The power of mentorship is a great one if wielded rightly.
According to Google, mentorship can be defined as the guidance provided by a mentor, especially an experienced person in a company or educational institution, or as a period of time during which a person receives guidance from a mentor.
On the 27th Of October 2017, I was opportune to attend a free mentorship session with Bankole Williams. I had first seen the announcement on his Instagram handle and I was interested, so I visit Eventbrite to register and realised unfortunately it was going to hold on a Friday (work day). I registered nonetheless.
After registering, we had to await a confirmation email, as only those selected would be able to attend the session; I was quite positive that I would be selected and of course, I was selected *smiles*.
The mentorship session was in two batches: morning batch and afternoon batch, I registered for the afternoon batch which was from 1pm to 4pm, luckily I was granted permission to leave the office early that Friday.
As a person, I hadn’t had personal mentors as it were, of course, I had a lot of virtual mentors that I stalked on the internet, but a physical mentorship session was really appealing and I’m glad I availed myself of that opportunity.
I got to the venue just as the afternoon session started. Prior to attending, I had been wondering how the mentorship session would be like, whether we were going to have a one-on-one session or nay.
It was a nay: the mentorship session wasn’t as I thought it was going to be, it was an open class discussion, I think we were about 50 people in the room and Steve Harris and Gbenga Totoyi were on seat alongside Bankole Williams. Already, I knew I was in for a treat, and no, I wasn’t disappointed.
I not only learned, I got clarification, met new friends, took selfies😀, and got new list of books to add to my to-read list.
Let me share a few treats from the mentorship session with you.
The meeting was anchored by Rotimi, and he started by asking the speakers questions, then participants questions were taken.
15 Important Lessons From My Mentorship Session:
1. Even though you may not be in the right position, make sure you are in the right location.
2. Daily chase a better version of you.
3. If you are a career person, know beyond your job, learn the business of your job too.
4. The way to conquer fear is by facing it. Just start.
5. What people crave:- contribution, celebration and validation.
6. Failure means nothing except what you attach to it. Learn from your mistakes.
7. Time is God’s gift to us, what we do with it is our gift to Him.
8. There is a small size of your big ideas.
9. Surround yourself with people who give positive vibes.
10. Pressure is a revealer, it gives a feedback on the kind of person you are.
11. Your love for God shouldn’t make you stupid.
12. Use social media wisely. Social media should tell us who you are, where you are and where you are going.
13. Build scalable solutions.
14. Focus is the ability to limit your distraction to one thing.
15. Understand timing. Read books on time management, do a time audit, have a real timetable.
Book Recommendations (from Bankole Williams, Gbenga Totoyi and Steve Harris):
1. The Power Of The Subconscious Mind
2. The Pursuit Of Excellence
3. The Alchemist
I learnt so much more than this, but hey, this is just a recap😉😉.
It was an amazing mentorship session, plenty thanks to Bankole for the great initiative to impact lives and affect destiny. More grace to his efforts and dollars to his ‘akant’😀.
Have you attended a mentorship session before? Do you plan to attend one soon? Do you have a mentor or mentors? What do yo think about mentorship?
Share with me in the comment section below.
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For me, I’ve not really had and don’t have a ‘physical mentor’ so to say. Let’s say i just do the ‘media stalking’ thing for now. Many thanks to the blessed gift of the ink and paper. I make up for their physical absence by devouring their thoughts in prints. About books, I just finished some by ‘Dale Carnegie’. I’m currently going over John Maxwell’s works, and those three you shared, they sound appealing. I’ll add them to my reading list just about now. I guess I’m ‘booked’ up for the next few weeks ahead of me.
Many thanks for sharing your experiences with us. You give us a reason to keep the flame aglow. Very instructive lessons you have here.