This is From The Balance Beam

[TheBalanceBeam] - Cultivating a Beginner's Mind

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THE BALANCE BEAM
Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life that Works
Vol. 3 No. 9, August 10, 2002
Published by Success Builders, Inc.
http://www.SuccessBuildersInc.com
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"He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened."
Lao-tzu
In this issue: CULTIVATING A BEGINNER'S MIND
====================================================================== Dear Friends:
True confessions time: How open are you (really) to new ideas and new ways of looking at the world? All of us are products of our experiences, experiences that have molded what we believe, how we think, and what we view as right or wrong, good or bad. In this issue of The Balance Beam, I invite you to suspend all of that wisdom and explore the possibilities that exist in looking at life through beginner's eyes.

If you are interested in reading earlier editions of The Balance Beam, you can easily retrieve them by clicking on http://www.successbuildersinc.com/newsletter.html and going to the Archives section. If you are not yet a regular subscriber to The Balance Beam, you can also enter your subscription information at this location.
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Today's Topic: CULTIVATING A BEGINNER'S MIND

I recently had the experience of co-leading a series of coaching workshops for some senior level organizational development folks in a large global healthcare company. These are people for whom coaching executives internally is a major part of their job. Clearly not a group of beginners. As we set about designing the program, my colleague and I were excited about the fact that this would be an audience with which we could skip the basics and move directly into some more sophisticated material. We were soon to be reminded that this level of expertise can be a double-edged sword.

We live in a society that values mastery, especially in the workplace. And for good reason. Businesses that succeed are those that effectively manage knowledge and information to their competitive advantage. So it obviously pays to have people on board who know what they're doing, and who have a strong track record of doing it. We reward people who excel in their fields, and go to great lengths to preserve and retain intellectual capital. Being regarded as an expert is quite the ticket in the corporate arena.

There's just one problem. When you know it all, the opportunities for discovery can be few and far between.

There's a shadow side to having a particular expertise in that it has the potential to constrict our "possibilities" muscle. This shows up when we become overly attached to what we know. The openings for exploring new ideas and ways of looking at things become narrowed because we're so darned good at what we do. And the paradox is that mastery then becomes self-limiting as too much energy gets poured into thinking we have all the answers versus imagining what could be.

In this and most western cultures, we tend to have a linear notion of progress, such that we place the beginner and the expert at opposite ends of the spectrum from one another. Eastern societies typically have a different approach, in which the novice and the master share the same space and many of the same qualities, among them an open-mindedness, a natural curiosity, and a deep capacity for new learning.

There's an ancient Zen tale that tells the story of Nan-in, a Japanese master, who was visited by a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. As they chatted, Nan-in prepared tea to serve. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor became distracted by the overflow and interrupted the conversation. "Master," he said. "This cup is overfull. It cannot hold any more." To which Nan-in replied, "Like this cup, you are full of your own judgments, opinions, and expertise. How can I show you Zen until you first empty your cup?"

So how do we go about emptying the cup in an environment that rewards knowledge and proficiency? How do we create space for new possibilities to show up? Consider these ideas:

-Try cultivating a beginner's mind by occasionally parking your expertise. Yes, we're all impressed with degrees and credentials and track records and sophisticated knowledge and all of that. And sometimes it comes at the cost of the true wisdom of simple humanity...the "inner knowing" of that still small inner voice that we often neglect.

- Question the need to be right. There's often an unwritten expectation in the corporate arena that we should have all of the answers all of the time. What would it mean to say, "I have no earthly idea!" now and then and step into a place of wonder and possibility, vs. feeling compelled to always have a correct response?

- Risk appearing innocent and naive. Stepping aside from all that you know does not have to equate to political suicide. On the contrary, it can provide for a freshness of approach that can foster innovation and breakthrough problem solving.

- Balance telling with asking. Consider how often your language is characterized by judgments and declarative statements that reflect a mind made up. Simply shifting from a place of informing to one of asking questions, big or little, simple or provocative, can make a huge difference in promoting space for openness and new possibilities.

In his book, "Zen Mind/Beginner's Mind," author Shunryu Suzuki writes, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind, there are few." Be willing to suspend your expertise and play with those possibilities. You might just be astounded by the results.
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Words to live by:
"The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
- Charles DuBois

"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."
- Louis L'Amour

"An expert is a person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy."
- Steven Weinberg