Lessons from my mentor.
It’s true when they say “a midget standing on the shoulder of a giant can see further than the giant.” I really deem myself quite fortunate to have a circle of people around me who are more experienced and knowledgeable than me, particularly my mentor Burak Dülger.
Thanks to Andrea Reid and the team at the Offerzen foundation I was one of the few early-career software engineers from underserved backgrounds to have been selected for the mentorship program and I got paired with an all-around brilliant mentor Burak. Over time we have grown closer and despite the over a decade of age gap difference, we converse like best buddies.
To cut straight to the chase I will share some of the lessons I have learned from him over the past 4 months or so and hope they will be helpful to you.
1. Discipline
This is the first and most important and rarely spoken about. Gone are the days when you need to be motivated to complete a task, discipline is the key, particularly self-discipline. No one will be looking over your shoulder to ensure you are indeed doing the hard thing when deep down you know it is the right thing to be doing unless you are fully aware of yourself and your surroundings.
2. No substitute for hard work
This came up from a discussion about a book that happens to be an all-time favorite of mine, and my mentor too — Outliers, In his book, Malcolm Gladwell mentions how the greats didn’t get there by chance, they had to spend hours of deliberate practice. From the Beatles to Bill Gates, each one had to spend hours of hard work to become masters of their craft and the same is true for any one of us, almost nothing worth living for happens by chance. The willingness to do the hard work is the bare minimum one ought to pay to at least tilt the odds of success in your favor.
3. Take care of your body/exercise
From someone who plays soccer plays tennis, and cycles on weekends this kind of advice was almost expected. Exercise or doing sport is a great way to keep the body and brain active and healthy while preparing for the later days when age catches up with you. In your 20s you might not see the need at times to exercise because your body can handle almost anything thrown at it however in 2 or 3 decades down the line you sure will not have the same level of energy and this is when you wouldn’t want your body to let you down. An investment in health is the greatest form of wealth.
4. Always have learning goals
In order for you to keep up with the modern world that is ever-changing, not only do you need to create or invent new products but you will above all need to be able to reinvent yourself. Constant learning and the ability and willingness to learn is a keystone habit. Having long-term and short-term learning goals is a great way to ensure that you will not only be economically relevant but socially relevant too. This is one of my favorites since my job requires you to learn on a daily basis.
5. Focus/Attention is your most valuable resource
In this age of distractions everywhere, you need to actively take the step to ensure that you are able to keep your focus on one thing for a long period of time. Also being able to maintain high levels of focus even for small bursts of time will yield a higher ROI than spending hours upon hours with distractions coming from all angles, from the phone call coming in, email alerts, and a whole host of other notifications that seemingly require your immediate attention.
Each of the above lessons has had a positive impact on my life by allowing me to have a different view of my personal life, my career goals, and even the world around me. For this, I will be forever grateful!
