“Too many people out there are stuck waiting for someone wiser than them to show them the way.”
I was scrolling through LinkedIn when I saw a post from Jason Fried, the Co-founder and CEO of Basecamp. He drops a ton of great nuggets into his LinkedIn feed, and his one about mentorship was no exception.
Before I add my own two cents to the pot, take a look. This is his post.
Seek fewer mentors. Seek more self-confidence and develop your own intuition. Too many people out there are stuck waiting for someone wiser than them to show them the way. There is no way. There are lots and lots of ways.
Even the most successful people have no idea what they’re doing. They figure it out as they go – just like you do. They may have a few more experiences under their belt, but those are past experiences with different contexts. What’s ahead is always unknown for everyone.
Just trust yourself and do your thing.
Do we need mentors at all?
It depends.
Good mentors are like scouts. They’ve been out ahead of you and can give you an idea of what’s up ahead. They can give you insight on the lay of the land. They’ll warn you of dangers. They’re very valuable.
Great mentors are like guides. They’ve been there before, and they’re by your side during different aspects of your journey.
I don’t think it’s possible to have too many scouts at once. But I do think you can have too many guides at once.
Most of us need mentors, but all of us need to trust ourselves more.
“Just trust yourself and do your thing.”
I love this. And I fully believe in it.
Something that’s fascinating to me is that entrepreneurs often think of themselves as really independent people who go against the grain.
But we’re not.
We’re humans and we’re subject to group think and following blindly just as often as others are. No, we’re not as enlightened as we want to believe. And that’s ok.
If we’re going to seek out mentors and take their advice, then we need to understand that our decision is the only thing that matters at the end of the day. Regardless of the info we take in, we have to fully own our output.
Trust yourself.
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Photo: Flickr/Symphoney Symphoney