Natasha and anyone else that is looking for a mentor
When the student is ready the teacher will appear. This is a 1000 year old Zen proverb. It is true. When the student is ready. Many students never get ready.
When I was young I had many mentors. One of them was a man named Henry. The story in this article is thirty five years old. This is not all that Henry taught me. Henry taught me how to sell. Why did he do this? He did it because he liked me. Why did he like me? He liked me because I was ready. I was ready. Henry appeared. Henry and thousand of other mentors want to teach you. People that know love to teach. They don't like to teach to people that don't want to learn. If Henry told me to "blow em out" and I didn't blow em out, how long is Henry going to continue to teach me.
Jesus told the lepers to go bath in the River Jordan. How many of them went and bathed in the river? I have met young people that ask me how can I learn to sell. I tell them to go read Og Mandino's book,"The Greatest Salesman In The World". The next time I see them I ask ,"Have you read "Greatest Saleman" yet? No. Why would I have any further advice for that student? Thy are not ready.
When I was in my twenties, I joined Toastmasters. That is a club to teach people to be better speakers and presenters. There I met a man named Arnold. He was an excellent speaker. He was about thirty years older than me. He was a Dale Carnegie instructor. He taught me a mountain of education about how to be a better speaker. Why? Because I was ready.
When I started buying houses in the eighties, I met an old Realtor named Bob. Bob had been buying houses since the early sixties. He knew a lot of things about buying and tennants. He happily shared his knowledge with me. I was ready. He could tell I was ready. He could tell because when he told me to try something, I would try it.
Mentors are looking for you if you are ready. If you can't find a mentor, start studying. A mentor will appear when you are ready.
It is not about altruism. People that know like to teach but not to people that are not ready to learn. When I was fifteen, I worked on a farm loading watermelons. My job was to walk along next to a truck and throw the watermelons to a man that was on top of the truck. He would gently place the watermelons in a stack on the truck. As I got tired, I might not throw the watermelons as high as I should. This would cause the man on the top of the truck to have to reach down for the watermelon. The man on top of the truck is not going to reach down. If he does, it might make him fall or it will tire him very quickly. He will just let that watermelon fall back on my head. It only takes about two watermelons on your head to learn to throw the melons high enough. The student is the thrower on the ground. The teacher is the man on top of the truck. Don't expect the teacher to expend any effort to teach you. Throw the melons high enough.
How do you do that? Let the teacher know that you want to learn. When the teacher says, "Read this book.", read it
When you are ready, a teacher will appear.
