A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring

That’s one of the important things about mentoring that I believe is often overlooked: Some lessons are learned more subconsciously than consciously. There are things I learned from watching my father that I purposely tried to copy in my own life. But other things I found were just kind of absorbed and became a part of my thinking and reactions wit

Mentors are all around us; they are everywhere we look. Anywhere there is a sharing of knowledge or a teaching of experience, there is a mentor.

A mentor also can be a figure of faith—anyone from a religious figure to a church leader to a quiet spirit simply devoted to God.

The English teacher side of me shows a bit when I point out that the word “mentor” is both a verb and a noun. It is simultaneously something you do and something you are.

That same level of honesty is required of a mentor. You have to be willing to identify a need, weakness, or even an unpleasant reality but also assure your mentee that you’re going to help him or her overcome it. The frankness builds trust, while the positive action you take builds character.

Advice, after all, is just experience without the pain of having to learn those lessons yourself.

Discipline applied fairly and effectively rarely needs to be repeated.

Do any of us really have a choice as to whether a child looks up to us? Do we have any control over another person’s choice to look to model themselves after our own lives?

Consistency is essential. You have to make sure that your students know what is expected of them and what the consequences will be if those expectations are not met.