Is your mentor a tutorial or a compass?

Whether in a professional or an educational setting, a mentor serves as a compass rather than a map, offering you pointers while trusting you to find your own path. 

They don't give you a complete "how-to" manual with outlined steps. 

Instead, they share principles, ask probing questions, and help you develop your own processes that would allow you to navigate challenges independently. 

This builds capability rather than dependency. You learn to think critically and solve problems on your own terms rather than using someone else's formula that might not be the best fit for your goals.
The power of mentorship lies in its restraint. When a mentor resists the urge to provide all the answers, they allow you to struggle forward, make mistakes, and discover solutions that are very personal. 

They might share their own experience, give you frameworks to consider and try out.

They also challenge your assumption, but they don't dictate what you should do. 

It helps develop your intuition and confidence in ways that full-fledged tutorials are incapable to do, because you're actively "doing" rather than passively consuming theoretical instructions.
Good mentorship strengthens the belief in your capacity to figure things out. A mentor offers just enough guidance to prevent you from getting lost. 

The goal is to help you cultivate your own wisdom, guided by their insights and occasional guiding remarks.