Find a Mentor

by Valerie Hylen

Trying to succeed at anything on your own can be difficult. It is easy to get discouraged and stay on track. Lots of successful people attribute some of their success to having a great mentor.

Successful people know that if you want successful, it is faster and easier to succeed at something if you copy someone else who has already succeeded at the same thing, than to learn everything yourself and reinvent the wheel at every turn!

So how do you find a mentor? Easy! Here are some suggestions:

1.     Hire a personal coach. Having a personal success coach has become very popular because they are beneficial. A coach is someone whose only purpose is to help you succeed at whatever your goal is – either business or personal.  They will help you to clarify your goals, list the steps you need to take, break your goal into doable steps, set a plan in place, hold you accountable to do the things you need to do, and celebrate your successes! They can be found on the web, and will usually offer you a complimentary session to see if you are a good personality match.

2.     Ask someone you know who is already successful in your field for help and pointers. Successful people love to be recognized for their success and usually love to help others.

3.     Read about others who are successful in your field, study what they have done, learn from their mistakes, and copy what has worked for them.

4.     Read about and study other successful people in general. You can learn what attributes, work habits and creative ideas have helped them to succeed. You will find most of them have a lot in common.

5.     Join a support or networking group. You will get lots of encouragement and ideas. Others in the group will be ahead of you and will have found solutions to some of the problems and challenges you are having and give you great tips.

6.     Start a brainstorming group. Two heads are better than one. Some of the most successful companies use this technique for problem solving.

7.     Associate only with positive people. They are always problem solvers vs. whiners and can keep your energy up.

8.     Take a class to learn specific skills you are lacking.

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