Brian Tracy outlines seven concrete steps to find and maintain a mentor relationship. Set clear goals, ask for small amounts of time, request specific guidance and act on it, send thank-you notes, give monthly progress updates, and schedule recurring meetings.
Benjamin Franklin once said there are two ways to acquire wisdom. You can either buy it or borrow it. By buying it, you pay full price in terms of time and cost to learn the lessons you need to learn. But by borrowing it, you go to those men and women who have already paid the price to learn the lessons and get their wisdom from them. Benjamin Franklin also said that most people prefer to pay full price rather than seeking out the experiences of others. Now this is the essence of the mentor mentee relationship. By going to people who are ahead of you in the personal or professional arena, and by opening yourselves up to their input and advice and guidance, you can save yourself many months and thousands of dollars that it would cost you to learn what you need to learn all by yourself. Here are seven actions you can take to find, keep and get the very most important benefit from a mentor. 1. Set clear goals for yourself in your career. Know exactly what it is you want to accomplish before you start thinking of the type of person who can help you to accomplish it. 2. Work, study and practice continually to get better and better at what you do. The very best mentors are only interested in helping you if they feel it's going to be of value. You'll have no problem attracting people to you when you develop a reputation for being an up and coming person in your field. Step 3 When you find a potential mentor, don't ask for too much time at first or make a nuisance of yourself. Instead, ask for 10 minutes of his or her time in person, in private, nothing more. Remember, most mentors or potential mentors are busy people and they may be opposed to someone trying to take up a lot of their time. This shortage of time is not personal. Just accept that It's a reality. 4. When you meet with a potential mentor, express your desire to be more successful in your field. Tell him or her that you would very much appreciate a little guidance and advice to help you to move ahead. Ask for an answer to a specific question or for a specific book or audio program recommendation, or for a specific idea that's been helpful to him or her in the past. Whatever advice or guidance he or she gives you, take action on it immediately. This is very important. Step 5 After the initial meeting with a potential mentor, send a thank you note and express your gratitude and appreciation for his or her time and guidance. Mention that you hope to meet again if you have another question. Step number six each month, drop your mentor a short note telling him or her about what you are doing and how you are progressing. There is nothing that makes a potential mentor more open to helping you than you are, making it clear that the help is doing you some good. Step 7 Arrange to meet with your mentor again, perhaps on a monthly basis or even more often if you work closely together. Thank you for viewing this video and how to find, keep and get the very most benefit from a mentor. If you enjoyed this video, please press the like button below and click on the link on the screen to subscribe to my channel.
