It is good to be a Beginner
It is good to be a Beginner
It is also good to start over. Starting over is hard. Mainly it is hard because of our tendency to have a negative attitude. What do I mean by negative? Fearful, shame, embarrassment, fear of pain, fear of failure, fear of rejection and fear of mistakes. We should not be ashamed or afraid to begin or to begin again which is starting over.
It has been said that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert or master a skill. If you take out weekends and 2 weeks a year for vacation and work on a skill for 4 hours a day that would be 10 years! Wow ten years to become an expert! This is the main reason so many businesses fail within their first 5 years.
No wonder why we fail when we are learning a new language, starting a new business, starting a work out plan and changing our diet. It will take us 10 years to be an expert and that is if we are diligent to practice the skill for 4 hours a day!
If you have not mastered a skill that you are working on, you will always be a “beginner.†The reason you will always be a beginner is the simple fact that when you experience a progress you will be new at that level. To reach mastery level, you must be in a state of constant improvement. So after each progress you are a beginner achieving and learning at a new level.
If it is working out, you might grow from a work out of 100 reps in 30 minutes to 200 reps and it might mean that you are increasing 5 reps a week, constant growth and constant improvement.
Why do so many of us fail? First we have to define failure. One of the fatal fears is fear of failure. We think that we always have to win in order not to fail. We think that someone else has to lose for us to win. We need to redefine losing and failure. We need to redefine winning and redefine what the game is or what our race is or what we actually want to accomplish.
If your goal is to lose 30 pounds in 1 day and you don’t do it, then you are a failure and you lose. Now change your goal to be healthier. And you consult a nutritionist and a fitness instructor. They tell you that you need to lose 50 pounds within a year. Then they give you an awesome work out plan and an awesome meal plan that includes, fruits and vegetables and lean meats. If you only lose 20 pounds in that year are you a loser? I say no. Your goal is to be healthier and you are.
If your goal is to learn a new language and you learn 400 words and give up are you a loser? I say no. If you start back up again you don’t lose. If you give up you lose. It takes 1000 words to be able to speak broken Spanish. It takes 3000 words to speak fluent Spanish. It takes 10,000 words to be a teacher in Spanish. It takes 10 years to master Spanish if you practice and speak it 4 hours a day.
Whether it is working out, eating healthy, losing weight or learning a new language it will take you 10 years to master it. That is on the condition that you practice and improve your efforts an average of 4 hours a day.
Our main pitfall is that we have an unreal expectation of what and when success looks like. Don’t expect to lose 50 pounds right away. Don’t expect to master yoga in 4 months. Don’t expect to learn a new language in 4 months. Don’t become defeated if you return back to your old eating habits.
Fear of mistakes, fear of pain, fear of rejection and fear of failure paralyze us and hinder us from starting over and being in the constant beginner’s state. People say they get “burned out.†I don’t like that term but I think I understand what they mean. You start to learn a new skill, get all excited learn a lot and then for whatever reason you stop for a time. It is painful to start again. You have to learn some things over again. You are ashamed that you gave up. You think about how much better you would be at it right now if you hadn’t given up.
The addict sober for 10 years and then falls realizes that they are now sober for 1 day! They are ashamed, they enjoyed saying 10 years. Now they must start over again and say 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 1 year. 1 day at a time. They are a winner when they start over! We have to fight the good fight of faith and that means fighting fear and negative self-talk and negative condemnation. If you have consistently worked out and had a good diet but consistently back slid and missed work outs for months at a time and eaten poorly but started again, you are a winner!
It is the journey that makes you a winner. It is the constant starting over and never quitting that makes you a winner. It is the putting aside shame and saying to yourself “I will start again†that makes you a winner. It is picking up that language book and relearning those 400 words and then new words that make you a winner.
Your brain receives brain food with every word you learn. Your brain and your body receive new benefits every time you go back to the gym and start over. Yes it’s painful! But pain is temporary. Yes you made a mistake by stopping the progress. Learn from the mistake and you’re a winner. Yes you failed at the progress. Start and begin again and you are a winner. Don’t compare yourself to someone else that has succeeded in what you have failed at. Don’t feel rejected. You are not running their race. You are running your race. Start now and win!
Press on and begin again. If you have never started, start today! If you have stopped or stalled begin again today! Do not be ashamed. Do not accept defeat. Do not call yourself a failure. You are created to win, so win! You are created to be a king and a queen on this planet, so reign! Start over. Start again. Begin and restart today!