1
00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:05,960
Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:12,040
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

3
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:17,200
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to consult your inner mentor. We all

4
00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:21,160
Speaker 1: know about the importance of mentors. Since Telemachus got advice

5
00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,439
Speaker 1: in the Odyssey from the character named mentor, really the

6
00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,800
Speaker 1: disguised goddess of wisdom Athena, plenty of us have sought

7
00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:32,120
Speaker 1: advice from wiser, more experienced sorts. Some of us have

8
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:34,760
Speaker 1: been fortunate enough to serve that role for other people.

9
00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:40,640
Speaker 1: Mentors are wonderful. The trouble, though, is that most aren't

10
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,480
Speaker 1: disguised Greek gods. They are busy human beings. They don't

11
00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,840
Speaker 1: necessarily have time to meet with us when we need them.

12
00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:51,800
Speaker 1: If we need to make decisions quickly, they can't always

13
00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:56,160
Speaker 1: squeeze us in, and there are other issues wise. As

14
00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,040
Speaker 1: they might be, your mentors might not be unbiased about

15
00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,240
Speaker 1: your dilemmas. Your manager, for instance, is not neutral on

16
00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,400
Speaker 1: the question of whether you should accept a job offer

17
00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 1: from a competitor. Your mentor from outside your company, the

18
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,360
Speaker 1: one who put you in touch with his friend at

19
00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:15,560
Speaker 1: that competitor, isn't neutral about it either. So what can

20
00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:19,320
Speaker 1: you do. One of my favorite ideas is to consult

21
00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:24,240
Speaker 1: your inner mentor alongside any external ones. I first learned

22
00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:28,319
Speaker 1: of this idea from Tara Moore's book Playing Big. More

23
00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,000
Speaker 1: is a coach who helps people focus on sharing their

24
00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,959
Speaker 1: breakthrough ideas on as big a stage as possible. This

25
00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:39,840
Speaker 1: often requires courage. Doing anything new is quite likely to

26
00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,600
Speaker 1: bring out our inner critics, that voice that asks who

27
00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: you think you are to be shaking things up. But

28
00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,920
Speaker 1: More suggests that you can also tap your inner mentor.

29
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,680
Speaker 1: This quieter, wiser, inner voice can offer all sorts of insights.

30
00:01:57,720 --> 00:01:59,960
Speaker 1: Your inner mentor can give you a kind of support

31
00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,120
Speaker 1: that no outer mentor can give you more rights. He

32
00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:06,600
Speaker 1: or she's not a replacement for outer mentors, but it

33
00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,200
Speaker 1: is a necessary compliment to them. Because she's inside of you,

34
00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,920
Speaker 1: she'll always be there for you unfailingly. There are no

35
00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:17,680
Speaker 1: issues of competition or betrayal. Because it's your inner voice.

36
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 1: The guidance won't be a reflection of what worked for

37
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:23,079
Speaker 1: someone else. It will always be just right for you.

38
00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,320
Speaker 1: To start to listen to this inner mentor's voice. More

39
00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:31,360
Speaker 1: suggests visualizing yourself twenty years in the future, but not

40
00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,840
Speaker 1: just any you twenty years in the future. This is

41
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,720
Speaker 1: a vision of you that is whole, centered and loving.

42
00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,520
Speaker 1: As More puts it, if you were to be wonderfully

43
00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,799
Speaker 1: fulfilled twenty years from now, what would your life look like.

44
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,520
Speaker 1: Where do you picture this version of yourself? What is

45
00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:53,760
Speaker 1: this person doing? How does he or she act? In

46
00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:57,880
Speaker 1: my time management fable Juliette's School of Possibilities, I suggest

47
00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,000
Speaker 1: a version of this future visioning by having my main

48
00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,880
Speaker 1: character imagine herself at a dinner party given in her

49
00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 1: honor twenty five years from now. As people stand up

50
00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,440
Speaker 1: to give toasts about her impact twenty years in the future,

51
00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,880
Speaker 1: she sees what truly matters to her. She starts to

52
00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:18,880
Speaker 1: ask what she can do now to bring herself closer

53
00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,520
Speaker 1: to this vision. You could try envisioning this future dinner

54
00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,200
Speaker 1: party in the toasts too. Once you have a vivid

55
00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:31,560
Speaker 1: sense of this older, wiser, more authentic version of yourself,

56
00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,079
Speaker 1: you'll find that she exists as a voice within you. Now.

57
00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,920
Speaker 1: More says, when you're facing a dilemma, try asking this

58
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,280
Speaker 1: inner mentor what he or she would do. After I

59
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,640
Speaker 1: met my inner mentor, More rights, when I was faced

60
00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,680
Speaker 1: with an important decision, I'd ask myself which of these

61
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,920
Speaker 1: roads moves me closer to becoming that woman I saw

62
00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:58,120
Speaker 1: in the visualization. That criteria helped me quickly say a

63
00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:03,400
Speaker 1: lot of nose and some significant yes is. It helped

64
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,920
Speaker 1: me tune out external pressures and helped me find the

65
00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:11,720
Speaker 1: answers that were right for me. So at some point today,

66
00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,160
Speaker 1: try sitting quietly for a few minutes and picturing your

67
00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:20,760
Speaker 1: inner mentor, how would you, with twenty more years of

68
00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:25,960
Speaker 1: wisdom and experience deal with your current challenges. When you're

69
00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,240
Speaker 1: debating how to answer a difficult email or solve a

70
00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:33,719
Speaker 1: work crisis, picture what your inner mentor would do what

71
00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,560
Speaker 1: he or she would tell you to do. You might

72
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,279
Speaker 1: be surprised at just how swiftly you can start to

73
00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 1: make tough decisions in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks

74
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:53,520
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

75
00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,839
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

76
00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,520
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

77
00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,960
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod

78
00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:09,000
Speaker 1: that's B the number four then Breakfast p o D.

79
00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,680
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

80
00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,120
Speaker 1: Podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before breakfast

81
00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:18,840
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

82
00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:27,160
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

83
00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,400
Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

84
00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,440
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

85
00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:36,560
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.