Well, I have a miserable cold that just came on Sunday morning. Did that keep me from googling a Lowes, WalMart, Target and AC Moore all in close proximity to one another, and going out in the freezing rain to buy, return and try to find the last Christmas lights on any shelves in Northern NJ? No.
So today, I’m worse. I sound like Lauren Bacal. And my ears are ringing. Since I’m in bed, I’m catching up on knitting, reading and some email returning. One was a media form for Second Wind Entrepreneurs – and they asked “What was your biggest obstacle/mistake in changing careers?” This got me thinking. Arrogance, of a sort. My EQ is through the roof (she said modestly) so not social arrogance… but having been in marketing on major US brands for 20+ years I thought I knew a thing or two about marketing. For instance I knew you could not do anything with a mere million dollars. 
So today I was reading in Pam Slim’s excellent book: Escape from Cubicle Nation. I came across “Beginner’s mind”. This is exactly the advice and paradigm shift I needed several years ago.
Beginner’s mind is when you think, huh? You ask questions. You don’t think you already know what you know. You seek help and say things like “explain this to me like I’m a five year old.” Similarly, you don’t feel sad or frustrated to be starting over… You take the same pleasure a 5-yo would take in small victories.
Funny that I lost that concept along the way, because it is also a life lesson of Unpregnancy – my life coaching program for moms presented in the book Motherhood to Otherhood. When you open yourself to learning and not being an expert in anything, every process speeds up exponentially. When you’re the expert, and it all relies on YOU, in a SPOTLIGHT, with an AUDIENCE of HIGHER UPS AND POTENTIAL CLIENTS… every process slows down, gets mired in CYA and careful posturing.
When everything is new… curiosity is fun and engaging. It’s a wonderful time of year at home and at work to allow yourself the joy and speed of beginner’s mind. You don’t know what to expect – in a gift, in a year end review, in a lunch with a colleague. Allow yourself to have Beginner’s Mind.
Joy to your world.
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