“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, but in the expert’s mind there are few. ”
– Shunryu Suzuki
This week I want to direct your attention to an excellent article by James Clear in which he outlines the concept of the “Beginner’s Mind,” known in Zen Buddhism as shoshin. Beginner’s Mind refers to the idea of letting go of your preconceptions and adopting an attitude of openness when studying any subject – regardless of your experience level with that subject.
I was recently reminded of this concept when I traded tweets with Lucas Walker.
Lucas does multimedia work for John Barrows (a well-known sales trainer in the Boston area) and has a side-hustle with a dog food / toy company. He is not a marketer, at least not in any traditional sense of the word.
Despite not being a marketer himself, he was able to tear down my tweet and figure out more than most marketers ever can.
Here was my message:
And here’s what Lucas was able to see in that one tweet:
And my response:
(Here’s that video if you missed it.)
So why did Lucas see what most professional marketers cannot? “Professionals” tend to get lost in the process and execution (last week I wrote about process killing productivity). So much so that they forget to look at things in new ways.
Maybe Lucas is a marketing savant or maybe he brought a beginner’s mind and outlook to evaluate this one tweet to see what others cannot. Beginner’s mind is powerful and worth incorporating into your daily habits.
Want more on the Beginner’s Mind? We’re digging deeper into the concept on Seeking Wisdom this week. You can subscribe here to get the episode when it drops Monday.
Have a great weekend.
– DC
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