Maintaining a Beginner’s Mindset – How & Why This is Important

When I first started dressage riding nearly 28 years ago now, I had absolutely zero previous experience with the skill.
 
I didn’t own a horse growing up and I wasn’t allowed to take riding lessons, so I had no reason to believe I would ever be even remotely decent at a difficult skill like riding, particularly because I started when I was an adult approaching her 30^th birthday.

Similarly, when I first started scuba diving a few years ago, I was very sceptical about learning this skill. 

Both experiences started out as extremely humbling and frustrating. I can’t tell you just how many times that I wanted to quit, to tell myself and others that I wasn’t a “natural” at either skill and move on to something else.

After all, no one but me would really care if I quit.

So why didn’t I?

Because I know that maintaining a beginner’s mindset in at least one area of my life is the best way to continue growing and progressing as an athlete and person in all areas of my life.

WHY KEEPING A BEGINNER’S MINDSET IS SO IMPORTANT

There’s no question that feeling like a beginner at something is a frustrating and often humbling experience. So why not just stick with the things you’re already good at?

Keeping a beginner’s mindset is helpful for lots of great reasons:
·         It helps you keep making progress. If you’re always staying open, curious, and looking for ways to improve, you’ll keep finding ways to make progress and avoid plateaus, no matter how advanced you get.
·         It helps you relate to others at different points in their fitness journeys. Remember when you couldn’t do a push up, pull up, or even a few burpees in a row without getting winded? I sure do.
 
Maintaining a beginner’s mindset helps you relate to others at different points in their own fitness journeys so you can help, inspire, or teach what you’ve learned in a non-judgmental manner.
·         It helps stave off boredom. If you already think you know everything about a particular skill or activity, you’re bound to get bored and want to move on to the next thing. Keeping a beginner’s mindset and always looking for new ways to challenge yourself within that skill will keep it endlessly interesting.
 
Continuously putting yourself through new challenging situations and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is the best way to keep growing and progressing, not only in fitness, but also in your personal and professional life.

LEARN FROM COACHES, TEACHERS, AND OTHER EXPERTS

Always seeking out new learning opportunities from other people more experienced than you is one of the best things you can do to keep making progress.
Unless you are the absolute best in the world in one area (which is unlikely to be the case, no matter how good you are), you can always learn something from others, as long as you stay open minded. And getting the chance to work with someone better and more experienced than you is one of the best opportunities you’ll ever have to grow and improve.

If you can’t work with someone directly (due to lack of money or access), one of the best things you can do is to find books written by experts on the subject.
This is how I’ve done much of my own learning and growing when I can’t work with the expert directly, and those countless hours of reading have been absolutely invaluable for me.

Read everything you can from people more knowledgeable than you, constantly seek out new learning opportunities, and you’ll improve by leaps and bounds.
This can be applied to anything in life that you’d like to take up and become better at:
For example -> photography, painting, creative writing, just to name a few.

TRY SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW 

One of the best ways to stay humble and curious in any area of your life is to try something you really are a total beginner at.
When I started spinning seriously last year, I’m not going to lie, it was extremely humbling.
Although I went into this particular fitness activity already fairly fit and strong (strength training workouts work, you guys!), I quickly learned that my stamina needed a lot of work as well as other areas to make it through the tougher spin classes.
Having that beginner perspective not only allowed me to appreciate how far I’ve come in my own fitness journey, but also helped me better relate to others who are at an earlier stage in their own journeys.
Trying something new can also spark more excitement in your training and might be the thing you need to get you out of a plateau or motivation funk.

TEACH WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED

Another great way to maintain a beginner’s mindset and keep a fresh perspective is to teach what you’ve learned to someone else.
Whether this means you’re teaching your child, niece or nephew to do squats or push ups, teaching will help you assume a beginner’s mindset by forcing you to break down the skill you’re trying to teach into manageable steps for beginners.
Another benefit of teaching is that it really forces you to look at every aspect of the skill so that you end up getting better as a result.

KEEP A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

If you really want to keep growing and improving, whether as an athlete, friend, entrepreneur, or even in your relationship, it’s imperative that you keep a beginner’s mindset throughout the process.
By seeking out new learning opportunities, trying new things, and teaching others what you’ve learned, you’ll be able to keep a fresh perspective and continue making progress for life.

“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” — Zen monk Shunryu Suzuki
 
My hope is that you start to implement some of the ideas, tips and strategies that I talk about and I would love to know which ones have been beneficial for you personally.

I would also like to invite you to become part of the Inspiration2grow community on Facebook.  The group name is: Inspiration2grow for Female Goal-getters.  It is meant to be a community of like-minded women who want to grow strong from the inside out.  There will be journalling prompts, nutrition and fitness tips, exercises to try, encouraging conversations among the community and lots more.  So, be sure to join this group for support, new ideas and the necessary rocket fuel to propel your health and wellness to new heights.

You owe it to yourself to take care of yourself, show up for yourself and become the best version of YOU.

In case you haven’t heard it yet today, let me be the first to tell you…

You are incredible, capable and your potential is limitless.  Never forget that I believe in you 100%.  Now, go out there and show the world what you are truly made of.

I hope to have inspired you to grow.

Keep smiling and keep shining!
 
Have a super powerful day!
 
Til next time,

Lisa xoxo