ISSUE TWO: BEGINNER’S VS. MATURITY’S MINDSET

Recently,I’ve been thinking about the phrase beginner’s mindset, or rather, I am intuitively using it a lot right now in my client sessions (and obviously, with myself given the new expanded direction I’ve taken in the last year). But to be honest, I’m questioning the relevance of the term and maybe, I always have. Like… how do you have a beginner’s mindset when you’ve got years of professional experience behind you? How do you balance the need to balance midlife responsibilities with the time it takes to be a true beginner? Furthermore, is a beginner's mindset necessary in mid life or is it a fantasy or myth and why do we use it mid career?!
 

Let’s nerd out for a second - Beginner’s mindset is “the attitude of approaching something with a fresh perspective as if you were seeing it for the first time. It is a state of openness and curiosity, without any preconceived notions or expectations.” On the surface, perhaps makes sense, but practically speaking, that’s what I want to explore here.
 

Alright now, let’s take it back a bit - remember the twenty teens, also known as pre-COVID? That decade was informed by cheap (or free) capital and new marketplaces (digital & omnichannel) post great-recession. This era was one where a flood of creative entrepreneurs effortlessly—or so it seemed—hit it out of the park a la the rise of social media platforms that afforded everyone easy access to niche consumer/client bases near and far, low costs and often, serendipitous success setting us up for an attitude of instant gratification. In business speak, barriers to entry were drastically reduced for niche creatives eager to start their own businesses and market for nearly no expense. 
 

This has made for a rather large swath of my clientele not only having a false sense of unimpeachability, but also a tendency to presume every idea has legs and will reach unicorn dream level profitability in extremely short periods of time. Not to go overboard, but this expectation is due to their beginnings being attached to super serendipitous ‘perfect timing’ in a changing economic landscape - being early adopters of social media marketing and having minimal competition upon launch over a decade ago. 
 

Today isn’t that ‘perfect time’ anymore.We are in not only the post-COVID era, but the 21st century has finally settled in and ushered in a landscape vastly different from the prior. Every industry, niche or not, is oversaturated, over indexed and overwhelmed with a surplus of options at every price point. Post-COVID has reshaped industries, consumer behaviors, and market dynamics in unprecedented ways.There is a collective burnout felt by business owners and clients/consumers alike. Blargh right?
 

(Side note - This doesn’t even touch the effects of the global pandemic, preceding economic downturn paired with inflating costs, broadstroke social changes, shifting effects to globalization, [many a devastating] war etc. on industries, consumer behaviors and market dynamic.)
 

Ok, Ok, OK it’s time to circle back to the concept of beginners’ mindset and the period we’re in NOW. What I’m noticing is an expectation to achieve what was (maybe?) possibly before, maybe during the 20th century?? I’m definitely observing a great many creatives recalibrating, redirecting and even starting from scratch both inside and outside of my advising practice.


Times are changing and within my own client work, there can be a misconception that every initiative, concept or the likes is going to work right away and without the same amount of effort, attention and investment from the founder. More simply put - expectations of things working right away - even if someone has never done it before rears its ugly head more often than not, myself and my own endeavors included. But are these perspectives offbase? We can’t lean solely on prior success, inherent simpatico and the instant gratification of the prior decade to show us the way forward. That’s a kind of naiveté that seems offbase for said-experience professionals no?!
 

As creative entrepreneurs, we always face the challenge of maintaining a balance between confidence and humility, avoiding the pitfalls of shiny object syndrome, and navigating through this period with strategic foresight. Lawd knows, I’ve done my share of pivots…
 

I gotta tell ya, chasing every new idea—especially half assed and I know I’m being harsh here—can lead to burnout, empowers ADHD tendencies which many creatives deal with, and encourages shiny object syndrome. Unfortunately, this lack of focus, erratic strategic execution and resistance to following through and completing an idea/initiative is a barrier to what was once wanted so badly. This will have to be left for another newsletter, but there is a part of me that have observed an addictive tendency towards launching something new with my creative clientele, rather than getting off on what they once wanted and making it a well oiled, balanced and beautiful machine, Afterall - potential is sometimes far more adrenaline inducing than getting off on thoughtful and strategically running a healthy business no?! Lol/yikes
 

With the experience many creatives bring to a new venture, we should be able to see that not every new idea is an opportunity, nor should we believe that with our experience, we can easily make it work. We are not unimpeachable, nor is every creative, entrepreneurial pursuit we might think up. In fact, this distracts from strategic professionalism. Mature professionals, regardless of which industry, must recognize that not every idea is worth pursuing, and success requires sustained effort and dedication and deep commitment to planning and strategy. 
 

What I’m suggesting is that we rethink our approaches and carefully consider the new things we take on. We must harness the mature confidence of experience with the humility and determination of a beginner to successfully navigate the new collective and individual terrain we are in. And we should expect long learning curves when attempting new things (and not immediate, sustained profit) and strategically plan for it - no matter what stage of career you are in.
 

So… is a beginner's mindset more about the grit, tenacity, curiosity and courageousness to bite down on a dream and not let go? Perhaps. My argument is it should also come with a level of humility, patience, attention to detail, capacity for discomfort and an ability to set realistic, achievable goals and expectations as we go. To me, that’s a maturity mindset, no?

If these are the types of questions, or circumstances you are finding yourself working through - email me. 

#getwithit

gJ