If you ever have a chance to get a mentor you should always take it up. A mentor is one shortcut to success, whether it be a knowledge mentor, building connections for you or just someone who gives you motivation. Not all of us are lucky to get a mentor who fits our needs early in life. So how do you compensate for this?
First thing you need to ascertain is what sort of mentor you would look for. It helps if you know what exactly you want in life, but for a lot of us this is a difficult question to answer. One way to simplify this is to think about people you want to emulate. Imagine someone in the world who if you could ask them to be your mentor, you would jump at the opportunity. Think of the qualities they possess or the achievements they have made.
Now that you have this, you need to lay the groundwork. Just work on either the quality or make a start on the thing you want to master. It could be as simple as trying to change your behaviour for a specific occassion, or getting into an online course that gives you some essential basic knowledge. This is also a good test of whether you are serious or you are just being a wishful thinker.
If you have already done that, then the next step is to be a little brave. Take your knowledge and start a project, or engage someone and try a newly learned approach. You want to be in a vulnerable position to solidify what you have learned, but also for someone to be able to find flaws in it. It is so important that you do not mistake that you know everything – for you may lose any advice that might have helped you (as a mini mentor)
The main issue with the approach is that you can never be 100% sure you are correct or on the right path. This might be the same case with a mentor but at least I hope people would choose mentors who know what they are talking about. There will be times when your eyes will be opened and what you thought you knew unravels. This is a good thing, it means you found your true gaps and are much closer to your goals.
Perhaps this is a risky way to do things, but sometimes we have to motivate ourselves to find opportunities. A lot of us are just waiting or have some fleeting interests but don’t move forward because of lack of a mentor. It might be slightly uncomfortable, but you still get there. And sooner or later, the mentor you need can be found if you stay on course.