Young's Mentorship

I've been fortunate to have several and continue to have several mentors. I would encourage you boys, as you go through life, to make sure you surround yourself with strong mentors. Maybe you don't even use that word. It doesn't matter which word you use to describe these people, as long as they care about you and have wisdom that you trust. You can go to these people when you reach key moments in life and you can discuss it with them. It doesn't mean you always follow their advice, but, their input is very, very important.

And certainly, in Canada, I've got two or three people who come to mind. My belief is that whatever job you do, you do it to the best of your ability. And if you have good mentors, they'll tell you when you should think about changing jobs and move up versus when you should focus on one task. Sometimes, you are so busy that you end up not giving any job your full focus.

As you start to become a young man, spend some time naming what your values are and what you think is important. It can sometimes be very difficult to stand by your values. You can feel the expectations from peer pressure, and if you can’t name your values, it is even harder to stick to them. It doesn't mean you can't change or evolve your values, but at least you're changing or evolving from something.

Enjoy today as much as tomorrow. In school, it sometimes feels like everything is about

preparing for the future. But you're in school for one-fifth of your life. One out of every five days that you may live is in school. If you spend all of those days thinking about your future, you will miss one-fifth of your life.

If you only think about the future and don’t act, you never get there. So make sure today is important. And then I think it's really important to surround yourself with people you care about, your friends and family, because those people will nourish you when you’re in need.