I’ve been seeking a mentor for quite a while now. Having a mentor can be a really great thing both for your career and your overall life. The hard part is how to find them and what to do in the meantime. Since I’m still in the market for a mentor, I’ll share what my goals are and what I have done to make it through the time between.
Your connections are a great resource! I considered my old boss to be my mentor. He was the one who hired me out of college and had an integral part of shaping me into the professional I am today. He gave me advice on how to deal with other colleagues, where to learn different things, and even told me what I could improve upon to become better. We, still, get along very well and learned a lot from each other. He was the one who got me to where I am today, but I need another mentor to take me along further. This is what I hope to get out of my next professional mentor:
- Guide me through working my way up through an organization as a woman.
- Be a sounding board to bounce ideas off of.
- Give me frank advice on my career goals and how I can be a more effective leader.
- Help me with sticky situations I encounter at work, like the one I am going through right now in seeking the job title I deserve.
Mentors are also great in our personal lives. They add all sorts of value to our otherwise standard life, and help us exceed our highest expectations in something we love to do outside of work. If you are lucky enough, this is also your job, but not everyone gets that chance. I hope to encounter someone else who can help me achieve my goals in my personal life. I want to ride horses again and potentially teach kids to ride. I want to take a yoga teacher training program to share my love of this activity with the rest of the world. I want to connect with others to make my garden grow even better. In the meantime of finding any of these fabulous mentors, I have had to figure out strategies to help me through everything now, and get the development and advice I crave.
Friends and Existing Contacts. I believe that we already have mentors in our personal lives in the form of friends who we interact with and get advice from. Sometimes you just need to tap into your existing network for advice.
Podcasts. Podcasts have been a major help. I am a huge fan of Peter Bregman, therefore I listen to The Bregman Leadership Podcast each week when I run on Friday’s at the gym. Each week, Peter’s guests talk about a different leadership subject and it’s right around 30 minutes long. Most of his guests have written books so it is an easy way for me to get the main ideas and main point of a book, without having to read it. His guests come from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of experiences. I learn something new each week and it is something I can usually apply to my work next week. It’s a fabulous podcast and I highly recommend it.
Websites that are leaders in their respective subjects. I stay current on Harvard Business Review articles and what people are sharing on LinkedIn. HBR is a great resource to read research and articles that are written by respected thought leaders in our world today. If you don’t have a paid subscription, you are limited by the number of articles you can access each month, but it’s a great way to see what up and coming issues are there and what others are talking about now. I consider my network on LinkedIn to be decent and many of them are in the same business that I am in. Seeing what my network is sharing is key to me.
Read, Read, Read! I read all the time! Growing up I collected (okay, really I just bought and hoarded) many books on riding and stable management. It’s easy enough to just pick up these books and read them. Recently I bought the Yoga Sutras. This is a cornerstone book for any teacher training program so I can get a head start on my program. Other blogs and websites are a great resource to help you find your path through the woods without the need of a guide. Do some research and find some great ones that work for you.
Mentors can help you through many of the trials and tribulations of life, whether that life is your personal or professional life. Most importantly, find one for your passion, but also find one for your professional life. Being able to bounce ideas off of someone who has been through the same thing or asking how someone else interprets something is a great exercise in life. Our ego is not always correct and there could be a better way to navigate same path. Find a mentor and see what changes.
All The Space In-Between 