Years ago, I read this super cute little book called “Just Say Om!: Your Life’s Journey.” It was mainly a book on various meditations, and it also had some great advice I’d never thought of before: the idea of always being a beginner.
At first I though, how silly. Beginners aren’t good at what they do. Why would I want to stay a beginner? But it’s about keeping the positive attitude beginners have. The excitement to learn. The willingness to take risks, to fail, and to try again.
If it still doesn't make sense, try thinking of it this way: it can be dangerous to think of yourself as an expert.
At first I though, how silly. Beginners aren’t good at what they do. Why would I want to stay a beginner? But it’s about keeping the positive attitude beginners have. The excitement to learn. The willingness to take risks, to fail, and to try again.
If it still doesn't make sense, try thinking of it this way: it can be dangerous to think of yourself as an expert.
If you're "an expert" you're less likely to check your work over, or seek new information. You're limiting yourself to learning. I used to eat up every piece of writing info I could find. Whenever I saw a writing tip post, I would click. But after a while, I though, meh, I've seen them all already. Why keep looking? So I stopped for a bit, until it hit me that I might be missing out by thinking I know it all. Now, I also had somewhat of a bad habit of dinking around on the internet instead of writing, so clicking off those writing websites wasn't always a bad idea. But you know what I mean.
Experts can easily become overconfident, which can lead to bad writing. This is why they say you can't get away with an "exception to the rules" product until you're a huge success. I've seen some hugely popular traditionally published books that, when looked at critically, are terrible. If those were self-published, everyone would know how terrible they really are.
Once you're huge, you can get away with anything. You almost don't have to try anymore. Meanwhile, beginners are bringing all sorts of genius ideas to life, because they do have to try.
Now imagine how huge the already-successful author would be if they continued forward with a beginner's mindset.
I'm not saying you should always feel doubtful and never enjoy a confident day. Just feel a little better about your doubtful days, because it's part of learning. Stay excited about learning.
Also, I was super surprised to look up "Just Say Om!" and see it only has five reviews on Amazon. I haven't read it since I was a teenager, but I'd still recommend it.
Once you're huge, you can get away with anything. You almost don't have to try anymore. Meanwhile, beginners are bringing all sorts of genius ideas to life, because they do have to try.
Now imagine how huge the already-successful author would be if they continued forward with a beginner's mindset.
I'm not saying you should always feel doubtful and never enjoy a confident day. Just feel a little better about your doubtful days, because it's part of learning. Stay excited about learning.
Also, I was super surprised to look up "Just Say Om!" and see it only has five reviews on Amazon. I haven't read it since I was a teenager, but I'd still recommend it.
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