This is the BIG mistake anyone looking for someone to "mentor them" makes.
All you need is to find someone who knows the very-next-thing you want to learn. Technically, anyone "a little bit further along" can be your mentor.
[THREAD] How To Find A Mentor (No Matter What Industry You're In)
I have attracted dozens of mentors since I was a teenager. As I've gotten older, I've realized these relationships were the secret to my growth.
Here's how to find mentors of your own 👇👇👇
This is the BIG mistake anyone looking for someone to "mentor them" makes.
All you need is to find someone who knows the very-next-thing you want to learn. Technically, anyone "a little bit further along" can be your mentor.
- Your co-worker with 1-2 yrs more experience is a mentor
- Your family friend who is always telling "war stories" is a mentor
- Your neighbor, cousin, aunt, uncle who has done what you're trying to do, can all be mentors
Mentorship isn't a formal agreement. You don't ask, "Will you be my mentor for life?"
The key is to ask 1 question. See if the person gives you guidance.
Take that guidance. Apply it. Go back and ask a 2nd question. See if they reciprocate.
Repeat.
Mentors want to share what they know with people who listen carefully & apply their wisdom.
Why?
It allows the mentor a "2nd chance" at walking their path, imagining what might have happened if they'd known what they know now, sooner
Mentors stop giving guidance when they feel the person they are trying to teach isn't listening.
After all, why keep trying to teach someone who *clearly* already has all the answers?
Shut up & listen
If you find someone generous enough to share what they know, it is your duty to honor the relationship by implementing the knowledge & prove their time wasn't wasted.
Don't take it for granted.
As a teenager, my 1st mentor was a pro World of Warcraft player. I sought him out b/c I wanted to go pro too.
1.5 years later, I had surpassed him and became one of the highest-ranked players in North America.
Mentorship = key
More from Nicolas Cole
I started writing threads on Twitter in 2019.
Since then, I've written more than 200 threads and accumulated over 50,000,000 views on Twitter alone.
Want to know a secret?
I (pretty much) use the same 7 thread templates every time.
🧵👇
Template #1: The Framework Thread
The best frameworks all follow this same recipe:
• To solve X [well-known & difficult] problem
• I do Y [unconventional] thing
• To achieve Z [highly desirable]
Template #2: The Curation Thread
Recipe: "I did all this work—so you don't have to."
But the secret w/ curation threads is to niche down HARD.
"Biz books to read on investing" > "Best biz books" > "Best
Template #3: The "This Just Happened" Thread
Breaking News always has a 24-48 hour hype cycle.
The recipe here is:
• Write about a trending topic
• Provide your own unique take
• Unique take must be relevant to your
Template #4: The "If I Had To Do It Over Again" Thread
Recipe =
• I achieved X
• And made a lot of mistakes along the way
• If I were you, and had to do it all over again, here's what I would do
Since then, I've written more than 200 threads and accumulated over 50,000,000 views on Twitter alone.
Want to know a secret?
I (pretty much) use the same 7 thread templates every time.
🧵👇
Template #1: The Framework Thread
The best frameworks all follow this same recipe:
• To solve X [well-known & difficult] problem
• I do Y [unconventional] thing
• To achieve Z [highly desirable]
In 2021, I published 4 books.
— Nicolas Cole \U0001f6a2 (@Nicolascole77) January 3, 2022
In 2022, I plan on publishing 8.
Here's the 5-step framework I use to write 60,000+ words in 30 hours or less (2,000 words per hour) \U0001f447
Template #2: The Curation Thread
Recipe: "I did all this work—so you don't have to."
But the secret w/ curation threads is to niche down HARD.
"Biz books to read on investing" > "Best biz books" > "Best
Over the past 10 years, I have read over 500 business books.
— Nicolas Cole \U0001f6a2 (@Nicolascole77) January 4, 2022
99% were 1 idea stretched across 300 pages.
They should have been blog posts.
Save yourself the time and just read these 10 \U0001f447
Template #3: The "This Just Happened" Thread
Breaking News always has a 24-48 hour hype cycle.
The recipe here is:
• Write about a trending topic
• Provide your own unique take
• Unique take must be relevant to your
Today, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
— Nicolas Cole \U0001f6a2 (@Nicolascole77) January 18, 2022
$68.7 billion. All cash.
But Activision has had a rough couple years.
\u2022 World of Warcraft dying
\u2022 Overwatch delayed
\u2022 Sexual harassment charges
Microsoft needs to fix these 3 things to be successful:
\U0001f9f5\U0001f447
Template #4: The "If I Had To Do It Over Again" Thread
Recipe =
• I achieved X
• And made a lot of mistakes along the way
• If I were you, and had to do it all over again, here's what I would do
I started writing online when I was 17 years old.
— Nicolas Cole \U0001f6a2 (@Nicolascole77) November 10, 2021
Since then, I've...
\u2022 Written 3,000+ articles online
\u2022 Ghostwritten 1,500+ articles online
\u2022 Published 5 books & 30 "mini-books"
\u2022 Built two 7-figure writing businesses
If I had to start from $0 again, here's what I'd do:
More from Life
"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
As a dean of a major academic institution, I could not have said this. But I will now. Requiring such statements in applications for appointments and promotions is an affront to academic freedom, and diminishes the true value of diversity, equity of inclusion by trivializing it. https://t.co/NfcI5VLODi
— Jeffrey Flier (@jflier) November 10, 2018
We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.
Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)
It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.
Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
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BREAKING: @CommonsCMS @DamianCollins just released previously sealed #Six4Three @Facebook documents:
Some random interesting tidbits:
1) Zuck approves shutting down platform API access for Twitter's when Vine is released #competition
2) Facebook engineered ways to access user's call history w/o alerting users:
Team considered access to call history considered 'high PR risk' but 'growth team will charge ahead'. @Facebook created upgrade path to access data w/o subjecting users to Android permissions dialogue.
3) The above also confirms @kashhill and other's suspicion that call history was used to improve PYMK (People You May Know) suggestions and newsfeed rankings.
4) Docs also shed more light into @dseetharaman's story on @Facebook monitoring users' @Onavo VPN activity to determine what competitors to mimic or acquire in 2013.
https://t.co/PwiRIL3v9x
Some random interesting tidbits:
1) Zuck approves shutting down platform API access for Twitter's when Vine is released #competition
2) Facebook engineered ways to access user's call history w/o alerting users:
Team considered access to call history considered 'high PR risk' but 'growth team will charge ahead'. @Facebook created upgrade path to access data w/o subjecting users to Android permissions dialogue.
3) The above also confirms @kashhill and other's suspicion that call history was used to improve PYMK (People You May Know) suggestions and newsfeed rankings.
4) Docs also shed more light into @dseetharaman's story on @Facebook monitoring users' @Onavo VPN activity to determine what competitors to mimic or acquire in 2013.
https://t.co/PwiRIL3v9x
