Mentorship is the key that unlocks all the doors confining you from being and becoming a success. A mentor is a coach. Mentorship is the guidance, direction, and instruction given to one or more persons who are aspiring to achieve something never before accomplished. It can also be the guidance and direction given to a weathered, highly experienced veteran to help keep him and stay him on course, continue to be creative with the use of his energy, and continue to be productively effective in the achieving of his life’s purpose. The mentor should be one who has already accomplished or achieved that which his student is aspiring to achieve.
A good mentor: Teaches men how to do what they ordinarily wouldn’t do…So that they may become what they were originally designed to be.
Good highly qualified mentors are very difficult to find. Bad ones seem to be plentiful. Choose your mentor very carefully. Do not be in a rush to find one. Keep your eyes and ears open to all those apparently qualified men and/or women who are in and around you and who might consider becoming one of your mentors. Keep listening for the same name to keep popping up in the discussions you are having with fellow laborers or with other leaders of people. When you feel you have identified a potential mentor, set up an appointment with them if at all possible. Be professional and courteous, but also bold in your request for a potential candidate to become your mentor. Be well prepared for the ensuing discussion that such an appointment will surely generate. Keep in mind that you might have to use an intermediary person to help you arrange an appointment. Never be arrogant or presumptive when establishing a discussion time with your prospective mentor. Remember, you are requesting help from another person whenever you ask someone to become your personal mentor. They are just as busy or most probably much busier than are you.
A humble heart and tongue are extremely valuable assets to be displayed on your part.
A mentor is not your slave. He is not one from whom you (as the student) will demand different things or services. One should never, under any circumstances, try to take advantage of your mentor and/or use him or her, in any way shape or form, solely to provide you the basis from which you can accomplish your own personal advantage.
Mentorship is a gift, a very valuable gift.
Mentorship is a two-way personal relationship.
You learn and receive knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from your mentor as to how things you are attempting to accomplish are to be correctly achieved. Once you have learned what to do, then you are to use what you have gained by giving what you have learned away to other people.
Mentorship and its lessons are never to be abused or misused.
What you learn from your mentor and then apply should be used to benefit yourself, other people, and most importantly your God. Your role in this mentorship process is to learn all you possibly can from your mentor, and then use such gained knowledge and understanding helping yourself and others.
The real purpose of mentorship is:
- To teach you (the student) what and how to do the requirements you need to know.
- To teach you why you need to know these requirements.
- To teach you how to apply your newly acquired knowledge and information so as to accomplish your desired results.
- To assist you in becoming a better, higher quality individual and example from whom others may observe and learn.
and finally……..
- To guide and direct your personal efforts as you (the student) use your learned knowledge assisting other people to grow and succeed in their own lives.
When it all happens the proper and correct way, your mentor should become, wherever and whenever it is possible, (outside your Lord and Savior, and your spouse),…your very best personal friend. They need to be a person who gets to know you as well or maybe even better than those other people within your own personal family. Yes it can actually happen within the personal relationship you develop with your mentor that they can, in fact, get to know you as well or even better than does your own spouse.
Always keep your personal relationships with your mentor appropriate.
Always keep them separate from those other personal relationships you have.
A mentor is a person to whom you can safely reveal your inner most feelings, beliefs, and thoughts without having any fear of being ridiculed, chastised, or embarrassed. A mentor values your personal relationship and respects its privacy as much or more than you do. Your mentor is to always respect and honor your confidentiality and never under any circumstances publicly share or even privately for that matter, share what he knows about you with any other human being. Your mentor/student relationship must be honored at all times. No exceptions!
Permit me to make absolutely certain that you understand what the role of your personal mentor is in your life. He or she, the mentor, is not a boss. He is not a demander of anything. Rather he or she is your personal friend…a helper, if you will. A mentor is to be your road guide as you travel the highway to your own success.
You, as the student, seek the advice and counsel concerning things that you are considering doing or employing in your business or personal activities or operations that will provide you the ways and means of accomplishing your own dreams and goals. Your mentor is going to provide you with his personal input as to what you are planning to do…before you haul off and try to do it!
May I tell you the absolute truth? I will put it to you in the grammatical form of two questions. (1) Do you know who you really are and where you are really going? and (2) Do you personally have a qualified mentor in your life? Allow me to say to you…if you cannot definitely answer these two questions or if there is any doubt in your own mind as to who your personal mentor really is…then, I will boldly tell you that you do not have one!
The old saying remains appropriate even until this day: “If you don’t know where you are going or how you are going to get there, then you will not like where it is that you actually wind up!”
Dear ones,…..that is precisely why, if you are desiring to become highly successful and prosperous, you need an active and participating personal mentor.
Just remember this simple little Truth of Life….The most prominent character trait of a good mentor is that they always possess and display a good and Godly SERVANT’S HEART.
Peace and Love to All of You…….Poppa Bear