Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

When you’ve accumulated knowledge, wisdom, courage, intuition, maturity, and confidence-what do you do with it? Keep it to yourself? Use it for your own benefit, wealth or job security?

We tend to want others to play by the same rules we were taught to play by, don’t we? This condition we create adds no value, it simply builds a wall. Does this really serve anyone? With age comes wisdom…isn’t part of wisdom to recognize that knowledge gathering evolves with our surroundings? For instance, my three year old grandson can navigate an iPad like nobody’s business. He still enjoys having someone read to him but the pace and vehicles for his learning has expanded compared to mine at that age. We must also evolve.

Here’s a novel idea…
Assume noble intent. That “kid”; young, inexperienced, naive, innocent, shy kid you’ve unfortunately, maybe even accidentally dismissed might be the vessel God sent to you to carry your experience into the next generation.

What does it take to be a mentor? I submit it starts with building a bridge. Not half way, not most of the way…all the way! When you cross that newly built bridge, you will find a willing set of hands, an engaged mind, and steady feet that simply needs tools, someone to instill confidence in them, and to show them the way.

The bridge pictured above (courtesy of WordPress) was built adjacent to Hoover dam in Nevada. This complex engineering and construction feat is a marvel. It’s amazing what we can do when we put our minds to something. So, you may be saying to yourself, building a bridge the whole way is difficult, time consuming, expensive, risky…blah, blah, blah. Yes, it is. It’s also rewarding, energizing and the absolute right thing to do.

Look in your mirror today. Stare at your eyes for a minute. Those eyes have most likely seen things that others younger than you haven’t. You possess skills others don’t. You’ve got something to give. Something to pass on.

It starts with a bridge. Build the whole thing! Because you can. Because at some point, long before you knew what a bridge was, someone, probably several someone’s, built one all the way to you.

Have a blessed weekend!