It has been said by Jim Rohn, we are an average of the 5 people we spend the most time with. That is either extremely encouraging or very depressing. If your friends and family are positive, welcoming, and optimistic about life, then you might also take on these attributes. However, if they are lazy, negative, or downright toxic, then these traits might also stick to you.
However, Jim Rohn didn’t mean this in a deterministic way! He meant that we have a choice in who we spend our time with. He meant that we can surround ourselves with positive people, or search them out if they aren’t in our lives yet.
I posit we are the average of the mentors in our lives as well. This could be people that influenced you as a young person (a favorite teacher or sports coach). Positive speeches and encouraging words in the right moment shaped who you are today. But, this could also be people who you use as mentors: authors, speakers, athletes, business coaches, clinical gurus, the list goes on.
My mentors are people who I let into my brain. It’s listening to The Dental Lighthouse with Dr. Jason Tanoory or the Dentalprenuer Podcast with Dr. Mark Costes. It’s reading the latest book by Ryan Holiday and picking his brain over dinner.
Whether they are physically with you or not, they still impact you. They might not even know you; but, they contribute to your growth, development, and evolution to becoming the doctor you were supposed to be. The parent you were supposed to be. The human you will be.
When I think about mentorship, I think about Dr. Tom Osborn. He was as much a mentor as he was a playcaller of the Nebraska Cornhuskers for decades. He mentored young men for generations, and continues to this day. After leaving football, he spent years in Congress trying to reach across the aisle to get things done. Then, he came back the University of Nebraska to be the Athletic Director and stabilize the department during a tumultuous time. His legacy is the TeamMates Mentoring program, where adults spend 1 hour a week with an at-risk youth that just needs a mentor. No curriculum, just friendship.
If you want to read a good story about a mentor, my new book, The Shift, is out now at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and wherever books are sold. Check it out today and shift your mindset for the better!
Be well and do well,
Addison Killeen
