Concept of beginner's mind

The concept of beginner’s mind

The concept of a beginner’s mind is to approach things with openness, eagerness, and humility. A way to describe the effect of a beginner’s mind is: “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.”

When I am in a beginner’s mind

Cultivating a beginner’s mind in surfing comes very naturally to me. This is due to the mindset, the environment, and the conditions in which I place myself when I surf. The same thing happens when I am working on something difficult that is totally new to me in my work. However, when I need to repeat my learned expertise, I find it to feel more like work and less like play.

Why I am interested in this concept?

All the fun seems to be in the space where I am consciously incompetent, and I know I am a beginner. If I could somehow turn my thinking around the topic of repetitive work, into a playful mode, then I would my work at least 50% more.

Personal question: Who can tell me more about the concept of a ‘beginner’s mind’?

Follow-up question: Can you give me an example of how you apply a beginner’s mind in the comment? I also accept DMs if that’s too personal 😊

I’ll go first

Here’s a video of me last week on a shortboard. I am a blissful beginner on a shortboard and intermediate on a longboard. Looking at that video, I can list five things that I could improve, which I am looking forward to doing the next time around.

“Beginner’s mind”

While writing this, I noticed that I can see myself being ‘less open’ when I am on a longboard than on a shortboard. Maybe the second part of that sentence is a storyline which kills the beginner’s mind?

Because…I have more expectations of myself on a longboard, because ‘I should be good at this’. Perhaps that’s why surfing shortboards feels so refreshing at the moment.

What’s so hard about it?

Conundrum

The way I was taught from childhood is to become an expert in something. Most parents, teachers, and leaders approach students from an expert position, instead of approaching the subjects with a beginner’s mind so ‘we’ can learn together.

I am guilty of this behavior myself on topics I consider myself an expert in.

Expectations

I want to excel at something. Why else would I start, right? For me, when I start expecting a certain output for the effort, that’s when the feeling of play diminishes.

The best solution I’ve found so far is: Focus on the input instead of the output, which is really hard to do for me.

Mental model for a beginner’s mind

Mental models that help with a beginner’s mind: ‘The map is not the territory’, ‘Above the line’, ‘Knowledge paradox’.

Please let me know your thoughts on this subject ✌️

January 2024