Are Mentors Necessary?

I believe mentors help you with your growth.

But necessary?

Depends.

I used to think that mentors were necessary in the Toastmasters world.

But in reality, having a mentor in step 1 of your journey can actually be detrimental for both parties.

I remember for my first speech, Toastmasters assigned me a mentor to get started with my icebreaker speech.

At that point, I didn't have any speaking experience, so I began to flood him with irrelevant questions:

Does grammar matter?
Does the audience think I'm ugly when speaking?
Can they tell I'm nervous etc?

All that did was make the mentor answer low level questions & me to overthink the action taking process.

A few years later, I have come to realize that mentors aren't going to do much for you unless you have SOME level of experience.

Without experience, you ask low level questions that cause you to focus on all the wrong things.

With experience, you ask fine tuned questions that facilitate your progress.

This isn't me telling you to dump out your mentor.

But this is me telling you that even if you don't have one yet, you shouldn't sweat it.

Just begin.

Gather data.

Fail.

Learn.

As you progress in your journey, many mentors will be presented to you.

And when they are presented to you, you will feel much more ready to work with them.

You will no longer expect the mentor to hand hold you to success.

But rather, you will notice that the mentor was simply a guide all along.

They will tell you where the river is, but it is up to you to catch the fish.

With that being said, what time do you find it's best to seek guidance?

Let me hear it!

Till tomorrow.

Hustle Hacker 💲 💲 💲