How to Get & Keep Great Mentors

When the student is ready the teacher appears.

A key trait in life is being likable so people will want to help you on your journey.

For example, what if the right teacher is there but doesn't want to teach you because you are difficult or you make it difficult to receive help?

Whether you know it or not, you should absolutely evaluate how you treat the people who spend their time investing in you.

They don't teach this in school, but they should.

It's how you become teachable. How do you become coachable? How do you become someone who deserves to have someone invest in you?

In fact, in my first job, I was not someone who could be helped. Either via ego or not respecting other's time. I was entitled. And worse - I wasn't aware - and that's why I flat out failed.

At my next job, I made it my mission to become someone who was extremely help-able and someone who others would WANT to work with. Thus, I had managing partners want to spend time with me. I learned a lot, gave back a lot, and it caused me to earn a lot.

Here's some best practices I learned and still implement today:

#1. Come Prepared: Know what you want to get out of the relationship with your mentor and communicate it frequently. The more clarity you have, the better. Mentors only want to work with people who know what they want. Figure it out before you engage.

#2. Give Gratitude: When you do get time from a mentor, thank them for it, and be sincere about it. Perhaps, even, send a gift of gratitude. A thank you can go a very, very long way.

#3. Share and Get Results: When you learn something from your mentor, implement it, and when it works, report it back to that mentor so they know what they taught you is making a difference. Learning for learning sake it useless and mentors know that. Mentors want to mentor those who execute and want to be able to see the results. Debrief with your mentor in an intelligent and thoughtful way.

#4. Before You Ask A Question, Be Resourceful: Don't be annoying. Don't send texts or emails saying: "Can you talk" or "Are you available"? Typically mentors are busy, so you must earn the right to their time and keep it. The more vague you are, the less help you'll get. Instead of being non-specific - communicate effectively:

A. State what your problem is specifically.

B. State the solutions you've researched to the problem.

C. State what you're unclear about and why.

D. Ask what you are missing.

E. Receive feedback and implement.

Frankly - why would a mentor spend time with you if you haven't spent the time to be resourceful? That's not fair, and they're the mentor!

#5. Always Be On Time: No mentor will tolerate someone being late or not communicating effectively. You may only have one opportunity with a mentor to earn their time, so take advantage of it.

So that's it! Now you know how to be likable, teachable, and coachable! Go find that Mentor!

jon@movewithmomentum.com