Every success story I’ve heard includes a mentor. A person willing to see something in you and believe in you perhaps more than you believe in yourself. A person that will open doors, guide, advise, and care about you and your future. I am so lucky to have had a series of mentors throughout my life, so my advice is two-fold.

1. Seek mentors.
2. Mentor.

First, seeking mentors doesn’t mean you need your ‘hand-held’ or you should be ‘coddled’. It means you find and listen to someone wiser than you. It requires effort, respect, and vulnerability, but the rewards are infinite and irreplaceable. No one is born with knowledge or wisdom, these are only gained with experience, a fact that is so important to acknowledge as well as remedy.

Second, mentoring doesn’t mean joining Big Brothers Big Sisters (although that’s a great start). It means taking someone under your wing and giving them the most precious gift you can give, your time. This could mean taking a new co-worker out to lunch and listening to their struggles navigating new responsibilities and new coworkers. Sharing and teaching best practices with new moms and dads. Coaching youth sport teams and helping players that may not have guidance at home. Organizing TEDx events and helping team members and speakers make a difference in their community. Tutoring, teaching, volunteering, being a work-out buddy, whatever you can manage to include mentorship in your life is worth it. Remember, mentorship is mutually beneficial. A purposeful life is a happier life.

Thanks to my own (life-changing) mentors over time: Beth Funcannon of Richwoods High, Dr. Brandi Row of Willamette University, Tammy Bennett of the Bellingham YMCA, Dr. Shirley Rietdyk and Dr. Jeff Haddad of Purdue University, and Dr. Chris Hass and Dr. Lori Altmann of the University of Florida.