“Only mediocre people are always at their best.”
– W. Somerset Maugham
That quote says a lot. Unfortunately, I resemble that remark all too often. Too many times I approach the situation as an expert. I assume I already know it. The truth though, is that I don’t know everything. I just need to admit it to myself. I need to have a beginner’s mindset.
If we always assume we’re at our best, there’s no room for growth. And if we’re not growing, we’re coasting. And as everyone knows, if we’re coasting, then we must be going downhill.
The antidote is to have a beginner’s mindset. With a beginner’s mindset, we approach the situation as if we know very little – as a beginner. We hold the belief that there are still things for us to learn.
A beginner’s mindset is easy to take on when we’re doing something for the first time. We obviously need to learn. It’s our first time through. However, it’s more difficult for those of us who have “been around the block” a few times. We think we’ve been through it, so there’s nothing new for us to learn.
Probably though, there’s still more growth for us, but now we’re just stuck. In this case we will likely need to unlearn some things we’ve already learned. Unfortunately, unlearning is twice as hard as learning. Yet, if we don’t unlearn, we will stay stuck in this area. To unlearn, we need the beginner’s mindset.
In summary, if we are going to change our life so we can better pursue our calling, we can’t assume we know everything. We need to approach more situations with a beginner’s mindset. And we may even need to unlearn some things we already know.
What about you? Have you had to unlearn some things in you life? If so, tell us about it.
