Everyone loves the story of the bootstrap success – you know, the story of the person born at the bottom of the well of poverty and adversity and had to pull themselves up and make it on their own alone. The truth is that no one has ever truly made it on their own. Someone along the way helped them in a mentoring manner. It could have been a teacher, a Cub Scout or Girl Scout leader, a pastor, a sports team coach, or even the neighborhood drunk….yes the neighborhood drunk.

When I was 8 years old, I used to love to bowl but didn’t know how. To encourage me, the bowling alley placed large bumper rails in the gutter so that my thrown balls would stay in the alley, even when my throw targeted the gutter. Mentoring information , good or bad, are like the guide rails in the alley. Their life examples kept me centered. The good mentors showed me what to do and the bad mentors showed me what not to do – both kept me centered.

The bowling alley analogy worked well when we were children but it’s a challenge as adults. Adults are reluctant to ask for mentoring help. The reason – most feel that asking is a sign of weakness. Rather than risk being labeled with the optic, we go it alone. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, especially when it’s something we don’t know. Most people actually enjoy sharing what they know and would welcome anyone asking them for help. In 2020, let go of your pride and the feeling that you are on your own. Find a mentor on Thirty2give and ask them to share with you what they know…they will be glad you did.