Where and how can I find a life coach or mentor at age 34 to become?
The trick isn't finding one; it is getting one to take you on as a protege. My wife once pointed out that my life was full of mentors. Not just Luis Alvarez, but many others. Why was it that such great people put extra effort into helping me? She was aware of this, because in her career, she never had a single mentor, despite being surrounded by many great architects. I don't understand why, but as a mentor myself, I sometimes come across people who seem very desirous of learning from me. They put such learning above their own immediate advancement. I find such people wonderful to help, and very psychologically rewarding. It makes me think of the time that I was a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley, a temporary position in which my salary from year to year was not assured. I got an offer to be a faculty member at Harvard. Luis Alvarez strongly urged me to accept the position. After much self examination, I declined. I explained to Alvarez, and to my wife, that I wasn't ready to "prove" myself; I was learning at an incredible rate by continuing to work with Alvarez, and I did not want to give that up. Alvarez did understand. He made an analogy to tricycles and bicycles. Tricycles are stable; that was the position at Harvard. But nobody sets speed records on tricycles. Bicycles are unstable; they will fall over if you ever stop. But if you are willing to put up with a degree of insecurity, then you can go fast and far. My feeling is that we are all surrounded by potential mentors. If you show that you really want to learn from someone, and put that learning above your own immediate short-term interests (higher salary; promotions; increased security) then you can trigger their instinct to want to have a student. When you pass on what you know to someone else, you are enjoying a kind of immortality, and that is wonderful.