Get A Mentor: What I Wish I Could Tell 24 Year Old Me

I remember getting my first job out of college. I literally knew EVERYTHING. I mean, I just got a piece of paper that said I had a BS in Sales (yes, at Northern Illinois University you can major in sales). So, I was going to go sell office equipment and make a ton of money in the process. Easy, right? 

The first job didn’t work out.  Apparently selling office equipment door to door or out of a phone book isn’t as fun as it sounds. But I totally owned this. I’m going to sell promotional products and I’m going to nail it. Selling is selling. After all, I knew everything about everything. I was a brilliant rock star. 

Then there was a recession. The company I then worked for owed millions of dollars in inventory, everyone was getting let go, and I had done nothing to prepare myself for this; even though I saw the writing on the wall. Well, that’s okay. I would figure it out. I knew everything. 

My next company wanted to move me to Washington D.C. to sell print. I thought why not? I knew nothing about print, but let’s do it. After all, I am brilliant at all things. I’ve rocked this promo stuff, and this is going to be great. Sure, one person told me this might not be a good idea, but I knew everything. This will be a snap.

For the first 15 years of my career I was convinced of my own awesomeness. And while that was partially true, I constantly had people with more experience try to help me and rarely did I listen. I had a manager once tell me that he knew a better way to figure out the project I was working on, but knew I had to figure it out on my own first. Turns out, his way was right. And I could have saved myself several hours if I had only listened. 

Mentors don’t know everything, and no one can give you all the answers. But having a trusted sounding board to walk through major decisions can make a world of difference. Especially when you are first starting or when your path has taken a sharp turn. It’s okay not to know everything. Not knowing isn’t a weakness, and there is a difference between professional immaturity and incompetence. If I could go back in time I would tell a 20 year old me, you do not know everything and you don’t have to.  Save yourself some time, find a mentor(s) and save yourself some frustration by giving them a chance. Who knows, you may find yourself teaching them a thing or two while you’re at it.