Why Mentors Matter
There is a simple saying I find apt within this topic, “don’t recreate the wheel.”
But have you ever done the mental gymnastics of imagining someone do it?
You come home and see your significant other in the garage or living room doing their best to shape a large stone. Dust and chips of rock are everywhere, several iterations of failed attempts are leaning against the wall in the back of the room. They as soaked in sweat as they hammer away at their invention.
“What are you doing?” you ask. “Oh… you are not going to believe this. I’m creating a wheel!", they say.
You are frozen. Mentally, you are not quite sure what to think. “Have they lost their minds?”, “Are they having a nervous breakdown?”, ”Why in the world would you need to make a stone wheel?” And finally, “wheels already exist!”
I know… this seems pretty silly, right!?
Now imagine you come home and see your significant other with papers and open books all over the place. The books bare titles such as, “You Can Farm,” “Quit Like A Millionaire,” “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” and many others.
As in the previous instance, you ask the same question. “What are you doing?”
In frustration they reply, “I’m trying to figure out how to start our homestead and reach financial independence.” Like before, you may have a lot of questions but this time you are much more intrigued and less concerned about their mental stability.
“Shut up, sit at the feet of your teachers, and listen”
- Lamare’s Father
One thing that is important to note between this example and the previous one is that we seem to forget that others have done all the hard work for us. The groundwork for our goals is already laid. Other people have already made all the mistakes for us.
In the homesteading arena, Joel Salatin, in our opinion, serves as the Father of permaculture farming. And dozens of others have leveraged his expertise to establish their own homesteads. Joel Salatin has literally done all the heavy lifting, written several books, and given a ridiculous amount of interviews about how to approach homesteading and farming.
On the financial side, folks like Dave Ramsey or Robert Kiyosaki, who have differing opinions on how to achieve financial independence, have provided blueprints for those aspiring for greater financial stability. Similar to Salatin, many people have used their approaches, or modifications of, to chart their course for financial independence.
In 2020, we live in a time our Great Grandparents would struggle to comprehend. Nearly everything we would want to know exists in the palm of our hands. Want to read about homesteading or financial independence, you can download a book on your phone. Want to watch someone work through the budgeting process, search it on YouTube and pick your video.
In the traditional sense, a mentor is someone that can provide you with guidance on how to navigate particular issues in life. We may meet with them over lunch, tell them our obstacles, and listen to them as they offer their expertise.
However, I submit that our mentors no longer have to be people that we have actually met. The pioneers in homesteading and financial movements have ensured their views, ideas, tips, tricks, mistakes, successes, and regrets are available for everyone. If you prefer to read, they have written books. If you prefer to listen, some of their works are on audiobook or in lecture form. If you prefer to watch, many of them have free videos on YouTube to view.
There is a certain amount of frustration that comes with attempting to undertake something new. I believe this is critical to the journey and a natural part of the process. This does not mean; however, that we have to make all the same mistakes those that came before us did.
Why wing it when trying to raise chickens or rabbits? Why blindly walk into trying to get a grasp on your finances or invest?
Let’s reimagine the significant other above that is trying to map out homesteading and financial independence [what we call CampFIRE]. You walk into your living room, almost stepping on an open pizza box that is on the floor next to notepads with hardly-legible handwriting. There are sticky notes on the wall and a web of sting connecting various ideas, concepts, and goals all over the walls.
You ask the same question, “What are you doing?” They give you the same response. But this time you ask a follow up. “Are their videos about this on YouTube?” They freeze.
This is not to belittle the process of chaotic idea mapping. In many cases this can be incredibly beneficial.
We should keep in mind that our elders have traveled the rough road. They have run the long race. They have climbed the mountain ahead of us. They have not only created the wheel, they have made significant improvements since it’s stone iteration.
I think it’s incredibly important for us to acknowledge that we are only tall because we are standing on the shoulders of giants.
You lose nothing by taking time to read or listen to mentors.
The value of a mentor is vastly understated
Imagine running off to Tractor Supply Co and buying all the cute chicks, taking them home, raising them and then finding out that you bought chickens that are not the best for laying eggs or are not the best for harvesting. Think about it… all of this could have been avoided by either doing some homework or simply watching a few videos on YouTube.
Imagine rushing off to purchase rental property in your journey towards financial independence and finding out that you bought a money pit. If you had taken time to listen to those who have been there and done that, this could have been avoided.
Ultimately, a mentor can help you avoid the many pitfalls that plague the road ahead. The two great enemies of progress are a lack of patience and unrestrained ego. Allow yourself to learn, then plan, review your plan, and then execute.
In 2020, pick your mentors… even though they may never know they are serving that role.
