You cannot know everything there is to know about how to get where you want to be in life. While it’s possible to learn the needed skills, this will take time and likely a lot of money. Instead, what if you had someone (or a group of people) who can help guide you to success?

A mentor is someone who currently is where you want to be. The relationship you have with a mentor can be an official one, or it can be informal such as following in the footsteps of someone you admire. Mentors have experience and have gone through growing pains towards success. They will know what kinds of training you may need or skills to develop.

More importantly, mentors can give you needed feedback on what you are doing right and wrong during your development. This kind of advice is invaluable. You don’t want a mentor who will hold back. Make sure you give them full permission to be completely honest with you. Most worthwhile mentors will have no problems doing this for you. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but you will be better off than having mentors who sugarcoat your progress. That won’t help you in any way.

The mentors you choose should have the experience or skills you desire to learn. Be sure to ask lots of questions about what they expect from you and ask what you can expect from them. This expectation is important. Otherwise, you won’t have any means of knowing whether the mentoring relationship is working. If someone you are considering to mentor you takes issue with you asking these questions, this is a sign they may not be right for you. It can also be more difficult to sever the relationship once it has begun.

How to find the ideal mentor for you?
This depends on your personal development plan and your next steps. However, trying to find the right mentor can be a challenge. So, be sure to invest a good amount of time. Use these tips to help you in selecting one. At first, you may believe you should choose someone who is like you. However, sometimes the best mentors are those who are different from you. They offer a diversity that you would not get from someone similar. You will gain a perspective of someone different than you.

Try to find a mentor who is well connected. It’s great if a mentor is knowledgeable about your field. However, if they have a good network, this will advance you quicker than someone who does not network well. Your potential mentor can hook you up with the right people at the start rather than getting you into situations that won’t work for you.

Your mentor is someone who’s already made many mistakes in their career. They can help you avoid many of those mistakes. Their experience means you won’t have to go through the same pain they did, both emotionally and monetarily. That alone should be worth having a mentor.

Your mentor knows how to find out the information you need to succeed. If he doesn’t know that information first-hand, he knows where to look for it. He will have access to databases or associations that can benefit you. He may even show you the proper way to search the information to find it faster.

Your mentor will have mentored others to success. While you can find good mentors that have yet to do this, why take the chance? Find someone who has experience at mentoring others and is quite successful at doing it.

Your mentor is going to have a large network of contacts. He also keeps this network active and looks to build relationships. He does all of this because he knows people appreciate these relationships. You want to be a part of this network, and there is no better way to get on it by having this person be your mentor. If this is the only attribute the mentor is good for, this can be enough for you to work with him. Networking is going to be your greatest tool in your career.

Most mentors offer encouragement to the people they mentor. You’ll need this throughout your career. It’s easy to get discouraged and caught up in the negativity of office politics, etc. Your mentor can help you talk it through and offer suggestions on how to handle those situations.

Do you have a mentor already? Don´t be shy to ask someone to be your mentor. Most leaders will be open to this professional relationship, what they can get from a mentee is for example reverse mentorship.

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