Where can I find a mentor who is very well-rounded, intelligent, just wants to share his knowledge and offer new insight, and doesn’t care about money?

A question I've asked myself often over the years as well.

Jan 16, 2022

This is part 4 of 4 of my last series called, “Make an Impact.”

In case you missed it, here’s part 1, 2, and 3.

I think many people are looking for this mentor figure you speak of as well. I wish I had a concrete answer to your question (I've also wondered myself for a very long time), but here's my conclusion so far.

I can't bank on meeting this person. I might meet them next year, maybe 10 years, maybe 20 years. I might never meet this mentor.

But what I can do is make do with what I have. What do I have? Well, pieces of the puzzle.

I love how James Altucher puts it in his Ultimate Cheat Sheet to Reinvent Yourself (the whole thing is worth reading):

Three types of mentors
- Direct. Someone who is in front of you who will show you how they did it.
By the way, mentors aren’t like that old Chinese guy in “The Karate Kid”. Ultimately most mentors will hate you.
- Indirect. Books. Movies. You can outsource 90% of mentorship to books and other materials. 200-500 books equals one good mentor. People ask me, “what is a good book to read” and I never know the answer. There’s 200-500 good books to read.
I would throw in inspirational books. Whatever are your beliefs, underline them through reading every day.
- Everything is a mentor. If you are a zero, and have passion for reinvention, then everything you look at will be a metaphor for what you want to do. The tree you see, with roots you don't, with underground water that feeds it, is a metaphor for computer programming if you connect the dots.
And everything you look at, you will connect the dots.

Since I started writing on Quora and being immersed in the community, I've been able to get that "indirect" mentorship from other Quorans. I follow James Altucher, James Clear, David S. Rose, Terrence Yang, Auren Hoffman, and Jason M. Lemkin because right now my focus is about how to excel in business and navigate its culture -- the A2A feature has been indispensable in this regard.

Charles Tips, Marcus Geduld, Peter, Ellen Vrana, Claire J. Vannette, Nan Waldman, Stephanie V all have very down to earth, level-headed, and seasoned advice/perspective about the ups and downs of life and relationships. While what they convey in their answers has its own insight, there are nuggets of wisdom I've learned in how they answer a question.

Something I just noticed as I compiled the previous lists is that all of them have decades on me. Decades of hindsight, decades of tempered perspective, and I have the privilege to be able to benefit from their writings.

I used to be part of a group called "Ramit's Brain Trust" which has introduced and given me access to private interviews with experts like:

All these resources and people combined have contributed towards expanding my perspective, helped shape my worldview, and have exposed me to worlds of ideas I had no grid for.

While I would love to also have a "well-rounded" mentor like you mentioned, I have also found there is great wisdom in a multitude of counselors.

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