Do you have a Personal Advisory Board?
Your Personal Advisory Board is a small cluster of people that you trust to give you wise(ish) counsel at important moments in your life. This is also sometimes called a personal Board of Directors. You could have this be a formalized group, with whom you meet collectively as needed, but the general idea is that you have a few people to call on for advice, or as a sounding board as your make your way through life’s tough decisions. They do not have the power to tell you what to do, but they do have the influence to make suggestions in ways that random people on the internet cannot (or should not).
Your board comprises the people who read over your resume/cover letter before you apply to a new job, or who you talk through a conflict at work with before you decide how best to address it. Other responsibilities include providing honest answers to questions beginning with: "Am I crazy if...." and talking you into (or out of) major life choices.
Here are some ideas for who might sit on your personal advisory board (categories may overlap, you might have more than one of any of these):
1. A parent/aunt/uncle/etc. i.e. somebody older than you who knows you and your temperament well
2. A bestie/sibling/cousin/etc - somebody around your age who knows you pretty well and also understands your generation-specific angst
3. A colleague at your education level, but not in your field, i.e. someone who understands the type of demand required by your work, but can help you sift out the job-related jargon and get to the point.
4. A friend or colleague in your field - someone who understands your life and can give you advice on things as an insider
5. Someone in your field who is a few steps ahead of you - somebody just far enough ahead to help you wade through the bullshit, but not so far beyond you that they've forgotten how bad it smells.
6. Someone who is a leader that you admire - a person who has seen and heard almost everything, and is rooms that you don’t even know exist yet. This is someone that you look to to remind you what’s possible
