The folks at Google seem to think that students would receive tremendous guidance and help if they had access to an existing body of knowledge relevant to their studies.
On this premise, they created “Google Scholar” a search engine dedicated to students, researchers and everything related to a fit-for-purpose intellectual growth and curiosity.
Interestingly, Google Scholar’s slogan – “stand on the shoulder of giants” feels more like a mentorship drive.
An Arabian proverb implies that people look like those upon which they look, no pun intended.
In other words, you as an individual will most likely turn out to be like whoever you look up to.
Therefore, you need to consciously choose your mentors.
Of course, you need to understand that a pair of shoes doesn’t necessarily fit all occasions.
So, you need to identify and choose individual mentors for different aspects of your life and career.
Here are some points you need to consider while choosing your mentors:
- Your mentors are not necessarily perfect people, they’ve learned their lessons while passing through their own abyss, they are a picture of your future, you’ll be learning from their mistakes while avoiding your own mistakes.
- Mentors are not secretive, they have a transparent growth trajectory which can be replicated, be weary and cautious of successful people who attribute their successes to only luck, if there is no transparency on their path, there is nothing for you to see and learn from.
- Mentors are not stagnant, they are continuously growing and evolving, do not follow someone with an expired vision, inactivity is contagious, you might catch the static bug and stop growing.
- If you are interested in choosing someone close to you as your mentor, ensure they are secure enough in their own skin to allow you shine when the time comes, and they are not greedy to the extent of snatching your dreams or stealing your ideas.
I’ll be profiling some outstanding and inspirational people with interesting career and life stories in the coming weeks.
Hopefully, we will be inspired by their stories to go out there and achieve our own success stories.
Now I ask you again. Whose shoulders are you standing on?
Who are your mentors?