How to Find Mentors in Life

Who you listen to in life is very important to your success. Finding good mentors in life can sometimes be a hard process, but in the article I show you some ideas that helped me personally.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• The desire to find a mentor or mentors in life.

1. First, if you don't have anybody you can directly look to for advice in a family or educational setting, reading is a good place to start. Many writers have a heart for teaching what they're passionate about, and with any topic you're going to find people who want to help you through their books. It's not as good as being one-on-one with someone, but it's the next best thing.
2. Finding personal mentors is a much longer process. I've had a handful my whole life. The first were a couple my husband (fiance at the time) and I worked for in college that were small business owners. That started as an employers/employees relationship, but it developed into a friendship. I learned a lot from them that's helped me become a better business owner and entrepreneur.
3. I started going to church on a regular basis at age 19. We've moved once college, and our current church is fairly large. There's several couples there that we've developed friendships with to the point we can ask them advice on anything from family matters to career and business decisions.
4. Specific organizations related to your career (or the career you want) have conferences where you can learn and meet experts in that field. While initially you may not get a lot of personal time, you'll still learn a lot.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember that you often have to develop a friendship first before you really have a personal mentor situation. A lot of times you'll share stuff with a friend you care about as opposed to a stranger and potential competitor. It all varies by the industry and the topic you want to know more about.
• When you gain experience, considering helping other people when you can. It's very rewarding and adds a whole new purpose to your life.
• Don't try to force a mentorship relationship. Sometimes people want to know your integrity level (aren't going to try to hurt them with what they teach you) just as much as you'd want to know that they have integrity as a mentor. That takes time, so don't rush it.