The word self-mentoring explains it is an achiever willing to take the initiative while accepting responsibility for their own development by devoting time to navigate within the culture of the environment in order to make the most of opportunity to strengthen competencies needed to enhance job performance and career progression.
Self-mentoring to getting promoted from the inside out. For most of our years, we expect someone to tell us what to do next- guide us to the next steps. But do you know, it is just our mindset. You do not need anyone to tell you what your next plan is. You need to push yourself from leaning back to pursue your dreams.
A mentor can tell you how they got there, but they can’t tell you how you should get there!
By just waiting for the right kind of help from others, or praying for a magic pill to come along, will only delay the lessons you must inevitably learn in order to serve your highest calling.
Here are four levels of self-mentoring, each level builds on the other.
1. Self-awareness level
Self-awareness is critical for any leader. You must know what your talents and challenges. It is necessary you identify your leadership abilities, unique to you, to maximise this at the next level. It is necessary that you gather solicit feedback, listen without justifying and be aware of your strengths.
2. Self-development level
Self-development builds upon your knowledge of your leadership style to formalise expectations. You build a plan for your expectation to collect simple data to alter behaviors that are limits your success. You begin to form habits or practices reflective of your personal leadership talent.
3. Self-reflection level
Self-reflection guides the construction of valuable techniques of self and peer reflection vital to a self-mentor for daily implementation. Reflection is one of the most important practices in self-mentoring because it helps you in being proactive than reactive. This also gives a clear picture about who you really are and removes inner roadblocks, helping you realise your emotional tension.
4. Self-monitoring level
Since by this level, you have developed your skills necessary to mentor yourself in any situation, hostile or friendly, and can target areas to monitor or through repetition of the first three levels construct new skill levels.
Follow the above four levels and you are just there. Here's how to make sure your mentoring experience is a positive one.
1. Take an assessment that will give you some indication about your strengths, natural talents, ego drivers and/or growth course.
Pour over the information you receive and spend some time journaling about the goodness of fit for your current work, and any future promotions you desire. Most of us go through our days at least somewhat on auto-pilot. These tools are designed to show us any needed course corrections. Opting to do this on a volunteer basis helps it feel less like a daily chore and makes it more like a useful personal research project.
2. Do something you LOVE that you have been avoiding. Revisit your favorite hobbies and pass-times as a child.
At least once a month, make the time to fit in an activity, class, project or event that used to bring you great joy. It may feel like a waste of time while you are trying to decide between consulting and taking a position at a tech startup. But, our favorite hobbies help us remember who we are. Many Nobel Prize winning scientists also pursued artistic endeavors in their free time, as a way of stimulating their creativity.
3. Hiring a great life coach, professional coach or executive coach.
It is alternatively, hiring a good therapist. If you are already working with someone and do not feel like you are making progress, then consider making a change. Having an extra set of eyes and ears on your inner life can serve as a mirror that helps you see doorways you may currently be missing. Investing your own money in hiring a support person, helps you take the work seriously, and approach it like any other important business appointment.
4. Paying closer attention to any physical pain, health challenges or emotional breakdowns that keeps pulling at the edges of your sanity.
Find the right doctor, specialist or holistic health practitioner to help you find a first step toward treatment that feels right to you. Your body does not lie. It provides valuable information (often in the form of pain) about the places we are unintentionally keeping our life force energy on lockdown. Your answer could be as simple as “it is time to change your diet,” or as dramatic as “it is time to move to a warmer climate.” The process of making the change – however large or small – often reveals other steps we have been avoiding in other domains of our life or work.
5. Challenge your comfort zone when it comes to your personal relationships.
Are there moves that you have been avoiding? A break up? A proposal? An agreement to help take care of an aging parent? If you see that a change is needed, lean in and start taking action there. Our relationships often hold keys to our next level of growth.
For those of you who are uncertain about how to pursue self-mentoring perhaps this a step toward being proactive in helping yourself take charge of your professional strengths, limitations, and barriers. Take time to assess and define your role in your own career development and productivity.
Self-mentoring is a lifelong journey.
