Yes, I am a motivator, yet I disagree with having a mentor and mentoring. In fact, I have no mentor and I do not need one. I actually believe in and do have role models, because that is what I subscribe to. Remember, I am a rebel and I cannot be mentored since I would always be rebellious towards my mentor in our mentorship. Besides, I usually discard career advice; I mostly follow my intuition.
I can say that my intuition is my alternative mentor. If I ever had a mentor, I would have never dropped out of university. My mentor, in his or her clueless state of mind, would have strongly discouraged me. However, I dropped out of university because my intuition compelled me to do so. And I was also inspired by the rare spirit behind dropping out of university by some of my role models who are successful university dropouts, which my mentor would be really ignorant of. Well, people should freely dispute this unorthodox philosophy of mine, and even brand me as a foolish, naive and an arrogant boy.
So who is a role model? The erroneous impression people have about a role model is all about “trying to emulate a successful personality.” No, that is a common misconception! I once asked my good friend in UCC, Augustine Amponsah, who his role models are, and he wittingly replied, “I have no role model. My role model is myself.” That’s great, and I respect his view, but he apparently had that false definition in mind. I actually define a role model as a successful person whose success story people learn from and not copy. My biggest role model in the world now is Sarkodie; I do not strive to be like him, but I really learn from how he is incredibly succeeding in life — his achievements, strengths, shortcomings etc. Though one cannot ordinarily establish a personal relationship with his or her role models, he or she would still be diversely inspired by them unlike mentors who would forcefully guide you.
Now who is a mentor? A mentor is a so-called experienced individual who personally advises, guides and controls another person about career and life. Mentors are mostly authoritative; they seek to mould someone into a particular being even if the person’s spirit naturally opposes it. Thus training him or her to be a conformist. Of course, mentoring has its own benefits, but it normally prevents mentees from growing into mavericks, rebels and non-conformists. That is why I hate mentorship in my eccentric life.
I once tried to be mentored by a highly respected Ghanaian professional, but I later realised that he perceived me as a bad mentee because I am freakish, nuts and unconventional. In a typical mentorship, the mentee is barred from becoming stubborn but rather docile while the mentor is expected to be bossy, dogmatic and sometimes domineering.
Moreover, Karim Abouelnago wrote that, “Mentors are individuals that can help you with the ‘operational’ aspects of life and role models are more there to help set the ‘aspirational’ aspects.” It is, therefore, up to the youths in every nook and cranny to decide who they truly desire to have: role models or mentors. Anyway, it is advisable to have both of them though I have only one, i.e. role models.
Again, if you are and want to be a rebel, then you do not really need a mentor. And if you are and still want to be a puppet, then you should get and maintain a mentor. But wait a minute, having no mentor in your life might make you prone to several mistakes in the pursuit of your dreams. But that is better, because it would be incumbent on you to deal with them in all pragmatism in order to be remarkably resilient.
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