Note: resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction: an earnest student | two girls were in earnest conversation.
âRyan,â he said, âyouâre picking a market who by definition canât really afford to pay for it. You should just give the stuff away for free.â
Note: Ryanâs friend on him teaching a course to people about how to find mentors.
School is important, donât get me wrong. But itâs also become a massive shell game.
Note: a game involving sleight of hand, in which three inverted cups or nutshells are moved about, and contestants must spot which is the one with a pea or other object underneath. OR a deceptive and evasive action or ploy, especially a political one.
shell game.
The class of 2013 graduated with an average of $35,000 in student loan debt. And yetâŚthe majority of college graduates have to move back in with their parents. Underemployment for grads is nearly 20%. College grads working minimum wage jobs is up 70% in the last decade.
there are really smart people out there, who have been where youâve been and they can help. This is the answer, mentors are in many ways the solution to the mess we are in.
I find the recent lawsuits over unpaid internships interesting. To me, the people who filed such lawsuits have made one of two bad assumptions: A) Because of your helicopter parents youâve wrongly concluded that your timeâas an untrained college student no lessâis worth something in an economy where people with decades of experience are willing to accept entry level work again . B) You think the point of an internship is a few dollars here and there (rather than skills and access). Newsflash: If youâre not learning anything itâs your fault.
You will get ahead much faster when you have a successful person vested in and a party to your success.
Note: DEFINITION, if power or authority is vested in someone or something, or if someone or something is vested with power or authority, it is officially given to him, her, or it
You will get ahead much faster when you have a successful person vested in and a party to your success.
âGo directly to the seat of knowledge,â Marcus Aurelius admonished.
Michael Faraday, Carl Jung, Glenn Gould, Ben Franklin, Martha Graham, Freddie Roachâall had a mentor in one form or another.
Having a mentor is rewarding and meaningful. My mentors did far more than help me get ahead in my career. They gave me a model for how to live. They gave me productive outlets for my energy and helped me through difficult situations I would have otherwise been utterly incapable of navigating.
âWe need to stop telling them, âGet a mentor and you will excel,â Instead we need to tell them, âExcel and you will get a mentor.ââ
Note: A quote from Sheryl Sandberg.
swing for the fences.
Note: attempt to satisfy high aspirations that are very difficult to achieve.
Very rarely does anyone else help anyone else out for genuinely altruistic reasons. So think about how you can help them out, and let that define how you act and think.
whiz kid
Note: a young person who is outstandingly skillful or successful at something.
Quid pro quo.
Note: a favor or advantage granted or expected in return for something.
you have to know who the leaders and innovators and talented people in your chosen field are. If you donât, then youâre not ready for a mentorship yet. If you donât know what your chosen field is, youâre not ready yet either.
Always remember that there is a reason theyâve had the success theyâve had and you havenât, and let that dictate the terms.
The costs of emailing or contacting someone you want to learn from are about as close to zero as theyâll ever be.
If you have an intelligent question, ask themâand if itâs appropriate, describe your situation. But never, and I repeat never, act like theyâre obligated to do anything; because theyâre not.
They took a chance on you. So deliver. Have your shit together. Want it badly. Donât be crazy. Spot new opportunities, never care about credit.
Unless youâre asking a question, shut up. The point of an accomplishment mentor is not for you to give them your opinion.
Make use of the access and the opportunities. A good mentor elevatesâyou get invited to stuff you otherwise wouldnât have, you meet people who you wouldnât have otherwise, you get to work on projects that were previously out of your reach. Rack up as much of this as you can. Itâs worth more than money, manyfold.
Bring outside information in. That is, this mentor is not now solely responsible for your education, well-being or success. You better be out there reading, experimenting and connecting with other peopleâso you can bring that perspective to your mentor and bounce it off them and learn how to make use of it.
The mentor cannot want this for you more than you want this for yourself. You better show up every day fucking hungry and dedicated and eager to learn.
What do you want to get out of this? Whatâs your grand strategy? If you donât have the answer to that question, itâs going to be hard to really get the most of this connection youâve formed. As youâre working for or with someone else, you need to be working towards where you want to go.
you worked for free or put in all this time and energy to learn these skills. Now youâve got to make use of it.
Stay in the picture. You are easily forgotten by busy people, remember that. The key then is to find ways to stay relevant and fresh. Drop emails and questions at an interval that straddles the fine line between bothersome and buzzworthy. Itâs easier to keep something alive than it is to revive the deceasedâŚbut itâs on you to keep the blood flowing, not the mentor.
Note: DEFINITION: buzzworthy, likely to arouse the interest and attention of the public, either by media coverage or word of mouth.
Your personal life is irrelevant. No one cares whatâs going on with you, until they do. But before then, itâs on you to handle that shit by yourself, privately.
Apologize. When you screw up (and youâre going to screw up a lot), more likely than not, youâll realize you did it immediately after saying or emailing it. Donât wait for their reprisal, or the token period of silence. Theyâll forgive your errors (within reason) if you indicate a propensity for identifying them. I know when Iâve crossed the line and you probably too. Reproach can be softened by mutual understanding.
Note: DEFINITION: reprisal, an act of retaliation.
Pay it forward. You donât pay a mentor back by helping them. You pay them back by moving on and being successful (which reflects well on them) and then returning the favor to someone who is in the position you were once in.
Itâs not enough to want a mentor or even to be lucky enough to find one. Itâs a relationship that requires investment, energy and clear goals and intentions. But if you do it right, it can change your life.
sketched out
Note: To make someone feel uneasy or uncomfortable; to creep someone out.