Beginner's mind
Hit the reset button on your brain.
The beaten path is safe, but it’s often boring and doesn’t really make you a leader or an innovator. It won’t promote exponential growth and always leads to the same place. Is there another way to achieve what you’re looking to find at the end of the path? Or, is there another ultimate goal that makes more sense for you or your business? Do you need to step back and re-examine your assumptions and pre-existing ideas of success?
This is not as easy as it sounds; we all have countless and different experiences, we are tainted with how things have been done before, and we come to most situations with assumptions. Assumptions are like kryptonite in the creative world, and traditional design thinking models1 encourage challenging assumptions.
How can we erase or unlearn things that hinder our ability to be better problem solvers, designers, creatives, or business leaders?
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.
—Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
You’ve probably heard of the Zen Buddhist concept of “beginner’s mind” (Shoshin). It’s a philosophy for approaching life with an open mind, free of preconceived notions. I’ve used this concept (often accidentally 😅) to approach many things in my life.
Society has taught us that the more experienced and knowledgeable we are at something, the better we are, but don’t confuse beginner’s mind with inexperience. Rather, it’s wiping the slate clean, stripping away anything that predisposes you to judgment or influence.
Whenever I begin working with a new client, I’m naturally coming from a place of not knowing much about their business. But I take it a step further and try to look at all the possible options and opportunities that could be. I make sure to ask questions and challenge ideas. Combined with confidence and scrappiness, beginner’s mind is my secret sauce.2
While there’s always a time and place to draw from experience or formal training, there are many benefits to employing a beginner’s mind, too. It is not, however, always so easy to shake free from opinions, context, or prejudgement. In fact, it gets harder as we age.
Rick Rubin has an entire chapter on beginner’s mind in his new book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, which I highly recommend.3
He says beginner’s mind is “one of the most difficult states of being to dwell in for an artist precisely because it involves letting go of what our experiences have taught us. Beginner’s mind is starting from a pure child-like place of not-knowing… Any preconceived and accepted conventions limit what’s possible. We tend to believe the more we know the more clearly we can see the possibilities available. This is not the case. The impossible only becomes accessible when experience has not taught us limits.”
Some ways to reach beginner’s mind
I’m told yoga and meditation are great tools that can help you practice beginner’s mind, but I’m not very good at either one of those. Luckily, I’ve been able to achieve beginner’s mind by practicing the following:
Bring in an outsider. If you’re having trouble with unlearning habits or creating a blank slate with yourself or your existing team, another way to apply beginner’s mind would be to bring colleagues from other departments into the mix (or trusted friends or peers). Because your team members are too close to the situation, an outsider may ask questions that your team hasn’t considered.
Listen deeply. Sometimes it’s enough to hear someone else’s perspective. When in conversation, we’re usually waiting for our turn to speak, but James Clear says that he likes to “stay quiet and pour all of my energy into listening to someone else.” Try practicing this next time you’re chatting with a colleague.
Ask questions and explore your own curiosity. Try to take one step back and see if you can discover your preconceived or ingrained assumptions.
Ask “why” or “and then what”? Asking existential questions about the nature of problems and possible solutions might seem odd, but when you have to answer these questions, it can lead to the root of your judgements or assumptions. You can even go so far as to pretend you’re an alien from another planet observing or learning about something for the first time.4
You’ve probably heard of the artist’s struggle with a blank canvas. Personally, I despise a blank canvas—I find it both intimidating and paralyzing. I’ve developed some methods to push through that, which I’ll share in a future article.
Exercise: Close your eyes and picture a blank canvas. Did you imagine a white rectangle or square? Most people will. Now, take a step back and ask yourself why you think a blank canvas would be both white and have four corners. Why wasn’t it a linen-colored circle? A black hexagon? A piece of cardboard? A concrete wall? A lump of clay? A fresh notebook? Likely because 1) your belief is that a blank canvas is for painting, and paintings have largely been rectangular and 2) we mostly see blank canvases as made of white canvas. How can you redefine or reexamine the blank canvas? Here, you see how you can be easily and unknowingly affected by assumptions that could lead to limitation.5
Become a beginner at something new. Try learning a new skill or discipline and watch what kinds of questions you start to ask as you progress. What do you need to know to get to the next step? Take note of what’s intuitive and what isn’t, and how you might teach someone else what you’ve just learned.
I teach myself something new at least every year. This past year, I learned how to weave. The year before, I learned a new software program that led me to an artistic breakthrough. All of these new tools have helped me push my artwork to new levels.
This year, it’s writing—again. It’s been a long time since I’ve put this many words down, and it has been scary but good. So, maybe we can practice beginner’s mind together?
Let’s talk more about secret sauces in the future! I am full of food analogies 🙃
I plan to re-read this book every year as a reminder to myself—it’s that good.
Design thinking can be incredibly helpful but also has some problems.
👽
If you pictured something other than a white rectangle, let me know what it was in the comments!
This came at a time I needed. Thank you