In the movies, at the part where things are the toughest and the heroine is just about ready to give up, she does not have a meltdown and check out for an extended mental vacation. Nor does she sit down and stuff Doritos into her face until the Bad Things go away. No. She grits her teeth, blows her hair out of her face, and she saves the day.
Then she can inhale those Doritos. 
The question is: how does she save the day?
She could put forth more effort, but she needs to make sure that more effort will really save the day. She has to know that it’s just a matter of degree. Or, she could put forth a different kind of effort, because she knows that if something isn’t working, more of the same isn’t going to help.
Most of us naturally are going to feel like more effort is the answer. We like to think we’re on the right track but if things aren’t going our way, well, we’re just not trying hard enough.
But I bet that probably what’s needed is a different approach altogether. If you’re not getting the results you want, you don’t need more of the same than ever before, you need something different.
Cut back to our heroine: she didn’t save the day by herself, did she? That’s not how it works in movies, is it? No, she had a team of allies. One of those allies may have helped her earlier in the movie by being a mentor to her. The mentor gave her something she couldn’t give herself: a different way of seeing things. The mentor didn’t have the same blind spots she did. The mentor had experience she didn’t. The mentor knew how to get her to realize the truth for herself, not just tell her what to do. The mentor taught her how to get past her own constraints, which freed her to become the heroine that saves the day in the end.
So… who’s your mentor?
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
21 Comments
Well I do read Remarkablogger daily!
Simple Mom. She has allowed me to study her website, both for content and code and has graciously provided an example of what good, focused writing is like.
Michael,
Don’t blush, but I have several mentors including you, Chris Garrett and Brian Clark.
You guys all seem to have mastered “common sense”.
John
I don’t think I have a single mentor, but I do try to pay attention to those who speak with common sense, and obviously get it. Of course Remarkablogger would be high on that list.
You, sir, have been my mentor for quite some time. In fact, I have to say that meeting you in person at SOBCon this year was one of the highlights of the conference.
I am looking forward to working with you on some presentations for next year’s conference!
I don’t think I have one either. I read a lot and I have a friend that works for a blogging software company.. so I listened to them most of the time.
Now that I think on it, I need to get one. I read several.
Black Hockey Jesus and Jonathan Fields and a host of others.
Avinash Kaushik: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
I have two — Dwight Silverman, the Interactive Journalism Editor at the “Houston Chronicle” and author of TechBlog, and my colleague Connie Reece at Every Dot Connects.
One or the other of them teaches me something nearly every day.
Brian Clark & Seth Godin were huge mentors for me from the beginning. I think of you, Havi & Naomi> as part of my team of allies–we’re all very different and have different strengths, but there are common threads there too.
Man, if I had to list how many people have taught me things that were completely critical, I don’t even know where I’d start. There’s so much you can learn once you start opening up to it all.
Hard to say there…. I’d have to say if I name 1 person I would do a large discredit to all the others who I’ve learned / grown with.
I think everyone who has ever helped me in anyway is one of my mentors to some extent or another. That’s my answer and I”m sticking to it.
I have several (some of them don’t even know it ;). Grant Griffiths, Kevin O’Keefe, Darren Rowse, Adrian Lurrsen over at JDSupra always has great ideas. And a bunch of other people.
You really do underscore the importance of a mentor with sound arguments… I have a few that I study…
I love the photo you selected. That’s just awesome! What’s the origin?
I don’t think that I can say I have a mentor but I have some blogs that presents some interesting information :
For example I like Remarkablogger for the ideas on blogging for business and blog promotion
Everyone: thanks for the comments! There are some names I expected to see and some that were new to me. For those of you who said that I am a mentor, I wanted to say a humble thank you. I’ll try to live up to that.
The picture is from the movie Kill Bill, Vol. 2. Pictured are Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo and Chia Hui Liu as Pai Mei. Pai Mei is the central mentor character in the film. He trains Beatrix in swordfighting and martial arts.
Having mentors is vital for success even if they don’t know they are our mentors.
Since I began writing my self-help/personal development blog this year, I’ve followed a number of other bloggers for content ideas, structure and monetizing tips.
I subscribe to about 15 blogs that I check daily for information and inspiration.
I admire Seth Godin for packing powerful messages into a few words; Steve Pavlina for deep and detailed analysis and evaluation; Gretchen Rubin for the breadth and variety of information on happiness; Myrko Thum, Evelyn Lim and Kent Nerburn for their attention to the spiritual part of our being; the Change Blog for introducing me to some great writers who often share their growth journeys; ProBlogger for showing what a blog is and what it can do; and finally, Michael Martine for helping me better understand and navigate the blogoshpere.
I follow several mommy bloggers, but I can’t say that I have a mentor. My blog is highly personal and I’m curious to see how far I can take it despite that, and despite its lack of a clear cut niche.
I definitely have to count Steve Pavlina as the inspiration, and I plan to emulate some of his tactics, like putting up a forum instead of comments down the road.
Other than that, it’s a technique here, technique there.
Tom Volkar of DelightfulWork is a great business coach. Check out his upcoming class on self-employment/entrepreneurship! I learned much from it when I took it.
Also, I like Avani and Maya. They write so well, plus their blogs are beautiful.
ari
Killer recording! I’m going to draw out my “big picture” plan and work backwards to today, today!
Can’t say enough that my first virtual mentor is none other than Michael Martine… next are the guys at copyblogger.com (brian clark), Rich Schefren and Yaro Starak..How I wish I can get them as my “real” mentor but for now, I’m still on the process of saving.
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