You want to live a happy, fulfilling life. You want to be successful… good at something. The thing is, although we are born with some talents and predispositions, none of us are born successful. No one is born as an all-star lawyer, captivating writer, or big shot CEO. So how do you get there?

There are many steps you have to take to find your niche in life. Mastering something takes time and effort- lots of it. And Allan F. Mogensen couldn’t have said it better when he said, “Work smarter… not harder.” There are ways to kickstart your path to success. One of those, that seems to consistently be overlooked, is learning from a mentor.

To find a mentor, think about the people you interact with and point out someone interesting that does a task really well (preferably something you are interested in learning.) This could be a manager that is great at motivating people, a teacher that can hold the entire class’ attention, a church leader that draws everyone closer to God, the list goes on. Maybe it’s just a friend you think dresses REALLY well. Get to talking to this person. Find out what their thought process is, why they do things the way they do it.

This is a form of mentorship. Often mentorship is seen as an interaction where both the experienced one and unexperienced are putting in effort over a period of time to help the latter become successful. If you can get your hands on this opportunity- TAKE IT. It’s so important to have someone to teach you the ins and outs of your profession or just life in general. They can teach you the short cuts and prevent you from having to learn things the hard way.

But what about if you can’t have that? You can’t find anyone willing to put their time into mentoring? No worries. Going back to what I said before, find that person that has mastered their craft. It doesn’t even have to be your craft. Let’s say you have a professor that is tough but just incredible. You walk away from class feeling like you learned 100 things and paid attention the whole time. It took time, effort, and error for your professor to be able to do that. They have mastered it.

Talk to them during their office hours about their path to becoming a teacher. Ask about what they do to prepare their lectures or a few of the things they’ve learned. People love to talk about themselves; I’m sure they will oblige. Mentally analyze their path of success and their personality traits… maybe their mannerisms or habits. Find the method to their madness and apply it your life.

The person that is living out what looks to be the closest life to your goal is the real jackpot-mentor to have. Talk to them if you can and learn from them. If you can’t, don’t be creepy, but watch how they do things. Everyone has their own strategies. See if you can try out some of their habits. If you notice your manager (that has the spot you want) walks on eggshells with some employees and lays down the hammer on others, take note of it. They probably do it for a reason. Obviously don’t try this one out, but think critically what their reasoning might be. See what you can learn from it.

The point of mentorship is to find someone that knows something that you wish you knew- and learning it from them. It is much faster and easier to learn from other people’s mistakes and efforts than your own. This makes mentorship a key to your success. So take a look around at who’s killin it out there. Watch the way they walk, maybe do it for a day. Talk to them. Learn. Your future self will thank you for it.