If you’re ever stuck for ideas or advice, and you feel like you can’t find a mentor, here’s how to become your own mentor: Look at everyone else who’s doing a similar thing. Some successful ones, and some failing ones. Find everything they could be doing better. And then don’t tell them. Tell yourself.

Do it positively: Think of every cool idea you want to suggest to these people, everything you’d pitch them if they let you contribute. Blue-sky thinking, upgrades to their current routines, every way they could grow and evolve and mature and really shine.

Having a mentor can seem like an exciting and enviable asset, but it's not a silver bullet for success. The real work starts after you actually connect with someone that can potentially be a mentor.

Finding a mentor can help you get ahead in your career. If you've been lucky enough to have a mentor, tell us, how did you find that person?

Jealousy and envy can be nasty feelings, but manage them the right way, and you can actually use these feelings to your advantage, or even to further your career. Next time you feel envious of someone, move past it and learn something in the process by asking that person for advice.

Having a mentor is a great way to gain experience and knowledge that's not easy to gain from formal education. Ironically, getting the most out of your mentor doesn't come with a handbook. So we wrote one.