Mentors are not forever. They come and go, moulding and shaping you as you need it. You need different mentors for different stages of your life.
Think of yourself as a tree, you start out as a sapling and need nutrients to grow to become substantial and be able to hold your own in all types of weather, this is the equivalent of a parent nurturing your early stage learning, giving you the skills to take on the next stages of life.
Once you are fully grown you look to outside influences to make you stronger. That is where the 5 types of mentors come into play.
Do you need fertiliser just to maintain your strength and health?
Maybe you want to blossom with beautiful flowers?
Do you just want to live amongst the other trees?
Are you there to feed the birds and drive harmony?
Is it time to sparkle and be covered in fairy lights?
Each of these questions relates to my five types of mentor.
- Accountability mentors
- Recreational mentors
- Accidental mentors
- Targeted mentors
- Rock Star mentors
Do you know which one relates to which?
Here’s my take on it….you might be able to place names of people who meet the criteria from your experience alongside these descriptions.
Accidental mentors will help you maintain your strength and health – they are there as a guide without responsibility because you have never formalised the mentoring relationship. Yes, you can learn from them, but they aren’t responsible to share with you. Each of us has had accidental mentors along the way. They are usually bosses in your workplace that are sharing, caring types of people.
Accountability mentors want you to blossom and they want to blossom right along side you. Accountability mentoring is to help you both glow as you grow. It is someone to share the good and the bad, who will always support you and be on a similar level to you as you both strive to better yourselves. It is usually someone you care a great deal about and is headed in the same direction as you. It is also someone who you celebrate with, your wins and learnings.
Recreational mentors will guide you to live amongst the other trees. They will provide the confidence to help you be just like them. Unless you want to be world champion, recreational mentors will guide you to be the best you can at something they are already good at. They are more a trainer, but still a guide.
Rock Star Mentors are there to feed the birds and drive harmony. They are there to share without reciprocity. They are inspiring by their brightness, and you can learn so much from following, but you will probably never be them. You might meet, or you might not. Yet, they will hold a special place in your learning journey.
Targeted mentors will make you sparkle. You have diligently taken the time to find the right person with the skills and experience to take you to the top, usually because they are already shining and have been where you want to go. Targeted mentors will share the sparkle with you, they will test you at the same time as testing themselves, so that you both grow exponentially and twinkle amongst the masses.
At different stages of your life you will need different types of encouragement, therefore I believe you will have all five of these types of mentors at some point. Why don’t you take some time to think this through, you might find it is time to change focus and target a mentor to make you sparkle.
Why not target your perfect mentor…not sure who it is? Try working through your needs using 45 Potential Mentors. The special someone will show themselves as you work through the process.
Share to be inspired, be inspired to share.
