There’s no doubt it feels good to be an expert.
People ask for your thoughts and deeply value your advice.
But there’s merit in constantly finding ways to be a beginner again. Being a beginner is uncomfortable and sometimes downright scary, but experience can make you stagnate.
This isn’t to say you should forever think of yourself as a newbie who sucks at whatever pursuit it may be.
But you should maintain that “beginner” mindset, even as you become an expert.
It’s a subtle difference, but an important one that brings plenty of benefits:
1. It Expands Your Comfort Zone
You know what they say. “Growth happens outside your comfort zone.”
And being a beginner can be uncomfortable.
I love golfing, so we’ll use that as an example.
If you’ve never golfed before, you might not know how to swing correctly. You might whiff a few times, smack giant chunks of the fairway out, let go of the club by accident, or whack the ball straight into the water when you finally connect.
Yeah, it’s embarrassing. Yeah, it’s not always fun.
But imagine the satisfaction and self-esteem boost when you finally finish a hole in a reasonable amount of swings. You just conquered another skill.
You’ve grown.
2. It Helps You Hone Your Existing Skills
Similar to the first point, seeking out opportunities to be a beginner keeps you teachable.
Once you get good at something, it’s easy to let the mindset of “I know it all” creep in. Nothing wrong with being proud of your accomplishments and abilities…
But the truth is, there’s always more to learn.
I mean, I’ve been trading for over a decade. I’ve made a fantastic living doing it.
But even I learn new things while trading.
And of course, that doesn’t include any of my hobbies and interests, whether old or brand new.
Keeping that beginner’s mindset helps you stay open to new ideas and perspectives — stuff you could apply to your existing skills to get even better.
3. You Take Mistakes in Stride
Mistakes happen. Things can go wrong — even if you’re an expert.
Staying in that beginner’s mindset helps you reframe errors or mishaps positively as learning experiences and stay enthusiastic despite setbacks.
For example, maybe you let your emotions get the best of you on a trade instead of following your plan. That position then takes a hit, and you lose some money.
You could get mad at yourself…
Or, with that “beginner” mindset, you could take it as a reminder that you’ve got to improve your ability to manage your emotions while trading. You reframe it positively as a learning experience.
4. It Makes Life Exciting
If you had a high-paying career, business, or just a giant sum of cash handed to you… I bet you’d get pretty bored.
Humans crave that struggle. They need new territory to conquer. It might not be fun in the moment, but you tend to look back at those learning experiences fondly.
And you can only get those if you’re always seeking ways to be a beginner and learn new things.
Once I figured out how to basically take money out of the market on command, trading got boring.
I mean, yeah, making money is cool — and boring trading tends to succeed — but it got predictable.
Meanwhile, my other hobbies, such as golf and archery, had fallen by the wayside a bit.
But that meant I had new things in my life to go after. To get better at. I could feel like a beginner again, even if I had plenty of experience with these activities growing up.
Oh, and learning new things makes you more interesting to others, too, if that matters to you.
So long story short…
Find ways to be a “beginner” in life, and always seek to learn more.
Semi-related:
If you’d like to learn about passively trading the energy market, joining my Big Energy Profits membership group is a great idea.
The thing is, I’m closing the doors permanently at the end of the month to focus all my efforts on helping my existing members make money.
You have until July 31st (Saturday) at 11:59 pm to get inside. You won’t be able to sign up afterward…
So click here to learn what BEP is all about and why you should join today.
I hope to see you inside.
Remember to always seek out new learning opportunities!