Meeting Your Guides

Role models and mentors don’t necessarily have to be people you know. Working with guides is a powerful way to tap into the qualities and strategies others have used successfully and that you’d like to emulate.

1. Identify your guide. You might have more than one. To start, pick one person, from history or current culture, who personifies something you want to accomplish or develop.

2. Do a little research about his or her life. Find photos and other artifacts you can use to add a visual element to the relevant page in your journal.

3. Write a letter of introduction to your guide. Tell her about your hopes, dreams, fears, and why you think she can be a great mentor for you. Ask her for advice. You can write the letter right in your journal, or you can write it on a separate page or card and put it in an envelope in your journal. Paint and embellish the letter as you wish. Include a photo, an example of your work, or anything you think might help get your guide’s attention.

4. Either now or sometime later, write a letter from your guide back to you. This takes some imagination, but creative entrepreneurs have plenty of that. Get in the mood and mindset of your guide and write back.

5. Continue this correspondence for as long as it serves you. You might correspond with several guides—one who is mistress of her craft, another you admire for her public relations skills, a third who is living the lifestyle you desire.

6. Make a list of possible real-life mentors in your business. Do you know a colleague, coach, or therapist (depending on your needs) who can offer mentorship or support? Also consider to whom you can be a mentor and support. Teaching what you know and sharing lessons you have learned is a great way of gaining clarity and strengthening your own sense of purpose.