You need mentors in order to get ahead in the most sensible fashion. Period.
None of us can go it alone, in any area of life, and have any chance for success
Everything has to be taught to us at least once.
Even if you are a self-taught kind of a person, such as I am, you’ll only get so far before the compounded knowledge needs sorting out.
You’ll always reach a point where the problem of moving forward becomes too big to decipher.
You’ll reach a state of “Maximum Entropy”
There’s too much going on at once.
At this point, you’ll either explode or get crushed if someone doesn’t step in and help you organize it all and help you develop a plan to move forward.
You can do so well that you outgrow your own capacity to see all sides of what you’ve created.
You may be sitting on an incredible resource or batch of knowledge but not know how to turn it into a working entity.
The longer you try and the harder you push yourself, the tougher it becomes to gain any ground at all.
You cannot solve this problem with the same mindset that created it
Once you’ve reached this point, you must honestly look at the situation for what it is:
You got you here. Here is no good.
How can you possibly expect that same person (you) to get you out of this jam?
The answer, of course, is – you can’t. You need a fresh set of eyes.
You’re going to have to trust someone
That can be the scariest part of asking for a mentor’s help. But you’re going to have to do it.
You’re going to have to let someone into your inner realm, share some secrets, expose your dream to the possibility of being robbed from you by a smarter and better prepared entity.
You’re also going to have to take a risk in exposing your infant idea to the harsh coldness of others’ scrutiny.
Maybe you’re not as awesome as you think you are. Maybe you’re not as original as you feel yourself to be.
Maybe you’ve invested so much of your soul in this project that you can’t bear being told that it’s no good
Well, if you don’t take this leap and extend some trust in another, you’ll never know what’s possible.
Or worse, you may become stuck in a dream world of self-delusion.
Either way, no growth takes place.
That brings to bear possibly the strongest reason for taking on a mentor:
A great mentor will keep you safe!
A mentor can be a friend, or become a friend, but their ultimate job is not to be your buddy but to keep you real, keep you moving, and keep you grounded in a way that protects you.
From this place of safety, you can learn and grow and achieve your goals in ways that make you stronger as you go.
So, go through the rest of my articles on this topic.
See how I’ve worked with my mentors up to this point and how I search for new ones, what I hope to do once I’ve found them, and what it’s all brought me.
Then decide for yourself what the best next step is for you in your journey towards success, and take that step.
The photographer of this post’s featured photo: Atlas Green
