Perhaps you know the American author and speaker, Anthony Jay Robbins. Tony is well known for his infomercials, seminars and self-help books including the book Awaken the Giant Within. However, he would not have become the influential figure he is today if not for the significant impact Jim Rohn made in his life. Tony once said about Jim Rohn “I met Jim Rohn when I was 17 years old, and he had a huge impact on my life and philosophy, and the way I looked at life and the way I pursued improving myself. His philosophies are such a part of my life now it seems ridiculous to think anything other than that… Jim Rohn radically shaped my life.” Obviously, Jim Rohn was a great mentor to Tony. We too need mentors in our lives. It has been said that we need three types of mentors. A mentor that is older than us. Another one that is younger than us and lastly, someone of similar age. An older mentor can share with us from his wealth of experience making sure we don’t make the mistakes he made and he can offer us opportunities to learn from his successes. A younger mentor may enable us to stay ahead of the latest business trends and to successfully adopt new technology. Mentors that are of the same age group with us are usually our friends who have our best interests at heart and they are willing to offer us the best advice, sometimes the truth we don’t want to hear. Elon Musk once said this about his friends “My friends tell me how great all my products are, but my best friends are the ones who give me the most brutal criticism.”
“One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” John C. Maxwell
