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If you’ve ever hiked up a mountain, it is no easy endeavor. There are easy parts and there are hard parts. Storms can pop up from time to time. Times of fun and times where you are challenged. But if you stick it out, the view is almost worth the struggle it took to get there.
One thing I know to be true about climbing a mountain is it is always easier when you do it with other people.
People can pick you up when you fall down. Can encourage you when you get tired. Can celebrate with you when you hit a check point. People who can champion you to do what you set out to do.
The same is true with mentoring. It’s always better when you do it with other people.
Mentoring alone is very difficult. Why? Because often times the “wins” in mentoring are few and far between. I have found that most mentors experience discouragement at some point in their mentoring journey.
And when discouragement hits, it’s usually downhill from there. A typical pattern may look something like this.
Get discouraged.
Start believing this isn’t working
Negative outlook or bad attitude
Stop pursuing
Relationship dissolves
But mentoring is all about persevering. It’s all about continuing to show up over and over and over. It’s about, like Jesus with us, overcoming the hard and being there for your mentee no matter what.
When you begin mentoring, it’s always a good idea to surround yourself with people who can help you on your mentoring journey.
Here are some potential key members of your mentoring tribe.
Organization (Church / non-profit / school)
- Best practices
- Create events to participate in
- Hold you accountable
Family
- Cheer you on and celebrate when good things happen with your mentee
- Help share the load, as they build relationships with your mentee
- Pray for your mentee
Friends
- Mentoring in a small group is an excellent way to team up to advance the Kingdom. You already live life together. Might as well do it on mission.
- Like having an assistant coach. Maybe they have expertise where you don’t.
- One more adult to look up to.
Your tribe can:
- Help you stay encouraged
- Speak truth when you are believing lies
- Create a safe place to vent about hard times
- Hold your proverbial mentoring arms up when they get tired like aaron did with moses.
- Give you new ideas on how to engage with your mentee or how to overcome an obstacle with your mentee.
- Help open up opportunities for your mentee
- Pray for you and pray with you.
- Champion you to stay in the mentoring game for the long haul.
- Provide respite if you have a difficult season or unforeseen circumstance pop up
Just like climbing a mountain, or going on any journey, is better with a tribe of people, mentoring for the long haul is easier when you are surrounded by people who love you and who are for you.
So find your tribe. Be open about your mentoring needs, opportunities, struggles, and victories. Share the load and allow others to hold your arms up when you get tired.
Mentoring is always better with other people.
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Please follow @youcanmentor on social media and give us a 5 star rating! If you are a part of a mentoring organization, we'd love to get to know you! Please reach out to us and we can spotlight your org on the pod or on our website.
Contact us at zach@youcanmentor.com or at www.youcanmentor.com.
Please follow @youcanmentor on social media and give us a 5 star rating! If you are a part of a mentoring organization, we'd love to get to know you! Please reach out to us and we can spotlight your org on the pod or on our website.
Contact us at zach@youcanmentor.com or at www.youcanmentor.com.
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring organizations through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples. Learn more at youcanmentor.com or follow us on social media. You can mentor. Today's mentoring minute is called Find Your Tribe. If you've ever hiked up a mountain before, you know that it is no easy endeavor.
Speaker 1:There are easy parts and there's hard parts. Sometimes storms can pop up from time to time. Storms that you didn't even see coming. There's times of fun and times where you get challenged. But if you stick it out, the view from the top of the mountain is almost always worth the struggle it took to get there.
Speaker 1:One thing I know to be true about climbing a mountain is it is always easier when you do it with other people. You can have people there to pick you up if you fall down. Sometimes they can encourage you when you get tired. They can celebrate with you if you hit a certain checkpoint. People who can champion you to do what you set out to do, which is get to the top of the mountain, is almost always a good thing.
Speaker 1:And the same thing can be said about mentoring. Mentoring is almost always better when you do it with other people because mentoring alone is a very difficult journey. Why? Because so often, when you mentor, specifically kids from hard places, the winds are few and far between. I have found that most mentors experience discouragement at some point in their mentoring journey.
Speaker 1:And when discouragement hits, it's usually downhill from there. A typical pattern of discouragement might look like this. A mentor has a tough or a negative encounter with their mentee. They get discouraged. They start believing that this relationship isn't working or that the kid doesn't like them.
Speaker 1:That produces a negative outlook or perhaps a bad attitude. And when that happens, they stop pursuing their mentee. And over time, the relationship dissolves. But mentoring is all about persevering. It's all about endurance.
Speaker 1:It's about continuing to show up over and over and over just like Jesus did with us. It's about overcoming the hard and being there for your mentee no matter what. And when you begin your mentoring journey or if you find yourself already in a mentoring journey, it's a great idea to surround yourself with people who can help support you on that journey. Here are some potential key members of your mentoring tribe. Perhaps it's an organization, a church, a not for profit, a school.
Speaker 1:Well, these key members of your tribe can provide best practices. They can provide a safe place to discuss mentoring obstacles. They can create events for you to participate in with your mentee, and they can hold you accountable to do the things that you set out to do. Some other key members can be your family. They can cheer you on and celebrate when good things happen with your mentee.
Speaker 1:They can help share the load as they build relationships with your mentee. They can pray for your mentee. They can remind you that this isn't a 1 on 1 deal, but it's a team sport. Lastly, your friends. I believe that mentoring in a small group is an excellent way to team up to advance the kingdom.
Speaker 1:You already live life together. You might as well do it on mission. If you and your 4 best friends all mentor, well, then that creates an environment where you can talk about the good and the bad and the hard where you can support each other. It's like having an assistant coach when you let your your friends in on your mentoring journey. Perhaps they have expertise where you don't.
Speaker 1:Adding your friends into your mentoring journey can give your mentee one more positive adult to look up to. Your friends can give your mentee access to their networks and to the things that they've experienced that might be able to help your mentee turn in to the best possible version of themselves. All in all, your tribe can help you stay encouraged. They can speak truth when you might be believing lies. They can create a safe place to vent about the hard times that you might experience in your mentoring relationship.
Speaker 1:They can hold your proverbial mentoring arms up when they get tired, just like Aaron did with Moses. They can give you new ideas on how to engage with your mentee or a fresh perspective on how to overcome an obstacle. They can help open up opportunities for your mentee that you might not be able to provide. They can pray for you and pray with you. They can champion you to stay in the mentoring game for the long haul, maybe even provide a respite if you have a difficult season or an unforeseen circumstance pops ups that might impact your mentoring relationship.
Speaker 1:Just like climbing a mountain or going on any journey, it's better with the tribe of people. Mentoring for the long haul gets easier when you're surrounded by people who you love and who are for you. So find your tribe. Be open about your mentoring needs, opportunities, struggles, and victories. Let other people in, whether it's your spouse or your family or your friends or your small group.
Speaker 1:Talk about your mentoring relationship often, and this will help share the load and allow others to hold your arms up if and when you get tired. Because mentoring is always better with other people. So go find your tribe, and let's keep this mentoring relationship going for the long haul. Thanks for tuning in to the You Can Mentor podcast. Please share this with other mentors and download our free resources on our website.
Speaker 1:You can also order Zach's book, You Can Mentor or John's book, Mephibsheth, on Amazon. Lastly, we'd really appreciate it if you gave us a 5 star rating on whatever listening platform you are tuning in on. If you'd like to connect with us further, please contact us through our website because we're always looking for new guests or connections. Thank you. Remember, you can mentor.