CHAPTER 8Pursue Mentorship
Now that we have our expanding circle, our PBA, and our inner circle, let’s explore the fourth kind of relationship that you can add to your life – namely, the mentor. Learning new lessons always costs us something. It can cost time, money, relationships, and even our jobs. In business school, they would call this learning curve cost. Learning lessons the hard way can be avoided by adding a mentor to your life. If you learn from someone who has more experience than you, it will save you severe pain. People who are elite learn from others’ mistakes, so they don’t make the same mistakes themselves. They also look at other people’s achievements and learn from those as well. A mentor can help in both cases. Of course in my case, it caused me a little bit of pain as well.
Mistakes Were Made
When I was a new guy, meaning that I had made it through SEAL training but had zero experience, I showed up to the SEAL team pretty cocky. All of us new guys were. Coming off one of the most significant accomplishments of our young lives was a high point. The truth, however, was that we were all new guys and didn’t know anything yet. The only thing we had accomplished at that point was training. Overconfidence combined with inexperience leads to costly mistakes. Fortunately, right when I needed it most, I found someone who would affect me.
It was a typical day at work. We would muster at 9 a.m. for a meeting, break for a workout, and begin prepping the SEAL delivery ...