The Best Advice We’ve Received From Mentors
Jillian Berndtson
| 2 min read
When it comes to your career, mentors can help make both menial and major decisions easier. They provide perspective and opinions which can guide your thinking in new ways.
Some pieces of advice tend to resonate with us more than others. Here are some of the best pieces of advice members of our team have received:
Angela: One of my mentors told me, “stop apologizing for things when you didn’t do anything wrong.” Females, especially, have a tendency to say phrases like “I’m sorry to bother you,” or “sorry I didn’t think of that,” etc. Apologies should be reserved for times when you are actually owning up to a mistake or issue, not when you are trying to ask for information you need to be successful in your work.
Bridget: I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve, which, isn’t always a good thing, especially in professional settings. In my first job, I realize that when things got frantic, I got frantic. To that end, one of the most useful pieces of advice I received from my mentor was to “be like a duck; calm on the surface, but paddling like hell underneath.” It’s helped me learn to flow with the inevitable workplace chaos and present a calm demeanor to my colleagues.
David: Always trust your intuition.
Elise: The best advice I received was to never compare yourself to others. Everyone’s path is different and creating comparisons isn’t fair to yourself or others.
Jill: One of my mentors told me that when making career decisions, “whatever path you choose will be the right one, always.” Even if you make a choice and you regret it later, you will always learn something from it so there’s never really a wrong answer.
Julie: Don’t be afraid to highlight your individual accomplishments. I think of myself as a team player so it’s not a natural instinct to draw attention to my individual contributions and successes, but a wise mentor once told me that if I don’t, nobody else will. Advocate for yourself!
Are you a mentor or a mentee? What’s the best advice you’ve given or received?
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Photo credit: fizkes
