One of the first things any student-athlete should do when preparing for life after their sport is find a mentor to assist them in their personal and career development. To achieve the greatest benefits, the mentor should be in your preferred career field. The mentor should be someone who has achieved some or all the things you would like to achieve in the profession. With this type of mentor on your team, you get instant access to an expert that can answer questions you may have, and also offer advice on the next steps to take to achieve greatness.
A mentor must be sought out, in most cases. It is very rare that someone will just decide to help you without knowing much about you. Instead of waiting around for a mentor, I suggest getting proactive and looking for one. I recommend starting your search at your school. Get to know your professors, academic advisors, and other school staff that could help you create your path to a successful career. If not at school, an internship would be the next thing to pursue. Here, you can get a realistic view of your preferred job and make contacts that could guide you along your journey. At first you may not be comfortable in these environments, but over time your comfort level will grow. Remember that to be comfortable is to be complacent and complacency is the home of mediocrity.
If had a mentor around the time I graduated , my transition from student athlete to the real world would have been much smoother. Instead, I struggled for years trying to find myself and deciding on what I wanted to do with my life. A year after getting a mentor, I finally found my passion and started working on what has become Athlete University. I challenge you all to be better than me! Find a mentor while in college or shortly after. Figure out what you are passionate about and, most importantly, pursue it with everything you have!
