Are you running on a full throttle towards your life goals but still feels like your view of the future is bleak? Seems like you are groping for light in a thick mist. Within you, lies a longing for a guide, a desire for a shoulder to lean on and a craving for a heart that cares deeply about your success. Maybe, it’s time for you to consider searching for a mentor.

As a student, a fledgling entrepreneur, a budding writer, a young leader, an artist or even an athlete, you don’t have to bear all the burden of success all by yourself. If you are humble enough to ask for help you will be amazed at the number of successful people willing to genuinely help you.

Perhaps, you have made up your mind to find a mentor but there are some questions you need to answer before taking the plunge.

Knowing your life goals is a must if you want to be successful in life. The goals serve as guides and milestones on the path to fulfillment. Inasmuch as mentoring will help you move faster towards your goals, you need to be clear about your goals and have them very close to your heart. The importance of having specific goals in life cannot be overemphasized because it gives you a sense of direction and boosts your self-confidence.

For strikers to score goals on a soccer field, they must be well acquainted with the goalposts. The same is true for anyone concerned about success – be familiar with your life goals. Before putting a call through to your potential mentor, make sure you find a valid answer to this question. You can visit Personality Lab to seek for help.

Mentors are usually experts with a track record of success in their fields. Your life is a huge project and you may need more than one mentor. You have to know which area of your life requires a mentor. Do you need an academic mentor? Do you desire a mentor for your small scale business? Is your emotional and spiritual life in dire need of a mentor?

It is an arduous task to demand mentoring for all areas of your life from a single person. No one knows it all but we are all gifted in certain areas of life. Focus maximizes the power of mentoring. Seek for an expert in an area you need help and ask for mentoring.

The definition of success is subjective and defers based on personal tastes and perceptions. To someone, success may mean to make more money while to another it could mean garnering more positive influence. You must have a clear interpretation of what success means to you before reaching out to a potential mentor.

Do you both have the same illustration of success?  This is highly imperative because mentoring becomes incredibly productive when there is a unity of interests between the mentee and the mentor. If the perception of success by both parties is the same, it enhances cohesion and forms a formidable team.

It’s appalling to misconstrue mentoring for spoon feeding. According to the English novelist, Edward Forster, “Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” Mentoring works for people who take responsibilities for their personal lives. A mentor is a guide who offers information that is absent on the Internet.

For instance, you want a mentor for your public speaking life. Have you done adequate research about public speaking? What are the personal steps you have taken in improving yourself? You have to meet your mentor midway by doing your homework. A mentor walks in when you have exhausted your channels of knowledge and learning. Doing your homework makes you attractive and presents you as hardworking, diligent and assiduous. Mentors love to work with people of this ilk.

While it is important to reach out to mentors you also need to be sure if you are ready for it. Is this the right time to seek for a mentor? In making critical decisions, timing is of great essence. As rightly put by American Leadership Expert, John C. Maxwell, “The timing of your decision is just as important as the decision you make.”

Is this the time to seek for mentoring in managing your organization? The key factor that usually influences timing is the magnitude of your personal research and the amount of energy you have invested in the cause for which you require mentoring. Before calling for the help of others, have you done your homework?