Killing It

Hey ya’ll,

Happy Saturday. We’ve covered many topics in our blogs and class discussions. Today I want to talk about mentors. Do you have one? Have you ever had one?

I’ve had many. Most of them are dead and are preserved only between the covers of the great literary tomes they've produced, or in the musical masterpieces with which they've graced the world during their stay. I'll share two (both living) of them with you today. Currently I’m fortunate enough to work with a woman of immeasurable talent. Her name is Kerry, and her title is Managing Editor. In the publishing field she can do it all: Project Management, Lead Editing, Budget supervision, Client relationships, Platform capability, you name it. Moreover, she does it all remotely from her home office in Deforest, Wisconsin. She’s a BOSS. I’ve been involved with her on many different projects over the past year, and my immediate supervisor, understanding my affinity and appreciation of Kerry’s work ethic and prowess, placed me under Kerry’s wing, so to speak. I now report directly to her and am able to pick her brain and observe from an eagle’s perch the charisma with which she keeps everything in order. I cannot emphasize enough how she’s able to handle the workload of four people, never losing her cool. I want to be just like her, but with my own panache of course. 

Before I had Kerry, and my current job, I stumbled upon a YouTube vlogger named Elliott Hulse by chance one day between frantic bursts of job searching and idle reflection on my current, unemployed state of affairs. I watched one of his videos, then another, and another, and so on. In a nutshell, he’s a life coach. He offers advice and inspiration about fitness, self-esteem, how to carry/comport oneself, career advice, nutrition, and more. His messages are geared mostly toward young men, but I think there’s something in there for everyone. 

One of the best nuggets I got from him is the routine of taking walks every day while listening to audio books. I don’t have the time to do that every day now, but at the time I downloaded a few and laced up my sneakers. One of the books he recommended is Mastery, by Robert Greene. I highly recommend it to all of you. The book does a case study of many famous so-called geniuses like Mozart, Goethe, The Wright Brothers, Einstein, Darwin, Henry Ford, Temple Grandin, and many more. He doesn’t deny that these people were of superior intelligence, but argues that without a great deal of discipline, hard work, and guidance, they may not have achieved the prestige with which we regard them today. Which brings me full circle to the topic of this post: guidance, or mentorship. This was the number one lesson I drew from this book. Find someone who is KILLING IT, and emulate their methodology. I’m not saying you should go out and plagiarize, or bite anyone’s style, or lose yourself as you grasp for an identity not your own. I’m saying that (pardon the cliche) great people learn from the mistakes and successes of others.

So on that note, do you have a Kerry, or an Elliott in your life? Who do you admire? Who is KILLING IT?