Self- mentoring is a self-improvement practice that works to allow you to achieve your goals through you championing yourself. Often, through giving yourself the reality checks you need I talk about how self-mentoring has helped me and how I have urged myself on to meet my own goals. As this practice has allowed me to achieve a dream very close to me: Publishing a second edition of Not All There.
For a long time, I had been unhappy with Not All There, it was a project close to my heart, and I had put a lot of love into the original manuscript. A few people who read the original piece, seven years ago were touched by it and that deepened my connection to the work. So went so far as to seek me out, on social media or by turning up to my door. Yes, that did freak me out!
However, personally I was not happy with Not All There, seven years had passed since I wrote that first iteration of the work and I am a different person today. I knew that I could not die happy if I did not take some action. This is where self-mentoring comes in. Although, “Fix NotAllThere Before I die” had been a goal floating around I had never done anything about it.
It took until I adopted this mentality, to grasp the bull by the horns and really tackle the situation. First, I decided what I meant by “fix”. I knew it needed an overhaul but I also knew that I couldn’t do it alone. Second, I knew that I would need support, the right people for the job. I hadn’t been able to solve this problem by myself for many years, it was time to enlist help.
That help came in the form of Ruth and Jane from Castle Priory Press. They edited the novella and also it’s publishers. More importantly they saw what others had seen it and understood my need to develop it further.
I have struggled, and I haven’t hidden that struggle, as I have made the transition from writer to author. Through that transition I have been using the resources I have put in place for myself as a mentor and a mentee. I am still learning, and becoming an author with a Book Launch on the horizon is one of the biggest changes in my life. One of my friends recently likened to bringing home a newborn, it uproots every part of your life. With self-mentoring I am using every tool in the box, including monthly mentor meetings, self-evaluation, crisis management, journalling, emergency mentoring, and anything else I can think of.
All in all, I am thankful for how far it has got me so far and even though there is a long way to go, I am glad I have these strategies to support me in the future.