Beginner's Mind

The phrase "beginner's mind" was made popular by the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki who wrote a book called, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. I'm sure many of you in this sub-forum are familiar with it. One of his well known quotes is, "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." This might just be another way of saying it's important to be adaptable.

This is an interesting concept, and one that applies to many areas of life, and possibly to internet marketing more than most. That's because the internet changes so rapidly that you have to constantly readjust your approach if you want to stay current.

I'm sure there are many people who are doing very well online who have stuck with the same system for a dozen years and are perfectly happy to have the "expert's mind." However, there's always the risk of not being prepared for the unexpected if you think you know it all. It's not that uncommon to hear about people in the financial world as well as online marketing whose empires crashed because they didn't adapt.

Having beginner's mind isn't the same as being a perpetual newbie though. It's more a matter of constantly acquiring knowledge and new skills, but always recognizing that there's much more to learn...and knowing that what you learned yesterday may not work tomorrow.

I think we're going to need beginner's mind more and more in the coming year, and not only online. Who knows where the world is headed in 2012 and beyond? Whatever happens, it will probably involve some big changes. During such times, it might serve you better to be a beginner than an expert or guru.