How I Think About Mentors Now (After Passing a Few)

Most people misunderstand what mentors are actually for. They treat mentors as people you either stay loyal to forever or people you eventually outgrow and discard once you pass them.

A mentor is not someone you’re meant to compete with. They are someone who clears part of the path so you can move faster than they could. Their job is not to walk the entire journey with you, but to prepare you for the next stage of it.

Think about how learning works in school. You don’t look back at your arithmetic teacher and call them incompetent because they didn’t teach you algebra. They taught you exactly what you needed at that point in time. Without that foundation, the next lesson wouldn’t have landed.

Mentors work the same way.

Just because someone taught you part of the journey doesn’t mean they were supposed to take you all the way. Passing a mentor means they succeeded.

The mark of a great teacher is that students rise above them. Every generation is supposed to move faster than the one before it. They’re meant to have a head start.

That’s what progress actually looks like, even though our egos don’t like admitting it. We all say we want our kids to have it better than we did, then quietly resent them when they do.

Mentors clear trees so others don’t waste years hacking through the same forest. They point out the holes, the dead ends, the mistakes they paid for personally. When someone moves past them because of that guidance, the mission is accomplished.

From the mentor’s side, at the end of your life, the people at your bedside won’t be the ones you beat. They’ll be the ones you helped. Your legacy isn’t built by hoarding secrets or staying ahead of everyone forever. It’s built by giving others a head start, even if it means they surpass you.

From the mentee’s side, there’s responsibility too. Honour the shoulders you stood on, even if you’re younger now, even if you’re making more money, even if your life looks bigger on paper. You didn’t get there alone.

Sometimes the most mature move you can make is sending a message that simply says:

"Respect. I appreciate you."

Not for them.

For you.

Because resentment toward mentors is usually just misplaced ego. Gratitude, on the other hand, keeps you growing without dragging poison forward.

If you’re a mentor, measure success by how far your people go without you. If you’re a mentee, measure character by how you speak about the people who helped you early.

That’s how the game actually works.

Question❓⬇️

Where do you see yourself in the learning cycle at the moment?

Primarily absorbing and applying

Starting to contribute insights

Actively helping others move faster

Moving between all three

5 votes

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