How do I keep a beginner's mindset?

One of the best things we can do to drive progress and innovation is continue to operate from a beginner's mindset.

Yes, there's times when expertise and experience and deep wisdom have a role to play, but the ability to approach thing's from a beginner's mindset it a game changer.

Two things recently have really helped me engage in life from this pure perspective: yoga and spending time with kids.

I've been taking multiple yoga classes a week for almost 3 years now, and yet I still feel like a complete noob every time I hit the mat. Perhaps an outsider might be confused as to how, after hundreds of yoga class with some amazing teachers, I can still be humbled and feel like I know nothing. It's part of a discovery process where poses and positions only truly reveal themselves after so much practice and iteration.

A similar thing happens when I spend time with my niece and nephew and friends' kids expect its more of a re-discovery. As long as I can remember, kids have always loved me, and I think I can finally articulate why. I think it comes from the deep empathy that allows me to try to understand the world from their perspective and see the world through their eyes. I ask kids so many questions to help me remember what the universe looked liked when I was young.

I went for a long walk in the woods with my niece and nephew this past weekend by my parents house where I grew up. I've spent hundreds of hours in those woods as a kid and yet this weekend, we discovered things I've never seen before. It was quite an adventure. For all of us.

---

When it comes to innovation, the best new ideas and breakthroughs are almost never coming from the people who think they know it all and have nothing left to learn. It's coming from the folks who, no matter how much they know, are still able to start with a blank sheet of paper and an unlimited repertoire of what's possible.

This ties back into my favorite question of "What if?" A beginner is always asking what if. What if I could do that arm balance or connect that binding on the yoga mat? What if I didn't assume I knew all of the secrets treasures of the woods I grew up in? What if we didn't do things the way they've always been done?

When it comes to truly innovative and game-changing products and solutions, the ever-curious mindset of the beginner is far superior to those who believe they already know all of the answers.

Where the hell is the gift?

Everything is a gift.

This is a core belief that has been instilled in me over and over again for many years. We have an opportunity to find a gift in each and every situation that presents itself to us. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of it.

“Everything is a gift of the universe – even joy, anger, jealously, frustration, or separateness. Everything is perfect either for our growth or our enjoyment.” -- Ken Keyes Jr.

I'll be the first to admit. It's not always easy to find the gift. It may be buried deep or may take years to reveal itself.

Sometimes it takes an external perspective or coaching to help reveal the gift. It's a line of questioning I refer back to frequently. If this less-than-desirable thing has happened, will happen or must happen, so be it, but where is the gift in it? What can we learn from this? How can we leverage it in the future? What has it revealed to us that we were previously unaware of? How have we grown or changed in response to it?

On a conversation this morning, I've witnessed this scarcity-to-abundance flip unlock a new idea that could turn a loss into a massive win for everyone involved. It was a shift that took place in only a few minutes and yet could have far reaching positive implications.

Some of the best and most unique innovations in recent memory have come as a pivot when one thing seemingly didn't work but it opened up the possibility for something far, far greater than previously imaginable. Interestingly if I was a professional investor, I would definitely figure out how to filter for this mindset in the entrepreneurs I was investing in.

You can't force a gift to reveal itself, but we sure can do our best to be open for when it does.

But for real, what should I do?

Yesterday, I wrote my shortest post yet (with moderate levels of snark).

If we accept that we must not do our shoulds, how can we best spend that "should" time instead?

Pick a hobby that brings you a lot of joy. Or spend time cultivating a new hobby.

I found this amazing study about Nobel Prize winning scientists. Here's what it found:

"Studies have found that Nobel Prize-winning scientists are about 25 times more likely to sing, dance or act than the average scientist.

They are 17 times more likely to create visual art.

They are 12 times more likely to write poetry.

They are 4 times more likely to be a musician."

There are many theories why the creative arts allow us to be more successful at whatever it is we are doing. My favorite is the cross pollination theory which says that the ideas in one field can lead to inspiration and innovations in other areas.

When we are hyper diligent about our time and eliminate the shoulds, we have the opportunity to do more of things that bring us joy. And as a wonderful bonus, it actually makes us better at everything else.

How can I think differently?

It's so easy to get caught up in my own bubble. It's comfortable there. It's known and certain. And it's also very dangerous.

I was in my own bubble for most of my two years in San Francisco: the environment, the people, the conversations and information, my own schedule and routines. All of it. And even when I recognized it, I didn't really do very much to change it.

If we want to think differently, we have to get out of our own little bubbles that we've created. We have to change things up.

To change how we think, we can:

• Stop reading what everyone else is reading (Twitter, books, news, blogs)
• Stop listening to what everyone else is listening to (Music, podcasts, keynotes, thought leaders)
• Stop watching what everyone else is watching (Netflix, TV, Sports, Instagram, YouTube)
• Stop going where everyone else is going (popular coffee shops, social clubs, networking events, Napa, Tahoe, Hamptons)

I didn't say it was going to be easy and I didn't say you were going to like it. But if you want to think differently, change up your damn patterns.

Walk a different way to the office. Start listening to a totally new genre of music or podcast. Pick up a hobby that seems weird. Get lost in the woods. Make new friends way out of your age range and with very different upbringings. Read some early 19th century transcendentalism even though you despised it in high school. It all works.

If we want to think differently and unlock new levels of innovation, we have to mix it up.

What if we were more supportive of each other?

I think about this concept a lot. Like, a lot a lot.

From where I sit, the most important thing we can do to help create a more beautiful world is to support the things we believe in.

I try to be extremely conscious of every dollar I spend to ensure it is going to things I believe in. I briefly wrote about this in another lifetime: Intentional Currency Flow.

Intentional currency flow and conscious spending is one of oh-so-many ways to be supportive.

The path of the Creator is seldom an easy journey that is always up-and-to-the-right explosive growth. There are many battles, struggles, obstacles and roadblocks behind the scenes that go unnoticed.

This is a call for more compassion, more support, more love for the things we want to exist in the world. If we see someone doing something that we believe in:

• Let them know you believe in them and what they are building
• Buy their product or financially support their vision
• Ask them questions to learn more of their story
• Refer a friend or make a connection for them to someone that they should meet
• Send them a random message to let them know that you are thinking about them
• Share their message on social media or with friends and family

There's so many ways we can be more support of those taking bold leaps to bring their creations into existence. Sometimes a few nice worlds will mean more than you'll ever know.

I had two opportunties today to support people building things I believe in, and it made me more aware of how a little bit can go a long way.

When we support more of the things we want to see in the world, their chance of survival increases. That leads to better products, services and innovation in the marketplace. Whether you are the creator or supporting the creators or both, remember that we are all in this together and we have the ability, moment to moment, to make things just a little better than they were.