Remember those piano or guitar lessons you loved or hated? Were you forced to go to tennis lessons? Maybe your parents wanted you to be the next Tiger Woods, Roger Federer or Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, or maybe they simply just wanted you to learn how to swim. Whatever their intention, it was most likely a good intention unless your father was Damir Dokic, or Andre Agassi’s father. They wanted you to be better at something. This coaching process seems to stop and very few continue on throughout life with a coach or mentor of some sort. I wish I had more cricket coaching when I was younger! “If only” is a popular phrase! I remember spending hours in the nets practising the wrong things and not improving my skill, until I engaged a professional batting coach too late in my career. As a result, I don’t believe I reached my cricketing potential and I have to live with that! Here are three reasons why you need a mentor right now.
1. Achieve your potential
We can only self-teach so much! A solid mentor or teacher can provide us with information we need to send us on the right track faster. In order to grow and achieve our potential, we need help from experts we trust, admire and respect. It might be a mentor, a coach, paid or unpaid, or someone we look up to who has the experience and passion to help us improve. We can’t learn everything ourselves via trial and error; life’s too short. At age 25 in 2004, I engaged my first business mentor for $300/hour as I saw the value in learning and fast tracking my learning from someone in my industry. I’ve always invested in my education, because I highly value each titbit of information I gain, which I believe is the best long-term investment you can make.
2. Gain the tools before you need them!
I’ve seen a psychotherapist for 10 years to help me be better at life and handle a raft of issues, even when times are good! It’s better to have the tools ready for when times are bad. I have the tools to handle most situations and if I get stuck, I know who to call on. Most people invest in their physical wellbeing (i.e. at the gym), but not necessarily their emotional and psychological wellbeing, for which I am a big advocate. Both are equally important.
3. Don’t stand still or risk moving backwards!
Knowledge lasts a lifetime and gives you the tools today to be better from now onwards. People who don’t learn tend to stand still and only have knowledge and experience from their past. Information from the past also poses the risk of becoming out-dated so arguably these people are in fact moving backwards! If you want the answer to how to reach your potential, then get a coach or a mentor and always have one. I’d expect to have made many more runs had I learned how to bat properly from a younger age. Featured photo credit: photo credit:
