Student - Schooled for Life

I've recently bought the book The Heart of Mentoring by David A Stoddard and Robert Tamasy, and it looks to be a real gem. Mentor-ship is a much-needed but much-neglected area of a student's life. As we well know, the weight of studies can be particularly burdensome, and to have someone who is older and wiser to mentor you can be absolutely priceless.

I wanted to briefly list the principles that David Stoddard lists in his Preface and which he expands on in the rest of his book.

Mentoring is a journey that requires perseverance.
Mentoring includes helping mentoring partners to determine their priorities, uncover their passions, and honestly address their pain.
Mentoring concentrates on the needs of the one being mentored, not on the agenda of the mentor.
Mentoring focuses on changing people from the inside out, not the outside in.
Mentoring involves the spiritual side of the person, not just the physical, mental, and emotional aspects.
Mentoring is one of the best ways to have significant personal impact on society, even for generations.

I am really looking forward to reading this book. My twin boys are turning four in a few months time, and over the past few months I have had the privilege of leading an in-depth Bible Study at our church, which has demanded detailed preparation and diligent study. I am in an in-between stage, but foresee that I will have opportunity in the near future to mentor younger men inside and outside the church.

I also am a very proud Amway Independent Business Owner, and am extremely privileged to receive very good training material through Network21 which was started by Jim and Nancy Dornan. The mentor-ship I receive through the Network21 program is invaluable, and has helped me hugely both in my Amway business, as well in my work as a doctor and in all areas of my life.

I would highly recommend that you seek out someone who is older, wiser than you, and with whom you get along well. Let the relationship develop naturally, and learn over time. We will re-visit this topic of mentor-ship over the next few months.

I found this fascinating infographic on mentor-ship and mentoring. Enjoy!

Source: visual.ly via Dave on Pinterest

image by osde8info

In the previous post we looked as a few ways you can benefit from lectures. In this post I want to discuss some of the things you shouldn't do in regards to lectures. 1. Skip lecture. Compared to high school, college students have a lot more freedom, and especially in first year where classes may have as many as 300 students, it is easy to skip lectures, especially if you are recovering from partying the night before! 2. Come unprepared. This is a follow-up to our previous post. Often-times, attending a lecture without preparing beforehand can be almost as bad as not attending at all. 3. Trying to write down everything the lecturer says. If you want to do that, rather record the lecture, and then when you get back home you can listen to the lecture again, even at double speed if you want to. We will discuss this in the next posts when I will give you some ideas on how to use recorded lectures properly. 4. Not writing anything at all. If you are going to the lecture, if you haven't prepared, at least try to listen for some key information as discussed previously. If you know someone in your class who is good at picking up important information during lectures, sit next to them or behind them during lectures, and you can see when they may note of something that the lecturer has said.