No one is a master in every area of their life. It takes a little bit of humility to accept that while you may be a strong leader in your professional world, you might need to spend some time working on making your relationships stronger in your personal life. Or, that maybe you’ve created a good habit around daily spiritual meditation, but when it comes to showing up for your physical health, you lack accountability and motivation. When we recognize that we’re failing in an area that we can to succeed in, we need to refocus and counterbalance.
The good news is that nobody expects you to be the best at every sphere in your life; however, when you identify the areas that you want to prioritize in your goals, you may need to someone to help you break through your old habits, or if you’ve plateaued, bring you fresh ideas.
If there’s a gap in your ability and knowledge, sometimes instead of focusing on “how” you get there, you need to focus on “who” could help. After all, no one succeeds alone.
Mentor vs. Model
If you’re wondering where you’re going to find someone to help guide you as you work toward your goal, there’s two approaches you can take. You can either try to find a person in your life who’d be interested in coaching you, or you can find someone you may look toward people whose lives might serve as a model for you to learn from.
Find a Mentor
Unfortunately, the journey to finding a mentor isn’t always easy. A Mentorship is a relationship, and establishing one can be nerve-wracking. How do you know if someone is open to being your mentor, and how do you go about asking them?
If you’re looking for a professional mentor, you can join any local professional organizations for your industry. These groups of like-minded people who work in similar industries are often created for cities and specialties and are full of people who would likely be open to mentoring. Some of these are networking groups that host monthly meet ups, and others are digital, such as Facebook groups to join that host monthly webinars. Some groups may already offer mentoring as a benefit for their members.
You can take this approach in any area of your life. Look for communities related to your sphere. If you’re working on your physical health, you might sign up for personal training. If you’re looking to
If you’ve already got someone in mind that you’d like to ask to be your mentor, go ahead and ask if they’d like to help you achieve your goal! Explain to them what about them you admire and why you think you’d be a good fit for a mentorship with each other, and then ask if they’d like to assume that role. Beginning the conversation is the hardest part; you’ll be amazed at how many people will be flattered by the request and excited to help others.
Find a Model
As we say in The ONE Thing, success leaves clues. If there’s someone who is successful in the sphere of your life that you’d like to prioritize, you can learn from them. If you can identify someone else who has gotten the results that you want, they can be an excellent model for you.
When you’re identifying potential models, you don’t need to restrict yourself to only people who you directly know. Heck, they don’t even have to be alive. Some of the greatest lessons for our lives come from people’s whose story reaches to us through history and research.
For example, if you’re looking to prioritize building your business in the coming year, you might read the biography or memoir of an industry titan. Or, if you’d like to deepen your spiritual self, you may read the story of someone’s search to find meaning.
You don’t need to restrict yourself to a single person if you’re looking to find someone who can serve as a model for you or help you develop your own models. Often, we find that learning and researching several people (or businesses) that have succeeded allows you to help identify patterns that can help you identify the path you want to take in your own life.
Looking for accountability and community? Join us on our One THING Community Facebook page and let us know what goals you’re working toward and how we can help.