Ah, to be young and ambitious! We study hard and then we work long hours just so we can ensure that a few years after, we can have the comfortable life we want with everything in it–money, career, and a good retirement plan.

People develop ambitions when he sees someone whose life or work he comes to admire. It takes true inspiration to really want something for yourself and work all your life to achieve that. I know I was inspired by the works of a lot of famous people. There are some though, who’d rather be led by someone who’s more familiar. And that’s how we come to find ourselves in search of a mentor. How do we look for one? You can use these four pointers.

Consider the people you know. Are you deeply inspired by someone you know? If your relations with this person is good and he is as gracious as you admire him to be, you can ask him to be your mentor and he just might impart to you some of his precious wisdom.

If you’re inspired by someone who you can only see on TV or read about in history books, research on their bio. From a distance, you can emulate their persistence and discipline by the accounts you can get from various media.

Choose a mentor who listens attentively. The magic of a therapist is that they unburden your load as they listen to your thoughts. In the same way, you need a mentor who will react on what you say, give you very good advice and insights, and tell you when you’re wrong. Your mentor will not solve all your problems for you, but he can definitely help you sort things out.

You can look up to more than one mentor. You can admire different characteristics from different people. You just have to know how your choice of mentors can relate to you separately. No matter how much you know already, there’s still a lot to learn.