My greatest education has come from interactions and attentiveness to my many mentors. Mentorship is something that is regarded as one of the most important and beneficial relationships in the growth of successful individuals. But finding mentors can be difficult. I have personally asked several people to be a mentor, and most have declined or offered no answer. That is not to say that I have been without mentors, there have been more than I can remember throughout my life. One of them in fact, holds the opinion that the mentor-mentee relationship must be mutual and consensual, an opinion I strongly disagree with.

Why don't people want to be mentors? In some cases, mentors don't see themselves as mentors. Others are not willing to commit the time. Being a mentor, in the truest since of the word, is a very time consuming task filled with heavy responsibility. Humility or time, it doesn't really matter. The fact is that you will have a difficult finding the right person agreeing to be your mentor.

So if mentors don't want to be mentors, how to you go about finding them. Simple, don't tell them. It sounds absurd, but it has its merits. Select a mentor, probably more than one, for an area in your life where you would like to grow. Seek out those more qualified and mature in areas that matter, and begin to interact with them.

Here are some guidelines for managing the hidden mentor relationship:

• Study your mentor to determine how they handle area that you feel you are week in.
• Seek out advice on issues you know they would be good at handling.
• Implement his or her advice.
• Let the mentor know how it worked out.
• Ask for additional guidance on how things could have been handled differently.
• Don't bug your mentor daily or even weekly. These types of interactions should take place not more than every month or two.

Mentor relationships don't even have to take place in person. Your mentor could be a figure from the past, or a public figure. They can be managers, teachers, friends, bloggers and even podcasters. The important thing is that in person or through their body of work, you can relate to how they would handle situations. Study your mentor and try to understand how they think, how they approach problems and what kind of integrity they use to walk through life's issues.

Suggested types of mentors can include: