The best mentors I’ve had did not change my life in a cinematic swoop. They held open small doors: a note to a stranger, a nudge toward a panel, a reminder to send my work while people still remembered the conversation.
flowchart LR
Invite */} Prepare */} Deliver */} Note
I keep a tiny kit: a template for introductions (short, polite, opt‑out obvious); a one‑page talk outline; a prewritten thanks. This kit lets me multiply small favors without turning them into a second job. The receipts add up faster than the speeches.
Anthony Bourdain wrote his gratitude into the record of every kitchen he visited. Jane Austen wrote hers into letters that rescued people from loneliness. Obama’s thanks were often public; Orwell’s were private and precise. The form doesn’t matter. The habit does.
Hold the door. Write the note. The rest takes care of itself.