In this 4‑7 minute monologue, Tim Pratt Jr. explores the distinct roles of mentors and coaches and why both can be valuable. He opens with a Michael Hyatt quote about coaching as a means to maximize God‑given potential, then references John C. Maxwell’s remarks on John Wooden’s mentorship and Jim Rohn’s advice that “things will change when you change.” Pratt defines mentoring as a long‑term, personal, often industry‑specific relationship, while coaching is a shorter, more formal, sometimes cross‑industry engagement. He discusses the price‑vs‑value dynamic, citing Warren Buffett and Dave Ramsey to illustrate how modest financial advice can dramatically alter lives. Pratt shares his own financial‑learning journey, moving from Robert Kiyosaki to Dave Ramsey to Darren Hardy’s The Compound Effect, noting the trial‑and‑error pitfalls he would have avoided with earlier mentorship. He urges college students to seek mentors in their chosen fields, offering his own network as a resource. He also highlights the importance of a fitness coach for targeted health results. The episode concludes with a call to visit his website (www.timothypratt.org), subscribe to the podcast, and share the content.
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Hey, what's up? This is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. I hope you hear something that adds value to your life, shaping your perspective, faith, and hope, as well as the application to see it through on this thing that we call life. Enjoy. Episode 2: Why hire a coach, seek out a mentor, or a combination of both? So before we jump right into it, this episode is probably going to be about 4 to 7 minutes long because I really want to focus on the story at the end. To drive home all the points. And honestly, I'm going to be freelancing, so I won't do too much editing. So just give me some room. Want to give you heads up. With that being said, let's open up with a quote by Michael Hyatt: The greatest reason a person can be coached is so that they can maximize their God-given potential to live, lead, and finish well in the essence of being a good steward. I recently read my first pass of John C. Maxwell's latest book, Leadership, and one of the things he mentioned was the impact John Wooden had on people through his mentorship. To quote him directly, he said, "Reading John Wooden doesn't hold a candle to hearing from the man himself." And that also brought me to a point, I believe it was Jim Rohn in his book The Power of Ambition, or the program The Power of Ambition, when he was talking about the importance of being under his mentor directly for 5 years. He stated the key thing he learned was, "Things will change when you change." So what's the difference between a mentor and a coach? Although they have a lot of similarities, The key differences to me are mentoring focuses more long-term, personal approach, and usually in your line of work, whereas coaching is a shorter period of time, a more formal approach, and might not be in your line of work. So for example, I'm a project manager, I might go find a mentor in the field, in the discipline, like a senior or director, a PMO or something like that, that can kind of give me best practices, pitfalls to avoid challenges and just share insight, where I might go hire a coach in fitness, personal finance, investing, or something like that. Not saying I can't get a coach that will help me in project management, or a mentor that, you know, will help me in health and things like that, but usually it just kind of follows that line of work. But the common things that you need to understand when it comes to whether a mentor or a coach is that you won't always agree They should challenge you, and it's all about growth and transformation. And especially when it comes to a coach, we sometimes look at the price that they charge, but if they're a real good coach, I think you have to keep that Warren Buffett quote in mind, uh, when he said, "Price is what you pay, value is what you get." So in other words is that we don't know what it costs them to share the knowledge that they're willing to share, because sometimes, you know, we get so caught up on, well, they charge $150, but on the other hand, it's like if we pick up a book that's $5, $10, $15, $20, you know, sometimes that advice might change the whole trajectory of our life. Like, for example, on the Dave Ramsey Show, I remember him saying when callers would call in, uh, people would say, man, you might have just saved me $400,000. And he was like, oh, $400,000 call for 5 to 10 minutes, but it changed the trajectory of those people's lives and their legacy forever. So like I say, price what you pay, value is what you get. So how do I tie this in with a personal story? Well, the reason why I value both— honestly, I don't put one over the other when it comes to mentoring and coaching— is that when I first started reading books such as like Robert Kiyosaki, then I transitioned to like The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, I was like at odds because they were kind of contradicting one another. And then I read this book, The Compound Effect, is arguably to me always going to be in my top 5, by Darren Hardy. Um, and it kind of was like a standalone, but I was always at odds with the use debt and then the whole get out of debt mentality. And so I was just out there just trial and error, and I probably made more mistakes than I should have when I could have just really sought out a mentor or a coach. And eventually I did, but I wish I just would have done it earlier, especially when I was in college. I wish I would have had a mentor in a career discipline that I was trying to go into versus just trial and error and saying, hey, you live and you learn. I think we hide behind that a lot sometimes because we don't really have to do that. So to my college students, man, the best advice I can give you is find a mentor. If you're in engineering or project management, if I spent most of my 8-year career in it, by the grace of God, I was able to come out of like right out of college and get a job. So hit me up if you need help, and I'm pretty sure I can help point you in the right direction if I don't, just through some of my colleagues and stuff like that. Um, but to basically drive home this point is that, you know, I was just out there searching, and so they helped me start cleaning up things. They helped me start making more sound decisions. You know, I could bounce things like Think Tank, and it was just better. And like my career, just my per— the things in my personal life really took off. Like, matter of fact, you know, in fitness, I've always worked out, and you know, just went to the gym but not really knowing what to focus on. But getting a fitness coach is like vital because they know what to eat, they know like what to write up and target, and just things like that of that nature. And it's very important. And just go out there, find someone, get up under them, and just learn and glean. And like I say, you won't always agree, but it's all about challenge and then growth and transformation. And so if you want more details, I'm probably going to end up blogging on this like more in depth. Uh, go to www.timothypratt.org. Um, and just, hey, what's up? So once again, I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to the content today. Also encourage you to subscribe to the podcast as well as share with family, friends, and on your social media platforms. Also check out www.timothypratt.org for more information about this thing that we call life. Be blessed.
