A mentor and a mentee
Two people, one further along than the other, meeting deliberately. Asymmetric but chosen.
- When did you last teach somebody a shortcut, and did it work?
- What advice do you hand out that you have never once taken?
- Whose advice do you always ask for and never take?
- What did you fail at that you would happily do again tomorrow?
- What's a shortcut you worked out yourself that nobody taught you?
- What did you get good at because you had no other choice?
- What's the most useful thing you learned from someone who never taught anyone else?
- When did you last read the manual before pressing the button?
- When did you last hand-write a card, and who received it?
- When did you last copy a habit from someone without telling them?
- When did you last teach someone to do something with their hands?
- When did you last stay up late finishing something nobody asked for?
- When did you last keep an object from a place you left?
- When did you last change your mind because of one sentence?
- When did you last build something with your hands that still exists?
- When did you last redo something that was already good enough?
- When did you last say you did not know, in front of people?
- When did you last abandon a book halfway, and at which page?
- When did you last stop to watch a stranger do their job well?
- When did you last take advice from someone younger than you?
- When did you last introduce two people who then became friends?
- What advice do you give often and never follow yourself?
- What did work teach you that your friends now complain about?
- What shortcut do you take that you would never teach a beginner?
- What did you teach yourself wrong and still use anyway?
- What part of your work do you enjoy that others find boring?
- What do you leave until the last minute and still get right?
- What did every other child find easy that you found impossible?
- What did you fail at and would do again tomorrow?
- What do you refuse to automate, and how long does it take?
- Whose taste do you trust more than your own, and about what?
- What do you do slowly on purpose when everyone wants it fast?
- What kind of message do you rewrite five times before sending?
- What are you good at that you would rather not be known for?
- What small detail do you fix that nobody else ever notices?
- What did you learn from a teacher you did not like?
- What would you tell whoever replaces you that nobody wrote down?
- What could you teach us to do properly in ten minutes?
- What do you spot on a walk that nobody with you sees?
- What's a skill from an old job you never get to use here?
- What's the first thing beginners get wrong at something you do well?
- What can you do with your hands that you learned by watching someone?
- What do you know about this place that isn't written down anywhere?
- What's a trick you use that you've never seen anyone write down?
- What advice do you repeat so often that people quote it back?
- Guess what I do first when I get home, and why you think so.
- Guess my first job, and what makes you say that.
- Guess what I wanted to be at ten years old, and why.
- Guess how I spend a free evening, and what makes you think that.
- What advice do you give that you have never taken yourself?