The most badass life hack I know of
Inspired by a question on Quora
This is part 3 of 4 of a series called, “How to Work on Yourself”.
In case you missed it, here’s part 1 and 2.
Hands down, it's having mentors.
You cannot tell me it's an accident that two brothers Peyton & Eli Manning are both NFL quarterbacks.
According to the NCAA in 2013:
Out of 1,000,000 hopeful [American] football players, only ~250 (that’s .025%) end up making it into professional football, yet the Manning brothers are both in the NFL.
Not only are they in the NFL, they are quarterbacks. And not only are they quarterbacks, they both also have SuperBowl wins on their resume, which puts them in the elite of the elite.
You cannot tell me that their success is not largely attributed to their father Archie Manning who was also an NFL quarterback:
For most people, we move forward in life by learning incrementally through testing and making mistakes. Sometimes it takes us 1 mistake for us to course-correct and move forward, but sometimes it takes us 100 mistakes to finally realize the error.
Sometimes the time between the 1st mistake and us moving forward is a couple minutes.
Sometimes it's hours.
Sometimes it's days.
Sometimes it's months.
Sometimes it's years.
Mentors help you avoid the mistake altogether or can minimize the time between the mistake and moving forward because they've probably already been through it and know how to guide you through.
I don't know any other way to save time at this kind of scale. You could be doing something wrong or poorly for years and not realize until 5 years down the road because you simply didn't know any better, but a good mentor could have exposed the blind-spot in a matter of seconds.
Think.
How much heartache, headache, and time could you have saved yourself if you could go back in time 10 years and give advice to your younger self?
Wish you had a time machine, right?
How much heartache and headache do you think you could save yourself if you had multiple mentors who have decades of experience beyond you?
You have access to this time machine in the form of someone else's hindsight.
In my opinion, this is the ultimate hack, yet very few people make use of it.
Why should I reinvent the wheel of life, relationships, career, or "success" when it's already been done by hundreds and thousands of people?
The formula is simple:
Find people with the results you are looking for
Learn from them in any way possible
Having real relationships with the older and wiser is ideal, but it's not a luxury many people have. The alternative is using Quora, reading books or blogs.
I've written at length here and here about my personal experience and results because I was able to tap into the experience of a mentor.
I guarantee you, in the long run, I will be further ahead than someone that doesn't have a mentor and decides to fumble through life and only learn from their own mistakes -- NOT because I'm inherently special or talented, but simply because I've humbled myself and learned to value and wisdom in the hindsight of someone else's experience.
The 2nd best thing about this hack?
It's relevant in any subject, topic, field, niche, or industry.
The best part about this hack?
Anyone can do it.
Just remember to pass on your wisdom to the ones that follow after you!
This answer was originally published on Quora and had over 180,000 views.
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