A few months ago LinkedIn allowed us the opportunity to thank our mentors and many of us took this opportunity to shout from the mountain tops the great work our mentors did and are doing in our lives.
The Anti-Mentor
We forgot to mention a very important set of people though – it would possibly be trouble if we shouted a bit too loudly how they literally may have pushed us through the door and on to better things. I am talking about the people who never offered guidance, encouragement, and possibly made your life hell – or something close to it. The Anti-Mentors! (Think Anti-Fairy-Godmother if this helps you to mentally channel the word.)
Have you ever had one?
– They are discouraging
– They have no faith in what you can do
– Even if they can, they never offer the opportunity to grow
– They never offer positive criticism
-They show you the door at every opportunity
-They focus on how they would have done it instead of providing guidance and loudly complain after
Why They Count
You may think you don’t need these people in your lives – but you do. Well, in my experience I can say I appreciate it more now than at the moment.
- You build resilience
- You learn to improvise and discover new talents
- You learn to research and rely on hidden resources
- You lose some naivety – I hope
- You may just update your LinkedIn profile after a challenging day and be scouted for a better role.
Everyone you have met and every experience lived can be a resource for the future. Don’t discount this fact just yet.
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