Tips on Finding a Mentor for Yourself or Your Child

Throughout your life, it can really help to have another person to talk to, to help guide you and make the correct decisions. For most people, this is probably their parents or siblings or maybe a wise best friend. However, sometimes we may not have just the right person in our life at the right time.

I have both been mentored in my adult life and have mentored others. I would look at the qualities that certain people exuded and decided I wanted to be like them. As a man in my early 20s, I was fortunate enough to meet a pair of gentlemen, Norm and Denny, who were in their 50s and seemed to have a good grasp on life. It was like they had it all figured out. They guided me on everything from buying a home to dating the right girl to choosing the correct career. The advice they have provided me over the years has been invaluable.

Over the last ten years, I have mentored children as well. Sometimes the best results were with kids who were still in elementary school, so they were young enough to change their ways if need be. And there were also high school and college students that just needed a tiny bit of guidance when they were struggling with big decisions. Below are some things to look for in a mentor for yourself or for your kids.

Respectful

If you are going to go anywhere in this world, you have to be respectful of others. I have always had a high regard for someone who treats the doctor and the trashman the exact same way. If you can find someone who does this, you might just have a good mentor on your hands.

Successful

When I say successful, it does not mean that your future mentor has to be rich with a fancy car and house. But whatever career path they have chosen, they should aspire to be the best in their field. Whether they are the local grocery store manager or a highly respected member of the community, it does not matter as long as they are successful in what they do without compromising their integrity along the way.

Ethics

I’m not putting these tips in any particular order, but if I was placing them in order of importance, finding a mentor with high ethical standards would be at the top of the list. In these days of online trolling and community tensions is can feel hard to see the integrity and good qualities of strangers. If you are lucky enough to run into one of these people, learn from them the best you can.

There are two ways that you can go about this mentoring business. You can make friends with potential mentors and try to emulate their ways and ask for advice now and then. Or if you can reach down and summon up some courage, you could flat out ask someone with these qualities to start mentoring you or your child through life. Some people pay quite a bit of money for life coaches nowadays. However, if you just look around your community, I am sure you will be able to find more than qualified individuals who can provide you with guidance.

If you would rather learn skills that you will need for a successful life through programs instead, iAchieve offers professional development workshops. In these informative presentations, participants are provided inspirational modeling of things like how to have a proper conversation, visualizing and setting goals for yourself, and being able to complete everything with the confidence needed.

Written by Ryan Crawley

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