Posts Tagged ‘personal growth’

Set the intention to surpass your mentor

Monday, December 12th, 2022

Everyone needs a mentor. In order to achieve any level of mastery, we have to find mentors in the areas where we need to grow in next. We need to find the kind of people who want to take us on. One thing to recognize as you’re choosing a mentor: don’t hang on forever. We are in that relationship for a period of time to learn a certain thing. And our goal should be to surpass the mentor—that’s the best gift we can give to a mentor.

Now if somebody chooses you as a mentor—first of all, what an honor. But don’t allow the feeling of honor to blunt your usefulness. Remember that the best mentors know how to be abruptly truthful with the mentee. Sometimes we get stuck, and we just need someone to slap us around a little bit—figuratively, of course—to help us understand that there’s something more for us.

Years ago, I had a mentor. And I said something to him. I don’t remember what it was, but I’ll never forget his response. He said, “I’m appalled by your thinking. That’s very pedestrian thinking. That’s not how you think. You need to think at a higher level.”

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Who do I want to be today?

Monday, August 23rd, 2021

What if you started today, and every day, by asking yourself this question: What kind of person would I like to be today?

What one word would describe me? Well, that’s an interesting thought.

Maybe you’re gonna say kind. Well, that would change the way you’d go about your day.

Maybe you’d be innovative. That would change the way you’d go about the day.

Maybe it’d be resourceful. I’ll just figure everything out. That too would shape the choices you made throughout the day.

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Set the intention to surpass your mentor

Monday, April 12th, 2021

Everyone needs a mentor. In order to achieve any level of mastery, we have to find mentors in the areas where we need to grow in next. We need to find the kind of people who want to take us on. One thing to recognize as you’re choosing a mentor: don’t hang on forever. We are in that relationship for a period of time to learn a certain thing. And our goal should be to surpass the mentor—that’s the best gift we can give to a mentor.

Now if somebody chooses you as a mentor—first of all, what an honor. But don’t allow the feeling of honor to blunt your usefulness. Remember that the best mentors know how to be abruptly truthful with the mentee. Sometimes we get stuck, and we just need someone to slap us around a little bit—figuratively, of course—to help us understand that there’s something more for us.

Years ago, I had a mentor. And I said something to him. I don’t remember what it was, but I’ll never forget his response. He said, “I’m appalled by your thinking. That’s very pedestrian thinking. That’s not how you think. You need to think at a higher level.”

(more…)

Who do I want to be today?

Monday, April 5th, 2021

What if you started today, and every day, by asking yourself this question: What kind of person would I like to be today? What one word would describe me? Well, that’s an interesting thought. Maybe you’re gonna say kind. Well, that would change the way you’d go about your day. Or maybe you’d be innovative. That would change the way you’d go about the day. Or maybe it’d be resourceful. I’ll just figure everything out. That too would shape the choices you made throughout the day.

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Be You

Sunday, September 1st, 2013

None of us are the same at home and at work. In some ways, that’s good. The way you are when you’re grilling burgers on the deck with friends isn’t necessarily the way you need to be to do your job well. But they also shouldn’t be complete strangers to each other.

It’s easy to lose sight of who you really are when you’re at the office, to become a person your home self wouldn’t even recognize—uptight, risk-averse, and too afraid to color just slightly outside of the lines:

“I’m not on track to reach quota, so I can’t waste my time engaging with other employees.”

“I can’t take it. Jared’s success is making me look bad.”

“Should I jump in and make that joke? What if they don’t laugh?”

This discontent, this frustration—it’s all driven by a lack of comfort in your own skin, a lack of confidence in who you’ve become.

By this point in your life, you probably have a pretty good sense of who you are. But you may have come to the conclusion that straying from the narrow path that you think defines you is cause for alarm. The tendency is to leap back onto that narrow path, to play it safe.

But this gets in the way of growth, and it can also limit your full potential as a person.

Here’s the thing: Your path has gotten you where you are, but y aren’t just defined by that path. You are also defined by the compass you’ve developed along the way, the judgment and values that are woven into who you are. And that judgment can tell you when it’s okay to diverge a bit from the path, to loosen up and just be who you are.

So choose comfort. Always think about what you say and do, but don’t overthink it to the point of paralysis. You know who you are, so don’t hesitate to be that person—to be you.

Everyone’s laughing at the lunch table, and a joke pops into your head. If your compass says no, hold off. But if your intuition says it’s fine, make the joke! Trust yourself to be yourself.

You feel that the company is underachieving, setting the standard of excellence beneath its capability…raise the standard! Trust yourself to know what’s right.

Be you, and have a great Monday.