I may upset a few people with this blog post but I believe it’s true.
Answer this question:
How good do you want to be?
(It doesn’t matter at what…just how good do you want to be at something?)
Quite good?
Good?
Very good?
First-rate?
If you answered first-rate I truly believe you are in the majority.
Most people want to be first-rate (like you!) but are you prepared to be first-rate?
Although most people want to be first-rate, in my experience, their desire doesn’t match their want.
The majority have the ‘want’ but the minority have the desire.
Instant Solutions
You see…I believe most people want to be first-rate…instantly. They don’t want to put the effort in. They don’t want to invest in themselves.
They want it…NOW!
But that is almost impossible.
There are no instant solutions; the only way to become first-rate is to put in the effort, learn through experience and make mistakes.
But there are ways to speed up your progress.
Too Good To Be True
You’ll see plenty of adverts / sales pages ‘providing instant solutions’ especially on the web.
You know the ones:
“I work just 2 hours a day and earn $50,000 dollars a month. Buy my secrets for $29.95 and you can too”.
Yeah, right!
You know the saying ‘too good to be true’ and it normally is!
Believe me, in my early days of running my on-line business I purchased some of these products and not one has worked (for me, anyway).
But I didn’t allow it to affect my desire to become first-rate. I invested in myself and made mistakes. That’s part of the journey to become first-rate.
Plus you need:
1. Confidence – this needs to be unshakeable
2. Relationships – they can be worth a million-dollars to you
3. Productivity – it has to be stress-free and in abundance
Find a First-rate Mentor
The quickest way to become first-rate has to be find a mentor.
Find someone who is already first-rate (in whatever you want to be first-rate in) and get them to mentor you.
That’s what I did when I started out with my on-line business.
When I started I knew very little about the internet…let alone how to create and run an on-line business.
I found a mentor (he was recommended) and within weeks, I had my first on-line site live, I had my free giveaway, my first product.
On my own it would have taken several months.
So my advice…if you fall into the majority of wanting to be first-rate AND the minority of having the desire…invest in yourself and get a mentor.
Find the right one and you won’t regret it.
What’s your views on mentoring? Please share your views in the comments below.
Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
Dear Andrew –
My first mentor was a BVM num by the name of Sister Paulinas. She was elderly.
She was the head of the English department at Marywood College. I was 18.
She had four Ph.D’s – was less than five feet tall and a holy terror much feared by her students.
She announced at my first class with her –
“Do not expect an A in this class unless you are a candidate for canonization in Rome.”
Her advice to me (and I did get an A) was
“You have the potential to be a good writer. But in order to accomplish that you have to have life experience. You don’t now.”
I always remembered that and from then on I only wrote about what I knew through my own experience. I still do.
She is long gone from this world. I think of her often.
Mentors sometimes do not know that one statement can change your whole life.
We need them We should seek them out.
They are short cuts to achievement but many of us think we can do it alone.
Good point here, Andrew.
Great share, Corinne.
I agree…one statement can make all the difference.
Unfortunately most people don’t have the strength to ask for advice. Many think it is a weakness.
Andrew
Corrine, what an incredible story! I believe world would be a better place with more Sister Paulinas…
When you think about it, it’s a bit arrogant wanting to be the first-rate in anything… It’s quite a journey to get there! You have to start much, much humbler… yes, maybe get a mentor. My aim is to get… competent; nothing more, certainly nothing less.
Anita,
I really don’t think it is arrogant to want to be first-rate. To shout about it and say “I’m the greatest”…that would be arrogant.
Andrew
Thank you for your reply. It made me think. Being too modest can be just as detrimental as being too arrogant. I am still learning how to stay on the middle path of these two extremes.
Anita,
I agree it can be hard to be confident and not arrogant.
Andrew
I want to be sub-par that way nobody expects big things from me 🙂 j/k
I think finding a mentor is a great way to help push yourself to becoming First-rate. It’s like have a workout buddy for the gym, even though you don’t want to go, they will push you, and vice versa.
Jen,
Re: Mentoring.
Some mentors don’t push…they just provide guidance and advice.
It really depends upon what you want.
Andrew
Invest in yourself – really great advice and nicely put! And why shouldn’t every single one of us want to invest as much in ourselves as possible? After all, we are the only thing we have to show for ourselves.
As far as mentors are concerned, I tend to think that a true mentor is not someone who you can actively seek out. Of the very few people I would consider as mentors in my life thus far, I found not one of them by looking. In other words, we did not connect with the assumption that there would be some sort of predetermined roles in our relationship (mentor and mentoree).
Petre
To get on we MUST invest in ourselves. That can be time and money.
Some of my mentors I have sought out…others found me!
Andrew
Thanks for the good reminder that talk is cheap, really cheap! I also want to add that I firmly believe in having a mentor at all times…who that is and how you meet them is open ended though.
Hi Andrew,
I’m all for having a mentor not only in business but also in other areas of my life. They’ve been there and done that and will guide and help us avoid the pitfalls that we may otherwise fall into on our own.
I agree with Petra. Who and what better to invest in than ourselves? I also want to be very good, as good as I can possibly be and to keep on learning and improving until my efforts make me first-rate.
So whenever I get impatient, I always turn to that passage that says, “There is time for everything”.
Theresa
There is time for everything…it just comes down to priorities.
Andrew
It is true that a good mentor can help a great deal, but the drive for excellence has to come from within. If you don’t have the internal need to succeed, if you don’t lay awake at night thinking about how you can improve your game, then having the best mentor in the world won’t help you rise above your current station in life.
Alex,
I agree about the ‘drive from within’. My thinking is that anyone who goes out of their way to find a mentor has the drive to succeed.
If they do find one and they don’t have the drive…they are simply wasting their time (and money).
Andrew
Wanting something without the willingness to pay the price – such a common thing. I, too, used to take to it like a duck to water. Then one day you wake up to see that wanting to be in heaven without the willingness to die for it doesn’t make sense. Funny how things work.
– Beat
PS. Thankful for every new day, I want to be at my best to return life’s blessings with passion.
Beat
“wanting to be in heaven without the willingness to die”
Quote of the month (perhaps year!).
Andrew
Couldn’t agree more.
People who are at the top of their game have spent years honing their skill. Be it musicians, sportswomen, actors or any other profession which needs extra ordinary skill, these folks have paid their due.
I read somewhere that it takes ten years to become an expert in subject. Or putting it another way, anyone can become an expert if they are willing to put in the necessary hours.
But more and more people are looking towards instant cure. Take this pill and all your problems will vanish. They are not willing to wait. They are not willing to put in the time.
Amanda
re: But more and more people are looking towards instant cure. Take this pill and all your problems will vanish. They are not willing to wait. They are not willing to put in the time.
And that’s why hype sells unfortunately.
Most people want that quick bullet.
Andrew
Sadly, as mentioned here, some people only want a quick shortcut but I guess, even with or without mentors, if you do not have the drive, dedication and determination to succeed, then nothing will happen.
Having mentors definitely make things easier, but eventually, WE are the ones who make it happen.
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”
Lee
Mentors can only guide and possibly persuade you to take action…but you are right…YOU are the one who has to take action.
Andrew