{"id":101,"date":"2020-04-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gooroo.com\/blog\/?p=101"},"modified":"2020-04-24T15:05:54","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T19:05:54","slug":"mentors-and-the-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gooroo.com\/blog\/mentors-and-the-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Do I Need a Mentor: Mentors and the Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While you can certainly succeed all on your own, mentors and the benefits of having one cannot be overstated. <\/strong>As individuals, we can only experience a certain amount of growth before we start to plateau. This is where having a mentor\u2014a person who is always in your corner, who challenges you to thrive in your personal and professional life\u2014is an invaluable asset. A mentor will stop you just as you start to plateau. Instead, they nudge you on to better things up hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"mentors<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is a mentor? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You may be wondering exactly what<\/em> or who <\/em>a mentor is. Simply put, a mentor<\/a> is a person who advises you through their own experience and can be anyone from a friend, to a tutor, professor, or colleague. But typically when we\u2019re talking about mentors, we\u2019re talking about career mentors: veterans of any professional field committed to guiding their juniors. At its core, the mentor-mentee relationship is an exchange. The relationship is unique in that there are no expectations\u2014rather, just an open flow of attention and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting a mentor is as simple as asking. Of course you wouldn\u2019t want to ask just anyone to be your mentor. Your mentor should be someone who you already have a working relationship with, who you have witnessed rise to the challenge, and who is already successful in your field of work.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentors provide guidance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The greatest asset of having a mentor is access to unfiltered advice. Your mentor has your best interest at heart and will help guide you through any dilemma in your career. Perhaps you\u2019re having difficulty with a certain task at work, or you\u2019re starting to feel lost, fading into the background of your workplace. Talking to your mentor about these worries will help you locate the root of your fears and establish a plan of action. <\/strong>Having a mentor inherently creates a system of checks and balances that hinders you from making impulsive decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentors will challenge you. It\u2019s easy to feel challenged when you are in school, with daily assignments and teachers you are required to report back to. But once you enter the workplace, you are on your own. You won\u2019t often receive personalized attention. Beyond your work projects, there is no larger goal you\u2019re striving towards\u2014no graduation ceremony or ribbon-wrapped diploma. We hear the story often: so-and-so started a job intending for it to be temporary. However they are still working that job ten years later, having completely lost touch with their prior goals. This means that, in order to avoid becoming complacent in your career, you <\/em>will need to create your own challenges\u2014but it can be incredibly tough to self-implement these challenges. This is where having a mentor is perhaps most important, as a good mentor will always push you <\/strong>to do more while still being emotionally attentive and considerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentors help you make more connections<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another great thing about mentors and the benefits is networking. Given that your mentor will be someone older and more experienced, <\/strong>it\u2019s likely that they will have an expansive network of colleagues and friends that you can tap into. While it can be intimidating to ask for an introduction to people who can help further your career, they will be delighted to help. In fact, they will likely already be doing this without you having to ask. Remember, people like to help other people. It\u2019s what makes the world go round!
In taking on a mentee, a mentor doesn\u2019t ask for or expect anything in return. Mentoring is not a job, it\u2019s a volunteer position. When you begin to consider mentors and the benefits, it\u2019s important that you show them your gratitude. This doesn\u2019t have to be anything more complicated than saying to them: I know you have a lot going on in your own life, and I\u2019m incredibly grateful for all the time and help you\u2019ve given me. Having a mentor is a gift in life that everyone deserves. <\/strong>It\u2019s never too late to ask someone to take you as their mentee\u2014it might even make their day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While you can certainly succeed all on your own, mentors and the benefits of having one cannot be overstated. As individuals, we can only experience a certain amount of growth before we start to plateau. This is where having a mentor\u2014a person who is always in your corner, who challenges you to thrive in your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[12],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n