If I could go back in time to 2014, these are the 7 things I would tell myself about mentorship.

(It would have saved me a lot of wasted time and effort.)

Avoid these:

1. Don't Get Caught Up "Mentors & Sponsors" Talk

Don’t worry about finding mentors and sponsors.

You are an Asian American Millennial Male, this concept isn’t going to work for you and will scare you into a path that isn't uniquely your own.

2. Avoid Networking Mentor Programs

Don’t participate in those programs either, you are introverted and mixers and grand programs have yet to actual work for you.

Instead, do these:

3. Engage intellectual sparring partners

- Find people who you can talk ideas, for the sake of talking ideas

- Expand on what you think is the dumbest ideas, and have fun with it

4. Make Mentee-Mentor Moments

- Instead of going to mentor and hoping they adopt you, and having another adult figure that out all for you...

- Create mentee-mentor moments where you come up with an oddly niche and specific problem that shows you did the work, have gone through the critical thinking, and need to talk it out.

5. Passively Expand What You Are Uncomfortable With

- Follow 5 types of leaders that share a lot - newsletter or LinkedIn - specifically areas you are scared of, have a shallow understanding of, or otherwise are unknown to it, and follow their content.

- Passively learn through their content.

6. Find Curiosity Through Others

- You might be thinking to look for "the most curious" person.

- No, don't do that.

- Instead, with anyone you're with, figure out what they are focused relentlessly on and why. How does it make them feel? What can you learn from it?

7. Share, Share, and Share (in written format)

- Send written updates often, small, and frequent to all of them including peers who you know root for you.

- It gives them a way to root for you more, and an outlet for you to share what you have learned or found.

- Review what you have shared a month or 12 later.

Through out my years at CSULB, EY, and my interactions in non-profits such as ISFFA, ALPFA, and BAP&AS - there has been a consistent narrative around mentorship and how I need to find mentors to have a great career.

After hearing the same talk track for years, seeing the same programs be implemented, and seeing these mentor-mentee relationships be lackluster, I have now rebelled at the concept of mentorship, at least in its current form.

Thus, this is how today's list I'm sharing with you came to be. If I knew these things back then, I think I would saved myself a lot of time and energy.