The passion of sharing and mentoring

I get up each and every morning, motivated by the fact that today I have another opportunity to share with others the lessons I've learned throughout my life experiences. My current goal in life is to be the catalyst to help those with great ideas blossom and achieve their own personal goals.

Having taught a college class on "how to start your own small business," I've had the pleasure of interacting with many young and bright individuals that just can't wait to tell the rest of the world their "master plan." I can see the passion in the eyes and hear in their speech of those who really want to make a difference. I truly believed that every one of my students could be successful in achieving their set goals, but without proper guidance and mentoring, it is easy to get lost or even worse give up.

The key in being successful in anything, I've always advocated, is to understand and continually evaluate the driving force behind your desire to achieving your end goal. Many times people confuse the driver with the end goal. An example of such would be "I want to be famous and rich." That is an example of an end goal, but is not the true driving factor behind what you do. People, especially young individuals, focus on the big money, becoming the next google or facebook buy-out,  and they forget the true reason behind what they do. Unknowingly the carriage gets put in front of the horse, and all of a sudden everything comes to a halt. This is not saying people should not think backwards, rather once a going forward plan is established, the motivation for keeping the wheels turning is the "why" behind what you do. The planning can and will always change (this is called life), but the driving factor shall not change.

When friends, family, peers, past students, and acquaintances would approach me with "great ideas" they want to discuss with me privately, I've always entertained every request and have kept my promise for confidentiality. We would do a simple exercise on how to evaluate your ideas first to screen out any low potentials followed by asking the individual "why do you want to do this?" Responses that are derivatives of "benefit-to-self" or worse yet lack of response typically means trouble down the road.

People should constantly remind themselves of "why" they do what they do, and sometimes it takes an outsiders or mentors to do the actual reminding.

Here Try This: Help a friend who may be stuck or struggling with achieving his/her goal by asking the question "what is the driving factor behind what you want to achieve?" Do not probe, agree, or disagree with the responses; simply listen. A simple question like this one can help rejuvenate the individual and help him/her refocus on the motive behind the action.