Mentor

This week the topics have been centered around seizing the opportunities that exist before us. Today, we will look at another way to take advantage of those fleeting opportunities.

Throughout the week I've touched on a number of ways to maximize your opportunities, but much of it revolves around you knowing what to do. Let's say you don't have a clue what to do, but you know you want to improve your life. Although I've discussed personal coaches, today we will look at the mentor role. A mentor is a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, or usually a more experienced person that will teach and guide you what to do in a particular subject matter or profession. Some professions have mentoring programs in which newcomers are paired with more experienced people in order to obtain good examples and advice as they advance, and schools sometimes have mentoring programs for new students or students who are having difficulties.

Another example of a mentoring program is an apprenticeship which are used in professional trades like plumbing, electrical work, construction, etc. Most of their training is done on the job while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade, in exchange for their continuing labor for an agreed period after they become skilled.

The system of apprenticeship first developed in the later Middle Ages and came to be supervised by craft guilds and town governments. A master craftsman was entitled to employ young people as an inexpensive form of labor in exchange for providing formal training in the craft. Most apprentices were males, but female apprentices were found in a number of crafts associated with embroidery, silk-weaving etc. Apprentices were young (usually about fourteen to twenty-one years of age), unmarried and would live in the master craftsman's household. Most apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract (usually a term of seven years), but some would spend time as a journeyman and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop.

Today mentors provide their expertise to less experienced individuals in order to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks. Many of the world's most successful people have benefited from having a mentor. Just a few are listed below.

Famous mentor-protégé pairs include:

• Socrates and Plato (Greek philosophers)
• Plato and Aristotle
  
• Aristotle and Alexander the Great
  
• Paul of Tarsus (St. Paul) and Timothy (early Christian missionaries)
• Freddie Laker (British airline entrepreneur) and Richard Branson (English billionaire)
• Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger (both Australian actors)
• Eddy Merckx (five-time Tour de France winner) and Lance Armstrong (seven-time Tour de France winner)
  

So the question is - how much do you really want to be successful at your endeavor, whatever it is? Find someone who has already had success in that area that is willing to mentor you. But you have to want it, work at it, live it, and be teachable with your mentor who will guide you past the obstacles and challenges. Desire is not enough; you need resolve, an unbreakable and unyielding determination to go along with the practiced expertise of the mentor.

When these components are put together, there is almost a certainty of success.

So - what are you willing to give up to gain your success? What lengths do you have to attain to accomplish your objectives and find the right mentor? Only you can answer these questions.

As always, the choice is yours.

Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory. Psalm 73:23-24 (NIV)

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at the address below.
Email: DeltaInspire@panama-vo.com