What qualities assure success in life and in business? Here’s how you can leverage a life coach, mentor, or sponsor to get ahead.
Start With Self-Awareness
The beginning of success in any endeavor is knowing yourself and being aware of your strengths and weaknesses. Spend time with yourself. Pay attention to your wants and needs and allow time for soul searching in order to identify the values that mean the most to you. By practicing honest self-awareness, you can learn to hone your skills and discipline yourself to become the person you want to be. Before engaging with any life coach, mentor, or sponsor, you need to know yourself well. What do you stand for, and what do you need from them?
Have the courage to seek a sponsor and mentor
Confidence does not mean displaying a smug, haughty attitude. It means you are willing to accept a challenge that will require personal and professional growth to master and then giving it all you have to succeed. Confidence means you have the courage to seek help from others like a mentor or sponsor.
Sponsors and mentors play different roles, but they are both uber-important to your success.
A mentor should be your trusted advisor, helping you navigate your organization, explaining the unwritten rules, and guiding you to being your best self.
A sponsor should openly advocate for you taking on that new project or challenge. Sponsors should be influential people in your organization that will promote you to others in leadership. Sponsors can be the single most effective tool to help you get ahead at work.
It’s as much about attitude as it is about aptitude
In business ventures and in life, there will be challenges and setbacks that may cause self-doubt. Mentors and sponsors should believe in you even when you are doubting yourself. They will help champion you and your success and open doors that you don’t even think should be opened for you. They should also have the confidence to tell you that you need to change something, no sugar coating needed. If you don’t yet have a mentor or sponsor you can call on, business coaches are a great first step to reset your mindset and get you ready to approach one.
Finding the right fit—you need to have rapport
In order to have a sponsor or mentor who really makes the difference in your career, you need to ensure you have the right fit in personality, lifestyle, and career approach. Like any relationship, this relationship will be heavily guided by emotional intelligence. It is crucial that you learn how to recognize, express, and control your own emotions and be truly open to their feedback. Equally important is the ability of your mentor or sponsor to show empathy and kindness by putting themselves in your shoes. Make sure you get to know your mentor or sponsor before you decide to work together. Take a genuine interest in each other and make sure it’s the right fit for both.
Once you are in a position to help others, reach out and offer yourself as a mentor. It’s an ideal way to give back to your community and to pay it forward so that others can benefit from your experiences and wisdom. This has been my mission for launching www.iamdeena.com.