The best way to achieve goals with a mentor
(posted environ 10 ans ago)
Brainstorm possibilities on how you can achieve
your goals and create action-oriented plans.
Sometimes when you are in
a mentoring relationship, you get stuck on what else you can do together. There
are several activities that you can do to figure out your next steps, but let’s
talk about one of my all-time favourite activities – mind mapping.
Mind mapping is when you
write, draw and/or add pictures of a goal that you would like to achieve and
then you brainstorm everything you need to do to achieve that goal. Honestly, I
use mind mapping for everything. I have used mind mapping to help me overcome
obstacles, visualize goals, write essays, create business plans, write this
article and even plan my own wedding.
At the mentoring meeting
Start by taking out a
large piece of paper - the bigger the better. Then, in the centre, write down
your goal. With your mentor, brainstorm everything that you need to do to
achieve that goal. Write down all of those ideas in circles around your goal
and then use lines to connect them to your goal. Now, you can start expanding
on each idea.
For example, one of my
goals is to enhance my public speaking skills. So, I will write that in the
middle of the page. Then around my goal, I will write that I would like to take
acting classes, practice my skills more often, read books about public
speaking, observe public speakers and find a mentor who is a public speaker.
Now I’m ready to start digging
deeper into each action item. For taking acting classes, I will need to
research classes on the Internet, ask friends for recommendations, read
reviews, and then call the various schools to learn more about their
curriculum, prices and to see if the class satisfies my needs.
The powerful thing about
this exercise is that with your mentor, you can brainstorm ideas that you may
not have thought of before. Be sure to write everything down and ignore the
voices inside your head that may be making excuses as to why you would never do
that or could never do that. Also avoid telling your mentor whether you have
unsuccessfully or successfully tried a certain idea in the past. Capture
everything – it will keep the ideas flowing.
After the mentoring meeting
Type all your notes into
an action plan format by creating a table and labelling the columns Tasks, Due
Date and Results. As you start typing, add new ideas that come to you, remove the
not so good ideas and the ones that you don’t think will work.
You now have a dynamic
action plan, which can continue to develop and evolve. Get started on it right
away and remember to keep your mentor posted as you make progress – they will
love to hear how you are moving forward based on the mind map that you created
together. Your mentor can also help you to stay focussed on your goals and
overcome any difficulties that you may come across as you implement this plan.
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