Have you been mentored?

Mentoring is a word that is increasingly used sometimes in the wrong context. Some of us have been fortunate enough to have been encouraged and or mentored by someone who saw the promise in the individual. But often, it doesn’t happen to everyone. Which brings us to the subject – why and how we need to be mentored the right way.
You might have a great idea for a business – you might even have started on your own already and maybe managing well. But you need mentoring for a variety of reasons. Being mentored is like being coached for a game. Even the best performers need coaching; the higher the performance, the better the coaching 
must become.
You need coaching because often, you may be blind to the curves and the corners in your journey. Familiarity breeds many monsters, some you may not see until they are pointed out to you. Being mentored by someone who’s been through the paces, is a powerful exercise that opens up the road to your vision better. 
Being mentored allows you to discover potential in you that you didn’t even know about. Sometimes, some of us do not see and grasp it well enough to be able to optimize its power. When you are being mentored, you are able to allow yourself to come out of your comfort zone and rise to heights that you couldn’t have even imagined before.
When you are being mentored, you have the potential to engage with areas that may be new but entirely in line with your vision field. You are able to see things in a new light, a new way of discovering the possibilities. Engaging a mentor serves you to discover these areas, giving you incredible leverage over circumstances and situations that may have limited 
you otherwise. 
In our journey into entrepreneurship, anything can happen. There are so many possibilities just as there are minefields. You must be able to balance your walk, ensure that a minefield that masquerades as an opportunity is known for what it really is. You might be carried away with a powerful idea but if you are being mentored right, then you have the power to come back to earth and engage with reality, never mind the dream. In the same vein, you can discover potential you did not was there 
as well.
Being mentored is like a hedge that is constantly being pruned – towards growing better and bearing fruit better. Being constantly guided and mentored enables you to sharpen your skills and ensure that you can achieve better outcomes no matter the situation or the circumstances. This way, you can ensure that your output matches the level of growth you are expecting to achieve. Being mentored opens up many possibilities for growth and expansion for every individual choosing to be thus mentored.
Mentoring is not only for those aspiring for entrepreneurship excellence. It is ideally for all who seek to perfect and fine tune their chosen career and work areas. It can serve as a mirror that gives you the opportunity to better yourself. Sometimes standing in the way between greater success and you are yourself – you impose limits on yourself that you might not even know about. Being tutored by someone well aware of such road blocks gives you the opportunity to overcome 
such situations.
So, the next question is how do you find a mentor that fits the bill? Mentors are people who have been on the journey themselves and understand that it is not always the destination that is important but also the journey itself. Mentors are willing to give of themselves and their time, allowing others to grow and thrive in an environment that encourages and fosters individual growth and maturity.
Mentors can be those who volunteer and those who practice it as their livelihood – but they are people who possess a wealth of experience and expertise they can share with their protégés. They have much to give and share and are willing to do so without any limitations. They are beneficial for everyone, whether in the long or 
short terms.
Finding a mentor is something that must be undertaken with care. You might want someone who understands the industry, the markets, the different norms that are applicable to your specific sector or you might want to find someone who can bring fresh perspectives from outside. It depends on what your set of needs is.
We live in a world that is so competitive that dynamics change more often that they are set. A lot of it is determined by the way we choose to act or respond. We have opportunities that can become impediments if we do not act fast enough. On the other hand, we have obstacles that can be turned into opportunities if you know how to. On this road of discovery, having a mentor to guide you is critical towards 
ensuring success.
(Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at [email protected])