Forums » Smalltalk » #ThankYourMentors

"Have you seen the new LinkedIn campaign?" For most folk this might make a humdrum conversation over hot pulled pork with cheese, thick and fresh like lava over the buttery, burnished baked potato, but for us it's our occupado, our ardour and a trend we watch and respond to on behalf of our clients, so we natter on about it. We're sat in a pub full of cask ales and it's scarcely twelve. Were we not on the clock, I'd fancy a crack at a darker pint, but she has a point and she presses on, "It's them, like, thanking their mentor for all that they've done for them. Business based of course, but that's LinkedIN for you. You should see the trends on twitter--" Since then-- this chat not twenty minutes ago-- it's been a staunch thought stuck in my head all day: I do have people to thank for where I am.

People might sneer at the cheesiness of this post and jab their fingers at the kudos function. But, frankly, there just aren't enough characters in a kudos, and if that’s cheese, bring on the fromage, cheri.

I can count three of them on this very site and I know I am not alone in that notion.



Three IS the magic number. These people are the breed who never sleep, the kind that make things happen, wholesome things, things that will change the World. They don't settle for mediocre, they always go above and beyond. They are the ones that have pushed, pulled and even punched me out of my comfort zone, that dared me to become a better person, bared their teeth and provoked me into success.

These past four months have been a blur: I've gone from a deadbeat job to redundancy, I've been higher than a Harriet and lower than low. I've snapped and made snippy comments, I've been unforgivably rude and intolerant ( they are not your faults, they're mine, forgive me). But these three people, they're the ones that have slapped me back into reality, that remind me I've got grit and I've got to fight and surmount. I'm better than this. And they are absolutely right. They've supported me like my own family, given advice and guided me back onto the right path.

I believe life is consistent improvement, that your past mistakes do not define you as a person but pave the way to becoming a much better one. Life is so much more fulfilling to those that take it head-on.

These three wonderful people have altered the course of my life for the better and I hope that one day I will return the favour.

Because of them, this is my path now:

And together, I like to think we will change the world.