I had an interesting chat with an acquaintance recently guiding him on finding a mentor and I walked out self enlightened. I was listing out criteria for identifying a mentor and leveraging the relationship. This in order to bridge the gap between current state and the long term goals! But I walked away with an understanding of the phase before that…
My self awareness led me to two things one needs before they signup someone to be their mentors. Maturity and Motivation! The mental and emotional maturity to set realistic goals combined with the motivation and drive those goals to completion. I have many mentors most I have tried to stay in touch and sadly some I have lost contact. As I ruminated over my new interaction, one thing is obvious… each and every one of them helped sharpen these same two attributes in order to help me be more successful.
It is often amazing to step back and realize the obvious. It is so true, Learning never stops!