Why Mentoring Matters
You should get a mentor. Have you ever been told that? Have you ever told that to someone else? I think we all like the idea of mentorship in a general sense, but a lot of people don’t actually know what a healthy mentor/mentee relationship should look like and why it’s so important to have those relationships present in your life.
We just wrapped up our series of 17 Strategies to Become the Best Version of Yourself, and if you haven’t had a chance to read those posts yet, make sure to check them out! This series is related to the same ideas of growth, self-improvement, and reaching our full potential, but it will zero in on an aspect of personal and professional growth that we haven’t spent much time on yet – mentorship. Throughout this series, we’ll discuss what mentoring should look like, how to resolve conflicts in your mentor/mentee relationship, and in what spheres of life your mentorship can help you. But for this first installment of the brand new series, we’re going to focus on defining our terms and applying this discussion to your life. Basically – what are we talking about and why does it matter?
What Is Mentorship?
In the simplest terms, a mentor relationship is a partnership between two people where one person instructs, counsels, or teaches the other. The person who instructs is the mentor, and the person who listens and learns is the mentee. Typically, though not always, the mentor is older than the mentee. And typically, though not always, the mentor and the mentee are two people of the same gender. Mentoring relationships can have existed throughout human history, and they can be formed in many different spheres, with many different goals. You could be mentored for your professional life by someone in your company or for your personal life by an older friend or family member. If you have been blessed with good parents, teachers, or coaches, then you have already had mentors, even if you didn’t realize it at the time. Whatever your mentorship relationship might look like, the purpose of mentoring is always the same – the passing along of wisdom and mutual growth.
Why Should You Be Mentored?
If the mentoring relationship is about the passing along of wisdom, then the mentee is the one receiving that wisdom. You should be mentored because you need more knowledge to grow and improve! Maybe it’s for your career, or maybe it’s to be a better help to your family, but there’s always more for us to learn and new ways to grow. Seeking out someone to teach and counsel you is a wonderful exercise in humility, admitting that you still have a lot to learn and room to grow. Receiving wisdom and knowledge from someone farther along than you will help you grow in gratitude, which is good for both your body and your soul. Figuring things out on your own works in some situations, but there are plenty of circumstances you will encounter in your life that will require more than WikiHow. When real things are happening, you need someone who has lived more life, struggled, and learned how to respond to what you’re facing. There’s no substitute for a real person in your life, helping you along as you go. That’s why you should be mentored.
Why Should You Be a Mentor?
You might not think you’re qualified to be a mentor, but you’re probably more qualified than you think! Really the only requirement for being a mentor is being a little farther along than someone else in whatever area is in question. If you’ve worked at your company a few more years, if you’ve had more experience with certain problems, or maybe just if you’ve lived longer, you can be a help to someone. And, as an added bonus, it’s probably better to feel like you’re underqualified to mentor someone else than to feel like you’re more than ready. Just like mentees, the best mentors are characterized by humility and gratitude. Mentoring someone else and sharing with them what you’ve learned from the different things you’ve been through can also benefit you by giving new meaning to your past struggles. There is something so deeply meaningful about getting to help someone who’s going through something that you had to go through in the past. Being able to help someone the way someone else helped you or the way you wish someone could have helped you is truly gratifying and often cathartic. And, as one more added bonus, you might have noticed in the intro that I said mentorship relationships exist for mutual growth. That wasn’t an accident. Mentoring someone else often ends up being just as beneficial for you as it is for them. That’s another reason why you should mentor.
That’s all for this first installment of the brand new Mentors & Mentees series! Thanks for reading this discussion of what mentorship is and why you should consider both being mentored and becoming a mentor. Look out for the next post coming soon!
