TJ Talks | Get The Most Out Of Mentoring
Mentorship is something that I think needs to be better explained. A mentor is anybody that you usually have a relationship with who has seen success or is a little further on in their career or life than you are. They’re somebody that you want to get that wisdom from so that you can apply it to your growth and almost jump ahead of the line without having to go through these experiences.
The best mentors, I have always been told, don't really have time to mentor you. They are busy with their career. They have a lot of things going. Really, if they have a whole bunch of free time are they that successful? They might be, but it's a good qualifying question. When you are looking for a mentor and you find that person I'm telling you to be very intentional with their time. If they're agreeing to meet with you for coffee or have lunch with you and you're really wanting information from them come prepared. Write questions down, be specific, ask open-ended questions that are going to give you a kind of what you're looking for in the direction that you cannot find on google. Don't ask questions like “what degree should I get?” That's something you can Google. What salary should I ask for? Again, you can look on Glassdoor and things like that and find the answers to these questions. You should be asking them questions like “what books do you read? Where do you get information?” These are things that are specific to that person; that are really going to add value from their experience. Take their time seriously and you will get much more out of that relationship. The other thing is that the mentor will not feel like you wasted their time and be more willing to meet with you again. It’s a long process.
Understand that it's a relationship that you're going to have to build on and the more you do it and the better you get at it the more you will benefit. Thanks guys, we appreciate you paying attention and giving us the feedback and requests of topics. Please like, follow and subscribe to our YouTube channel; it really means a lot to us. Thanks and have a great week!
TJ Talks is a weekly web series by AAMD Ambassador T.J. Beaver with J&J Construction. We encourage you to check out his YouTube channel, comment and subscribe.