Flash Mentoring

As Daniel Coyle wrote in his book, The Culture Playbook, mentoring is incredibly powerful. A mentor is someone who helps you grow, make better decisions, and see the game and the world through a different lens. A mentor can encourage you and help you grow professionally and personally. 

Having a good mentor can change your career and change your life. They can show you what to do and show you what not to do.

Former U.S. Women's National Soccer Team coach Jill Ellis would give each new, young member of the team a task: "Go sit next to an older player and listen to their scars." She said, "Every successful player is successful because they've failed over and over again. Having younger players learn about that early on is so impactful."

Coyle calls this Flash Mentoring. Flash Mentoring is when a younger athlete or coach approaches a veteran with low-stakes questions like:

- What are 1-3 things that you have done to get faster?
- What do you do before practice?
- How do you prepare for games?
- How do you handle fear and anxiety?
- How do you get over tough losses?
- What is something you wish you knew when you were younger?

The key for a young mentee is to see how your mentor thinks - how they see and handle opportunities and solve problems.

This week, find a mentor. Find someone who is doing or who has done what you are trying to do. And ask them a few questions about how they got to where they are at.