Not everyone hasor wantsa mentor.
Here is what to ask your mentor to help you learn essential life lessons.
You may benefit even more from hearing about the mistakes they made and what they learned from them.
To discover more about that aspect of their lives or careers, consider the following questions:
1.
Whats a big mistake youve made that youd want others to avoid repeating?
Whats your strategy for overcoming failure?
Whats an essential lesson you learned as a result of failure?
When should I give up on a pursuit?
Do you believe in the sunk-cost fallacy?
How do you assess what feedback is legitimate?
How do you integrate feedback into your work and lifestyle?
How big of a risk is too big of a risk?
How do you determine which weaknesses can be overcome?
Can you tell a story of how you recovered from a massive blunder?
Heres what to ask to learn more about winning:
11.
What decision netted you the most success in your career?
Is there a particularly effective strategy for achieving success in this field?
Which people do I need to stick around to maximize chances of success in this field?
Where should I be networking?
Have you ever made a single change that led to tremendous success?
How can I be more strategic in pursuing my career goals?
What traits do I need to exhibit to stay ahead of the curve in this industry?
At how fast a clip can one reasonably expect to climb the ladder in this field?
What should success look like at this stage in my career?
What should I be focused on right now to smoothly transition into the next leg of my career?
If you were me, whats the single most important question you would ask you?
If you were me, whats something youd aim to change immediately?
How can I tell Im not cherry-picking which feedback I accept about myself?
Is there a strategy to unlearning behaviors that are holding me back in this field?
Do I exhibit any warning signs that indicate this field wont be right for me in the long run?
When is it time for me to contemplate changing career paths?
How do I ensure Im prioritizing the right things?
Where do you feel I fall short?
How am I perceived by those around me?
What should I do right now to improve myself and my career prospects?
Just confirm theyre comfortable discussing these things first:
31.
Whats the greatest obstacle youve overcome?
Whats an obstacle you couldnt overcome?
Whats the most unexpected obstacle youve had to face?
Whats a good thing to be afraid of?
Whats been the most exciting point in your career?
Do you find any utility in holding onto regrets?
Where do you think you couldve done better, had you known what you know now?
Which values got you to where you are today?
When did you know youd made it and were where you wanted to be?
Has your definition of success changed over the years?
Yes, this is a lot.
You probably dont want to corner your mentor and fire these questions off one after the other.
