The mentor who answered your text at 10 p.m. wasn’t on the clock. Remember that when it’s your turn.

Nobody was paying for that reply. A coach, teacher or manager answering late at night is spending their own evening on you, outside any job description, usually because somebody once did it for them. It is easy to mistake that for part of the role. It is not, and noticing the difference is most of what gratitude is.

Say thanks for a specific instance rather than in general: name the night and what the answer let you do. Then keep it in mind, because in about ten years somebody your current age will text you. Answering is how that kind of debt gets paid, always forward.