My girlfriend and I were on a taxi ride going home and we overheard the taxi driver talking to his friend via a walkie-talkie app. Usually, what we’ll hear are their updates where traffic is or if there is an accident somewhere; the sorts. However, their conversation was somehow unexpected.
He kept on talking about what the other driver needed to do so that he’ll earn more. They discussed ways to not get sleepy and where to find the best place to lose drowsiness. Summing it into a strategy of drinking coffee and having some small meals in between just to give energy throughout the day. They kept on saying that if you rest too long, the opportunity of earning more goes away. Basically what they were saying was “If you snooze, you lose.”
Little did we realize, our driver was mentoring the other driver. There was something to learn from that moment. To be good at something, you surround yourself with the people that will help you be the best version of yourself. What they did was maximize the opportunity for growth. If you think about it, they are basically rivals. They are actually competing with each other but what happened is completely the opposite.
Sometimes, we’re too afraid to reach out to these people if we look up or ask for help from someone who is an expert because we think that they are already on a different level. However, it’s usually the exact opposite. They would be willing to share their thoughts and allow us to pick their brains because they know what we’re currently experiencing. They know that if they mentor us, they are cultivating a culture of helping one another; making sure that there is always an opportunity to be better not only for themselves but for everyone.
When we want to be good at something that we like, we should be surrounding ourselves with the people who are already doing it. Learning from the experiences that they have gone through. The common quote “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are” may sound cliché but it is actually on point. If we want to identify ourselves as successful, we mingle with the successful. Be with the people who we want to become.
