and marked each candidate satisfactory. Create a short list of potential mentors to ensure that you are both at par with these factors:
Admiration: before sticking with a mentor, be sure that the person is someone you look up to, discover the qualities that attract you to your mentor and ensure they are in line with the qualities you would also like to imbibe. Your mentor could also be someone that shares a similar professional outlook with you.
Compatibility: synergy is essential when working with a mentor, ensure that the mentor creates the right platform to work and communicate effectively to help you with your aspirations. A supportive and inspiring mentor that values your relationship and has adequate knowledge and expertise to help you counter challenges on the path to success.
Job or career satisfaction: when picking a mentor, it is vital to narrow the choice down to successful mentors, successful people only excel because they are satisfied with their niche and are ready to embrace the glitches on the path to success. Successful people love what they do which is why they excel in their chosen niches.
Contrast: a mentor should be a step away from your comfort zone; your mentor should be able to dish out the facts and critically express his thoughts and ideas about your plans. In the long run, it is best to look for mentors that have little personal relationship with you or are a contrast to your personality. When mentors can express unfamiliar viewpoints about your perspective, it helps you see things in a new light.
Goals: identify what you need from your mentor and the best way your mentor can impact meaningfully in your life. Ask yourself questions such as: are you looking for a mentor in a particular field? would you prefer to meet your mentor in person or are you comfortable with a long-distance mentorship? In what ways would you benefit from the mentorship? Once you can answer these questions satisfactorily, then you can shortlist mentors that fit into your goals.
Essentially, in the course of your career or life’s journey, there are always people ready to offer help, but by choosing your mentors carefully, you can distinguish between counsels that are best for you and ones that are best kept aside. With strategic mentoring, you can easily blossom in the right direction
