- REVERSE MENTORING – Find people, who have arrived where you want to go or who have become who you want to be, and ask them questions
When you first set out on your journey to accomplish your goals, there is much you’ll find that you don’t know you don’t know – especially if you’ve never accomplished that goal before. There are two ways you can gain this knowledge: (1) through your own personal experiences, or (2) through the experiences of others. Of course, you will gain your own experience the more you progress, but that knowledge and experience does not have to be so costly. For example, spending six months to find out that a particular method doesn’t work is wasteful if you can learn that same truth in less than three minutes. That’s where having a mentor can help.
By pulling on the collective wisdom and experience of those who have already traveled the road that lays ahead of you, you can avoid costly derailments and unnecessary failures. Furthermore, you can benefit from pearls of wisdom as you find hidden pathways and shortcuts. Stand on the shoulders of pioneers. Many of them are ready and willing to help. You simply have to ask.
The best way to take advantage of the wisdom of someone who has done what you are doing is to ask them to mentor you. However, that relationship is not always easy to establish and requires significant interest from the mentor. When a mentor will not take on the responsibility to mentor you, you can shoulder that responsibility by reverse mentoring.
Reverse mentoring is a very old concept that I simply named, “reverse mentoring” to highlight a not so obvious solution to finding a mentor. It simply means you seek advice from those who know. Success leaves clues. There is always someone who has been successful in something you are trying to do (or something similar to what you’re trying to do). You can simply observe them, or better yet, ask them questions.
Reverse mentoring simply means taking the initiative to draw out the knowledge you need from others by interviewing them or asking them your questions. Of course, you will want to do this in a way that reciprocates the energy, so you are adding value to those you are seeking help from.
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