I have often heard people say that they need a mentor….as havign the right mentor can sometimes have a big bearing on your career and success. 

"But what is a mentor?" Looking online I came up with the following origin and definition –

  1. A wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
  2. Mentor Greek Mythology. Odysseus's trusted counselor, in whose guise Athena became the guardian and teacher of Telemachus

Now finding a mentor is one thing, but engaging a mentor/teacher to actively look out for your best interests can be a little harder to do.After all, most of the time they are off forging their own path, and time, as we mentioned in the last blog, 'Compound Time - Like compound Interest',  time is a valuable commodity.

The Search

Looking outside your usual circles (search where you like to play) is a great place to start as very often someone that you work with can have conflicting interests when it comes to giving you advice. Start by asking yourself – what are my interests, hobbies, goals, and where do I want to be in 5 years?  Yes, you want your chosen mentor to be able to guide and teach you, however you also want them to be on the same wave length as yourself.

I have learnt from experience that choosing the wrong mentor can sometimes stall rather than progress your life's journey.Unfortunately it wasn't my best decision. The up side is that you always learn from mistakes that have been made in the past.

I now have another prospective mentor that may be willing to assist me (7 years later mind you).  I say prospective in that I am yet to engage this person....He may not want the job. He has a similar mindset to myself, we have some of the same common background in business, we are of a similar age, however he is at least 5-10 years further down the career path than I am myself.

Engagment

According to Penelope Trunk from the Brazen Careerist, there are 4 key steps that you need to undertake...steps that I am going to try and implement myself –

1. Invest time – Don't ask a mentor to invest time if you aren't willing to invest double that amount yourself. Work in with their schedule and always make sure you are available should they want to chat to you.  Be prepared to sometimes clear your schedule.

2. Do favours again and again – Find out what is on their plate and offer them your assistance.

3. Stay in touch continually – don't go to all this effort if you are going to drop the ball.Make the time to stay in touch regularly, however be careful to not over do it, and as stated above, choose times wisely.

4. Ask for a formal relationship –Your mentor agrees to act as you guide and counselor on a formal capacity.You schedule regular meetings or times to catch up online, and you prepare before hand so that you make the most appropriate use of time.

On a final note - Don't limit yourself to just one mentor or even one country.  Very often the most successful people are those that surround themselves with their peers.  So subscribe to a few blogs that you love to read, engage in the comments area, join a club or society, and search where you like to play.

PS - Organisations like toastmasters very often give you a mentor....great place to start.

Jobjett – Jobs in Australia

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