Fresh Year: Use a Beginner’s Mind to Approach Your Challenges
Do you remember when you started something new, entirely new? You wanted to get involved, and understand all the details. You were curious, eager to learn, and willing to make mistakes along the way into order to get better. Maybe you started a new hobby or exercise routine, something that you poured yourself into to feel as though you were knowledgeable or good at it. Why don’t we always apply that same process to our daily obstacles and challenges we face?
I know time is always a factor. It is for me. I am not suggesting that every small barrier we encounter we would spend hours of research and investigation into its resolution. However, there is a mindset that can be applied and used to approach some of those issues in a fresh way to help bring innovative solutions to daily problems.
What would it look like if we thought about our challenges or obstacles with a fresh set of eyes? Or if we applied that beginner’s mindset to some of the things we deal with routinely? Here is what we might gain by tacking problems from a new perspective. At the start of a new year (but really any time), this is a great time to try new things.
We learn
If you have a thirst for new ideas and getting new information, you may be a learner. I remember hearing about being a learner when I first completed the Gallup StengthFinders survey many years ago. They have a themethat ties the trait of having a constant interest in learning to a leadership strength. Most people have some interests that they want to learn more about. Learners have that feeling continually, and It's something that really gives them energy. Learning doesn’t have to be your passion to be beneficial as a leader. You’ll see in these next few steps of having a beginner’s mindset that learning can be the output of other behaviors that lead to new ideas.
We're curious
We may have heard that curiosity killed the cat when we were growing up. But, actually, curiosity is a tremendously beneficial trait, especially as a leader. Most of us have core interests that any time we hear something about them, we’re interested in hearing more. It could be a sports team, a favorite actor or writer, maybe it's a hobby like photography. We’re naturally drawn to information related to those subjects. However, you can have that same general curiosity about things happening in your business. A nagging ‘why’ question that always comes up as you are observing others and their actions, or you’re having a discussion with someone you work with.
Asking, ‘why is that happening that way?’ Or, ‘what made them decide on that approach?’ Those are curiosity questions that can learn to learning, process improvement, and expand your general experience of what is happening in your business and with your team. It is hard for me to be in a store, whether it’s one associated with my company or not, and resist asking myself, ‘how did they do that, or why are they doing it that way?’ It doesn’t matter whether the results are good or bad, I am just curious as to how it ended up the way it did.
We don't assume what is and isn’t possible
“That’s impossible.” Usually, that phrase is uttered by people who have never tried something in a new or different way. To them, based on a single point of view and possibly a limited experience set, they assume something cannot be done differently. People who are new to an environment and every child, especially young ones, don’t have this thought process. They are curious, they are interested in trying, so they act. You do not spend a lot of time tinkling about whether something is possible or not. What would happen if you started with an assumption that anything is possible, and it's an opportunity to discover how. You may find certain approaches will not work, but by leaving all your options open, a new solution may present itself more easily than you thought.
We don't have limiting beliefs to start
This is very similar to what is mentioned above, but tends to be a little more personal. We apply the possible/not possible thought process specifically to ourselves. ‘I could never do that.’ ‘I am not creative, that won’t work for me.’ ‘I don’t have time.’ Do any of those ring true for you? Those are limiting beliefs. You are holding yourself back. If we ask instead, ‘what would it take in order for that to be possible or true,’ we could approach our situations differently. It will not always end with the exact solution we thought about originally, but it likely opens the doors for a host of new possibilities.
Experience is a wonderful thing, until it's not. Sometimes, it can hold us back. We feel as though we have ‘been there, done that,' so we assume a new way of doing it is not really an option. Having a beginner's mindset with an interest to learn, be curious, and put no artificial barriers on the possibilities will open up new avenues of thinking and doing. Try it today on something that has been a challenge for some time, see if you approach it with that beginner's mindset if you can find new answers.
How can you apply a beginner’s mindset to one of the challenges you face?
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