Who is behind you?

A teacher and a student were out for a walk.
Student saw a fox chasing a rabbit.
Teacher said, “The rabbit will get away from the fox.”
“I don’t think so,” the student replied.
The teacher said, “The fox may be faster, but the rabbit will elude the fox.”
Student asked, “Why?”
Teacher said, “Fox is running for his lunch, but the rabbit is running for his life.”

So the hidden question is what is the motive behind the run?
The motive behind the run always wins, if it is with purpose, sometimes winning may not appear immediately but eventually it will.
Then, why do we all run everyday?
To go through the day.
Most of us make our day as our immediate goal, but it doesn’t limit us to run for the real purpose of our life.
Very few of us really understand or try to understand the real purpose of life, but each and every one of us should have some kind of purpose for our life.
Purpose is a drive.
We can’t make our day only for lunch or dinner even though lunch and dinner are equally important.

Abraham Lincoln ran for the sole purpose of his life: to preserve the union and freed the slaves.
Franklin Roosevelt ran for the sole purpose of his life: to lift the people out of a great depression and helped them win a world war.
BP Koirala ran for the sole purpose of his life: fight for humanism and social justice.
Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison but never stopped running for democracy and social justice.

If we only chase for everyday lunch or dinner, we will never taste real life.

Extraordinary achievement and legacy is directly determined by not how fast we run, but by knowing the goal behind our run.

Powerful runners aren’t made in gyms, they are made from something they have deep inside them- a desire to run.
They have both a desire to run as well as the will, but the will must be stronger than the running skill.
This is the difference between running for life and running for a day.

If we’re running to lose weight for external reasons like to look slim for a wedding or anniversary, then we might reach our goal but the problem is we may gain weight back as soon as our wedding or anniversary ends.
If we’re running for life, we want to lose weight to feel good and to become healthy forever.
In the later case we definitely make slow progress at first but achieve sustainable results in the long term.

When we see a medical doctor, we see at least ten year’s knowledge accumulation related to medicines. That medical expertise they develop over time is by running consistently for at least 10 years.
It’s all motive for a gradual accumulation of knowledge.

One of the best ways to make the decision to run for life is by following or choosing a mentor.
Mentor is not simply our casual advisor.
He or she is more than that.
Mentor is somebody who has already walked the road we are willing to walk and he or she sees us as his or her past self.
Mentors help us to run our life course easily on track if we become able to choose the correct one.

Nobody knows our ultimate ceiling for our prosperity, so mentors teach us not to worry about it, they remind us it would just be a waste of time.
Rather than to know the ceiling of success, they help us to focus on one thing at a time.

When Sabeer Bhatia stepped on the soil of the USA, he had only $250 in his pocket, but he was running for a dream.
He created Hotmail, later Microsoft giant bought Hotmail for $400 million.
Sabeer Bhatia was running for his dream because he had Farouk Arjani on his back, the mentor.

Mentors are very special people.
Our interests and passion are two different things, most of the time we mix them up together.
Mentors help to convert our interest into passion and create value out of it.

Nobody offered a job for Walt Disney, pioneer of the animation industry, later his brother Roy appeared to be his mentor and gave him work at an art studio.

Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, had no money for any business, his father-in-law appeared to be his mentor and gave him $20,000 to start a retail business.

Albert Einstein had Max Talmud, he not only taught Einstein math, science, and philosophy but also ate either lunch or dinner with Einstein family for six years.

Mentoring forces us to implement new thinking, new skills, and new relationships. Without a mentor these tasks don’t seem natural at first but mentors force us to see them as natural even though they seem unnatural.
It’s very hard to act naturally for yourself.
Mentors can see unnatural things as naturals which we might not see.

No one can run alone, everybody’s gasoline has limited time but each successful runner has somebody behind to refuel.
Somebody standby in the gas station.
It’s the truth.
That somebody is your authentic mentor.

Even Oprah Winfrey, media personality and philanthropist, had Jeffrey D Jacobs as a mentor.

John Lennon of the Beatles had George Martin as a mentor.

One thing mentors remind us is that our most important appointment each day is with ourself, and we shouldn’t miss it.
Our appointment with our mission.
One secret thing that mentors teach us is that we can’t please everyone, there is no way.
We shouldn’t try it.
If we try to please everybody, there is guarantee that the one person we won’t please is ourself.
Our time is finite so we must keep pleasing ourself first.
Mentors are incredible people to reassure us that we aren’t missing these appointments everyday to please ourself.

Mentors will help us to find the right direction in life as well as finding the right action.
The real mentors will also help us to keep our relationships with friends, family, and colleagues in perspective and our daily actions on track.
What we shouldn’t forget is that they have already walked down the same road we’re walking or planning to walk.

We can research, model, benchmark, and trend their experiences for our success.
The research and experience of mentors is the best place to start our own life.
Most of the time we hear people saying that you are very smart but we rarely see them saying that there were many smart people before you so you study them.
These people who did before you, who walked before you, would be the best mentors.
Some mentors are living but many of them are dead but still they can guide us through their legacies, works, and publications.
Our job is to study them and build our actions on the back of their studies, their successes, and their failures.

Seeking a mentor is also hard work. Of course, it takes time but if we are serious about our life, it’s doable.
Generally we think life is about finding ourself but mentors help us to create ourself.

And one thing, never confuse with this, mentors are not advisors or consultants.
They are not.
Period.

Advisors and consultants charge money but mentors work free for you, but their value is priceless.
When you have a mentor on your side, one plus one almost always equals something greater than two.
It’s never too soon or too late to have a mentor.
Commit to achieve excellence.
Having a mentor gives us the best chance possible.
Always associate yourself only with great mentors who are going to lift you higher no matter what.

But just keep in mind, finding the right mentor certainly takes time, if you don’t have anybody right now.
It needs little extra effort, just keep working for that.
I wish you all – the best.

Thank you for your time.
-Yam Timsina