I read once again somewhere about the importance of a mentor/teacher in growing and reaching the results you wanna have.
True.
Yet they all seem to refer to a successful person who mentors you one-on-one, in person.
But looking at my own experience it made me think : do you really need a mentor in flesh and blood in these days of ubiquitous, easily accessible information?
SWIMMING
I learned to swim as an adult in the second part of 2015.
I had 3 different teachers on rotation at the swimming pool, 2 of them with big credentials.
And you know who helped me best?
Videos on YouTube.
It's no critics of the teachers, they were overall fantastic and contributed a lot.
But 1h in person per week couldn't match the countless videos on YouTube I have watched. Many of those videos with slow motion, many addressing specific sticky points and many of them with countless "out of the water" exercises I could do in my room.
Interestingly enough, the former Olympic team guy, the "best" on paper, was the poorest teacher.
I was by far the quickest learner, and it was only because I hadn't just relied on the teachers and went out to make my own research.
DATING
Then I thought about dating.
If had looked at the friends who were successful around me and picked a couple of them as mentors.. I'd have stopped very short of where I am at today.
And many of them would have probably pointed me along the wrong path to start with.
On the other hand, I have never met Chase in person, not even seen videos of him in this case, yet I'd argue he's given me more than any single successful friend could have and and he's pointed me in the right direction which in turn allowed me to pick up more and more cues from people and environment around me.
Had I stuck with one -or a few- successful people I know I'd have stopped very short -and that's even without considering they might have pointed me along the wrong path-.
CONDITIONS FOR A MENTOR TO BE USEFUL
It seems to me that if you wanna reach a very high level, for a mentor to be effective he must be:
1. Super top notch (not the case of many of your friends who managed a cute GF) ;
2. Be great at breaking things down, assessing where you're at, and passing that knowledge in a digestible way (not the case of the Olympic swimmer)
OR, at least:
3. Be very similar to your personality and/or have had the same sticking points -or else he might send you down the wrong path or not even understand your issues-
In any other case, a slew of different sources coming from successful people, even at a distance, is superior to a flash and blood single mentor, no matter who he is.
Probably, even if you get such a perfect mentor, a slew of good sources will still provide you with a major uplift.
True.
Yet they all seem to refer to a successful person who mentors you one-on-one, in person.
But looking at my own experience it made me think : do you really need a mentor in flesh and blood in these days of ubiquitous, easily accessible information?
SWIMMING
I learned to swim as an adult in the second part of 2015.
I had 3 different teachers on rotation at the swimming pool, 2 of them with big credentials.
And you know who helped me best?
Videos on YouTube.
It's no critics of the teachers, they were overall fantastic and contributed a lot.
But 1h in person per week couldn't match the countless videos on YouTube I have watched. Many of those videos with slow motion, many addressing specific sticky points and many of them with countless "out of the water" exercises I could do in my room.
Interestingly enough, the former Olympic team guy, the "best" on paper, was the poorest teacher.
I was by far the quickest learner, and it was only because I hadn't just relied on the teachers and went out to make my own research.
DATING
Then I thought about dating.
If had looked at the friends who were successful around me and picked a couple of them as mentors.. I'd have stopped very short of where I am at today.
And many of them would have probably pointed me along the wrong path to start with.
On the other hand, I have never met Chase in person, not even seen videos of him in this case, yet I'd argue he's given me more than any single successful friend could have and and he's pointed me in the right direction which in turn allowed me to pick up more and more cues from people and environment around me.
Had I stuck with one -or a few- successful people I know I'd have stopped very short -and that's even without considering they might have pointed me along the wrong path-.
CONDITIONS FOR A MENTOR TO BE USEFUL
It seems to me that if you wanna reach a very high level, for a mentor to be effective he must be:
1. Super top notch (not the case of many of your friends who managed a cute GF) ;
2. Be great at breaking things down, assessing where you're at, and passing that knowledge in a digestible way (not the case of the Olympic swimmer)
OR, at least:
3. Be very similar to your personality and/or have had the same sticking points -or else he might send you down the wrong path or not even understand your issues-
In any other case, a slew of different sources coming from successful people, even at a distance, is superior to a flash and blood single mentor, no matter who he is.
Probably, even if you get such a perfect mentor, a slew of good sources will still provide you with a major uplift.
