Mentorship: The secret to achieving your 2024 resolutions

Darrell Williams / Operations, Plans and Exercises Directorate

February is the month where New Year’s resolutions go to die — at least for most people. The optimism and resolve of January give way to the harsh reality of February as we all realize that setting goals and achieving them are vastly different things. But bridging that gap isn’t impossible. Mentorship can make the difference between you achieving your goals in 2024 and these goals falling by the wayside as early as February.

Mentorship

Too often, we assume that success is simply a matter of trying harder. Hard work is necessary, but we can only go so far on our own. Mentors can help us see roadblocks before we hit them and chart a faster path to success.

But how do you find a mentor? This has always been the challenge, and in a world of remote work, it has only gotten more difficult. However, we often make it out to be harder than it really is. In fact, chances are that your human resources team has coaching and mentorship programs that you never noticed. For instance, at DISA, getting a mentor is as simple as clicking a few buttons on our internal site. Unfortunately, many organizations’ mentorship programs are criminally underused.

What to look for in a mentor

As you’re looking for a mentor, I suggest meeting with several possible mentors to see who’s the best fit for you. You’ll have to put yourself out there to see if the two of you are a good match, which may be uncomfortable, but it will be well worth the time spent for both of you.

While every mentor is unique, here are a few things to look for:

1. Someone in your field, a few steps ahead of you

While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, selecting someone in your own field is often best for a career-oriented mentorship as they’ll be able to give advice tailored to your role. And if they’re a few steps ahead of you, they can help you achieve the success they’ve already had.

2. Someone who isn’t out to create miniature versions of themself

It’s natural to want to be like your mentor, but a good mentor doesn’t mold mentees in their own image. Instead, they help their mentees become the best versions of themselves.

3. Someone who gives you homework

Experienced mentors know that coming up with goals and strategies is the easy part. The hard part is following through, so to help with that, good mentors give you homework.

What makes a good mentee?

A successful mentorship is not a one-way street. The mentee needs to do their part as well. If you’re serious about engaging in mentorship to achieve your professional goals, here’s what it will require of you:

1. Commitment to the process

I suggest committing to a mentorship for a year. While that may sound like a long time, if you only meet once a month, that’s only 12 meetings.

2. Getting outside your comfort zone

As I said above, a good mentor often gives homework, and most of the time, this homework isn’t comfortable. Whether it’s doing deep introspection or risking rejection by applying for a new job or program, you’ll almost always have to get outside your comfort zone to achieve your goals.

3. Discipline to follow-through

Often, success isn’t so much about doing something incredible once. It’s about doing simple things with incredible consistency. The same is true about being a good mentee. You don’t need any extraordinary abilities. You just need to commit to the process and follow through on what you’ve set out to do.

It’s homework time

If you’re serious about achieving your professional goals, getting a mentor is one of the best investments in yourself you can make. As the first step in your journey toward mentorship, I challenge you to think of someone you really admire. They could be an athlete, businessperson or even a family member. Then, do some research. Look into who their mentors were and what they have said about them. I’ve tasked countless mentees with this challenge, and without fail, they come back to me surprised by how important mentors were in the success of their heroes.

Once you’ve seen that mentorship and success are intertwined, take your next step in your mentorship journey. That could be contacting your HR department, making a list of potential mentors, or if you’re a DISA employee, check out the Manpower and Training page on Dateline. I know taking the first step can be difficult, but it could very well be the best decision you make this year.

Visit DISA.mil to learn more about the opportunities for development available to DISA employees.