Lifeplan Institute | 10 Million Teenagers in 10 Years: Mentoring: A to Z

For almost 40 years now, I've learned more from my wife Kate than from anyone. She is an extraordinary role model - brilliant, loving, and completely devoted to her kids at the school she founded 34 years ago.

When she dreamed of starting a school, Kate's untiring resolve combined with a fierce love of education and the children it nurtures is what made her dream a reality. So it's no wonder that mentoring is an everyday topic of conversation around our dinner table.

While we were talking over dinner recently, Kate started writing on a napkin. Now, she loves to alphabetize (for example, Kate knows each of her 267 students in alphabetical order!). And just like that, she had jotted down her "A to Z" thoughts about mentoring. It's a great list and I thought you'd like to see it:

A - Access, Appreciation
B - Boost
C - Chance
D - Donate
E - Educate
F - Foster
G - Give
H - Help
I - Ideals
J - Join
K - Ku kanaka (Hawaiian for "personal responsibility")
L - Love
M - Mentor
N - Nurture
O - Opportunity, 'Ohana (Hawaiian for "family")
P - Promote, Prop up
Q - Question
R - Responsibility
S - Sustain
T - Train, Teach
U - Understand
V - Veritas (Latin for "truth")
W - Work (with)
X - "X" Factor
Y - Youth, YODA
Z - Zoom!!

Isn't it true that some of our best brainstorming happens when we are just enjoying life, letting our minds roam, and maybe doing nothing more than... looking forward to the mashed potatoes? So the next time an inspiring notion about kids and mentoring crosses YOUR mind, jot it down. You never know what your own '"napkin list" will reveal.

All the best,
Andy