Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

BE RESPECTFUL OF THEIR TIME
Many people contact me and ask me to be a mentor to them, not
only from throughout the United States and Canada but from for-
eign countries as well. Aside from the fact that I am extremely busy,
I respectfully decline all invitations because of the particular ap-
proach that they usually take. They call up or write and want me to
take complete charge of their lives. They want me to spend many
hours of my time guiding, counseling, and directing them, and
helping them in their jobs or careers.
The fact is that a prospective mentor is usually very busy and
cannot even consider the possibility of spending large blocks of time
with a complete stranger.
However, if you go slowly and you follow the advice given to
you by a mentor, the individual may conclude that investing time in
you is worthwhile. He or she will be willing to spend even more
time with you to help you even further. Eventually, a very good rela-
tionship can develop.
You may have more than one mentor at the same time, and you
may have sequential mentors. This means that as one mentor serves
his or her purpose in guiding you, and you evolve and grow in your
career, it will often be time to move on to another mentor who is
even further along than your first mentor.