[NABS-L] Student Division tip of the day

[Janae Burgmeier]

In leading up to our “building your student division” call which will take place March 24th, here is another leadership tip from the outreach committee!  
Find Mentors and use them

The National Federation of the Blind has an amazing network of leaders who have been doing this a lot longer than we have. They are there for a reason. Utilize their knowledge and their skillsets. It is also important to take a step back and listen to what they have to say. Sometimes as new leaders, we can get very overwhelmed and it is easy to come to someone with all of your problems and pent up aggression and sort of just dump it everywhere at their feet. Before approaching someone for advice, have a concise list of the issues you are having as well as some possible solutions. Keep yourself in check to make sure you don’t let the venting demons take over your dialogue.  Lastly, after your chat, reflect on the outcomes and insights you discover. That way you can put your conversation to work and the next time you talk to the mentor you can say “hey thank you! Your advice really helped me to ____”.  I can’t tell you how often students have come to me with long e mails full of problems, which I take and spend my careful time replying to and then never hear from them again. Thank your mentors and listen actively to their advice.

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