Gyrogami Blog - Precious Metals, Jewelry, Artwork

What's a Mentor for?

Blog Index

Categories: Experiences and daily life; Human nature

Word count/read time: 427 words; 2 minutes

A mentor is a trusted and knowledgeable person who helps others reach their potential through guidance and feedback whether business, academic, personal, or something else. It's a two-way street, mentorship. It's probably better summed up in this article.

A good mentor knows when to back off and when to push. They know the proverbial shit sandwich or felt hammer has a different effect depending on their student. No singular approach will work for all situations and all people.

Can someone be a mentor if they don't want to teach others and/or are not passionate about the subject? Teaching, a noble path should they choose, is interactive and requires more than just intelligence. As a student, it should never feel like you're pulling teeth to extract said knowledge; it's frustrating and counterproductive.

Grumpy people don't make good mentors (not to be confused with being stern, strict, or demanding). They might be nice normally but act like the evil step-mother here, excelling at bringing everyone down. Support without criticism or cynicism isn't in their vernacular.

Far, far fewer are capable of being a good mentor than the other way around. They may be a bore normally but hit it out of the park in this context. However, if it's always a breadless shit sandwich for lunch then their tutelage is toxic and soon to be obsolete.

Just about anyone can be an ideal mentee under the right circumstances. Know-it-alls don't make good ones (same with mentors); again, an attitude thing. Nothing will effectively motivate someone enough to want to learn, have a passion for learning, because it either is or isn't part of their mindset.

I could explain it like this. Every discipline in martial arts has multiple levels (dan) of black belts. Mastery usually happens at the 6th dan. Rankings beyond that are honorary. In other words, their physical prowess has or is peaking and their pure "mental" growth is ending. The only way these (old) dogs will improve is by teaching others.

The same could be said of a good mentor who, conceivably, has had just about every learning experience except what happens when they teach others. They will see the joy in a novice's eyes as a major revelation courses through their mind and better understand what they're teaching because every learning experience is unique.

Internal motivation is either there or not, simple as pie. If you're not going forward then you're going backwards or stagnating. Perhaps part of the grumpiness that comes with vast knowledge is realizing there's little left to learn the traditional way.

Posted by M: March 26, 2025

Please email any thoughts or comments regarding this post.

Previous Entry . . . . Next Entry

Comment Section

NOTE: Your comments will be included in this section as long as they aren't illegal. This section is censor-free so show me your intelligence or ignorance and everything in between!

2025