Jon Hung

What figure does the term mentor bring to mind?  Albert Eisteinn?  Alfred Hitchcock?  Yve Saint Laurent?  Michael Jordan?  Mentor figures are those that inspire us, and for inspiration we often look towards the lofty heavens.

But our mentors don’t have to be away in dream-land.  Needless to say, some of the best mentors are those in your immediate life who will make a greater impact on you than those figures who we will never have contact with.  Here are a few inspirational figures I have recently interacted with:

• Success in life and work starts with the proper attitude towards both.  Jason Seiden has guided me towards more personal, as well as professional satisfaction, by channeling passion through a method of effort, assessment, and mutual benefitting relationships.

• The people at my house are mentors, for they remind me that life is not meant to be taken that seriously.  For what ends are we working for if not to enjoy life with laughter, love and friendship?

• With certain people we create chat.   With others we build conversations into experiences of wisdom and perspective change.  On his blog, CROOKS AND GRANNIES, Mike gives an attention to the written word I sometimes forget is so important.  An effort which wrings itself away from the methodology of blogging, his writing reminds me of our common academic roots in humanities and critical theory.

• Can a mentor be younger than you?  Yes they can, when they’re damned talented.  Enter serena style and ary mega.

• Willy Franzen(1 Day 1 Job) is passionate about finding people jobs, and finds them for a group that (arguably) has had the hardest time finding them in at least a quarter century.  I apply his thinking all the time mentoring my friends in their job hunt, but this guy takes it to the next level.