one minute blog: beginner's mind

This is the One Minute Blog (OMB). An email of good stuff for you to think about over the weekend, that takes a minute to read.

Today’s word count: 472

It took me 1m 49s to read this.

I’ve got a confession: I just started taking piano lessons… 

At 36 years old….

With a teacher who primarily teaches 8-year-olds... 

That’s right. Just call me Billy Madison.

2 times a week, I sit my adult-sized ass on a tiny piano bench, sandwiched between lessons with "Emma" (age 7) and "Tyler" (age 9).

My teacher keeps gold star stickers on deck. Last week I got one for correctly playing "Ode To Joy" without looking at my hands.

I've never been prouder of anything in my entire life.

Why am I telling you this? Because there's magic in being a beginner again.

You see, most of us adults avoid being beginners at all costs. 

We hate looking stupid. We hate feeling incompetent. We hate that awkward phase where we suck at something.

So, we stick to what we're already good at. Safe. Comfortable. But boring as hell.

Here's the thing though… Beginner's Mind is a superpower.

As Naval says:

Let me tell you a quick story about Steve Martin. 

After decades of crushing it in stand up comedy and movies, Steve decided to try something different…music.

Steve had played the banjo since he was young, but writing songs was a whole new game for him. And he sucked at it. Bad. 

He’d write song after song, but nothing matched the brilliance of his comedy.

He was a beginner again. There was a huge gap between what he wanted to create and what he actually created. But he kept at it for years.

Then one day he read a book called "The Stuffed Owl" - a collection of hilariously BAD poetry.

This was Steve's lightbulb moment: "I'm going to just write some BAD poetry!"

So he did. In fact, it was TERRIBLE.

But then he had another thought: "This is awful poetry... but it might make some good country songs." 

(Spoiler: it did)

Steve turned his crappy poems into country songs. Those songs became an album. That album? It won a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album in 2010.

Steve went from “I suck at this” → “Grammy-winning artist”, all because he embraced the Beginner's Mind and gave himself permission to be bad. 

The Japanese call it "Shoshin" - approaching something with eagerness, openness, and zero preconceptions. 

Unfortunately - the older we get, the more walls we build around ourselves:

• "People will laugh at me"

• "I'll never be as good as [pro’s name]"

• "I'm too old to start that"

• "I don't have natural talent for this"

But what if (just what if) those walls are keeping all the good stuff out?

My challenge to you… embrace the Beginner’s Mind. Pick something you've always wanted to try but thought you'd be terrible at. Then be terrible at it.

(Now excuse me while I go practice "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for next week's lesson. I've got a gold star to earn.)

-Uncle Shaan

That’s all folks. Back again next week. Every Friday, with the One Minute Blog.  

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