Be A Lifelong Learner

Be curious. Seek out and take advantage of every opportunity to gain more knowledge.

There’s the word "Shoshin" (初心), which means "beginner’s mind", which is an open, receptive mental state of learning. Having a beginner’s mind means that no matter what you already know or how much experience you have, you show up with an open mind.

This means you:
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• Stay receptive and open, treating each idea as fresh.
• Review familiar ideas as if it were the first time you’d seen them.
• Let yourself struggle and make mistakes as you experiment and learn.
• Notice where your brain is taking shortcuts, skimming and/or dismissing ideas with “I already know all of this.”

When you have a beginner’s mind, this open, curious mindset will help you:
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• Learn more effectively and quickly.
• Connect better with others.
• See opportunities, solutions and possibilities more readily.
• Feel calm, comfortable and aware, even in difficult or uncertain situations (rather than anxious, embarrassed or frustrated).
• Accurately assess what is unfolding here and now.

​Another way to approach this is to think of yourself as a “line cook”. In a restaurant, a line cook is the foundation of food preparation.

They make sure ingredients are ready, recipes are made to specifications and the kitchen is clean and orderly. They follow a trusted process to create delicious food consistently.

They don’t (yet) have the experience, mastery or experimental freedom of the head chef, nor (yet) the vision and creative genius of the restaurateur. They can’t (yet) improvise or create their own culinary masterpieces from scratch.

Only after years of practice and following someone else’s recipes do they experiment with new ideas. Great cooks are confident in their own creations, but it’s only because they have mastered the fundamentals.

Being a great entrepreneur, a great investor, a great coach, a great teacher, a great athlete or what have you, is just like being a great chef—it takes a lot of practice. Not just months—years. Future mastery requires being willing to follow a recipe, a series of steps or formulas—all with a beginner’s mind—before riffing off new ideas.

No matter where you are in your journey, embrace a beginner’s mind, practice acting like a line cook and follow a trusted recipe.