11 Tips for Mentors & Mentees

Key points for those who are Mentoring

1. Your main job is to inspire not to teach
1. My English tutor, my Sanskrit tutor and my teachers at kota taught me many subjects but what they truly did was that they inspired me. 
2. Then have given me the confidence to follow my dreams.
3. They made me believe in myself.
4. They deployed innovative ways to teach which made learning fun and enjoyable.
5. All elements of Periodic Table were on our finger tip as my In-organic chemistry teacher had made a song for them like Zanabe Ali ne bekar gaaya Punjabi song aaj sab bhikari Indore gaye ( This song is for all those elements which act as metal and non-metal- Zn, Al, Pb, … oh!..... I forgot others)
2. Motivate and encourage
1. A good mentor is like an all weather friend who will go out of the way to come up with interesting and creative ways to inspire.
2. They will always boast your confidence.
3. They will make you feel comfortable and you will feel empowered in their company.
4. They always motivate and encourage without getting affected by anything else.
3. Never lose temper
1. To be a good mentor, you need to be more patient and should never ever lose temper.
2. Everyone is unique and all are capable to achieve anything they want in life. Your job as a mentor is to get them into Flow (Must Read about Flow).
3. Encourage them to do things that makes them happy ( See my list of 19 things which makes me happy and then make yourlist).
4. Be more compassionate
1. Every one is special and unique.
2. Different things motivate different people.
3. If you can inspire them then they will achieve more than you would expect.
4. My English Tutor made me so passionate about writing articles that I used to daily write 5-6 pieces of writing and I can sense the joy my tutor used to get from seeing me taking initiatives on my own.  He used to rate my articles on a scale of 1 to 10.
5. Win support and trust of the pupil
1. Find new ways to explain something so that they can relate.  Encourage your pupils to play on their strengths and overcome weaknesses.
2. Win their support and trust, so that they can share their feelings with you without any inhibition.
3. It will enable you to understand the needs of the pupil. Otherwise, you cannot prescribe the correct medicine for them without them explaining their correct requirement.
4. So, as a mentor the onus is on you to get your pupils speak to you.

Key Points for those getting Mentored

1. Communication skills
1. Clearly explain what you feel or want to learn from your mentor.
2. Unless you communicate properly, the mentor is not god that he/she can understand what’s going on in your mind.
2. Lack of interest
1. If the mentor fails to motivate you and you are lacking interest then let your mentor know about it.
2. Good mentor welcome feedback and they can find out ways to help you overcome this.
3. Not paying any attention to mentor’s advice- Let you mentor know what you feel about his/her advise. Mentors give advice for your betterment; if you can’t accept it for any reason, let them know about it politely with the reason.
4. They will understand and will find a solution with is acceptable to you.
5. Get determination and will power to get into FLOW
1. No one can help you without your permission. Even, Gods help those who help themselves.
2. So, understand that your mentor is just a human and will require your support in order to help you.
3. Discuss your problems openly with your mentor. Don’t shy away.
4. If the mentor is not co-operating then it is high time to get a new mentor, who is more understanding. 
5. And most important thing, to put your best efforts to get into FLOW by strong determination and will power.
6. Keep Learning and pleasantly surprise the mentor
1. You must keep learning always.
2. If you are not enjoying the journey then relax and reassess your goals.
3. Then, find ways to keep learning in a way that it is fun. 
4. And, most important thing, more often pleasantly surprise your mentor and make them feel proud on you.
5. And, don’t forget very soon you have to be a MENTOR for someone and then you will realize their pain when you don’t respond to their efforts!!
6. As a kid, I have made the life of my first tutor very difficult by throwing tantrums every now and then. Probably it’s time payback time for me as I find myself in his shoes.

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