Mentoring is the fine art of walking along side another long enough to share wisdom, experience, expertise, compassion and support.  Long enough that the one we are mentoring has reached the point where he or she can go on without us!

It’s a word that’s synonomous with ‘discipleship’ or in some instances, ‘coaching’.  What it is not is ‘therapy’ - professional or otherwise!

When I look back over that past years of the second half of the journey, I realize I’ve had more mentors than I thought.  Initially, they came into my life because of a profound spiritual experience that changed my life perspective dramatically!  But they stayed and our mentor-mentee relationship took on different forms as the need arose.

Why is having a mentor important?

When we embark on a new season of life or a new venture in life, it can be a scary thing!  It may be true that we have loads of experience (life experience that is); some expertise and the will to to whatever it is.  However, we may lack the commensurate courage, conviction and ‘moxxy’ that it takes to ‘pull it off’!

That’s when mentors can be most helpful!

The other thing we often lack is objectivity!  We KNOW what we want to do and accomplish and we ‘live it’ in our hearts and minds every moment.  But we don’t often see the pitfalls, downsides or upsides of what it is we want to do or where we want to end up.

Mentors can help us take on an attitude of objectivity.  She will help us sort it all out.  Look at things from ‘both sides - from in and out’ (words from a Judi Collins song).

Mentors naturally help us avoid the pitfalls that sometimes come with passion-territory!  Mentors may love us, respect us, and honor us - but they will also be brave enough to speak the truth to us in love!

And any new life season or venture requires such an approach if we are to weather the challenges that come.

Mentors, like coaches, know the right questions to ask to be provocative enough to stop us in our tracks long enough to look long and hard at what it is we are about - or about to do!

Does a mentor have to be standing right beside us to be effective?  Can someone mentor you or me - from afar?  Afar, like on the web - from across cyberspace? 

The answer is “yes”!  Standing beside us is a spiritual or emotional thing and physical proximity is not the critical component.  If it were, then coaching would never be done via telephone or email.

The AWP Blog is designed as a ‘mentoring tool’.  What is written and shared here has a mentoring message if we will take it as such.  Oh yes, sometimes what is said here is frivilous or fun - but then we need that as well.  But much of what we write is intended to be applied to life situations and to the decisions we make as we move through the 2nd half of the journey.

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to say more about mentoring - and networking.  Two aspects of moving through life transitions and business growth that are key to doing so successfully.  Stay with the process and we’ll learn how to choose a mentor; what to look for in a mentor; to “contract or not” for mentoring; to “pay for or not”.  All the questions we might have when it comes to mentoring.

We’re welcoming Carine Nadel, an AWP member from out west, to our BLOG conversations.  Look for Carine’s posts here on an every two week basis on Monday’s as we continue to dialogue about things pertinent to the road we are all traveling in some way!

Have an awesome AWP day!

  Linda