Originally Published February 20th, 2019

Hey gang,

Just a few thoughts on having a beginner’s mindset.

What do I mean by that?

First let’s answer another question: What is the goal of a creative life?

To become famous? To put M’s in the bank?

Nah. I hope not.

The goal of creatives is to innovate, to push humanity forward, to continually grow and excel at our chosen craft. 

So with those goals in mind, if we are lucky enough to live to be 120, how do we stay excited about creating?

To Be Forever A Beginner. 

I think in order to maintain our excitement about creating—we must adopt a beginner’s mindset.

Think back to when you first started your craft.

What was it that drew you in—what excited you?

When I look back at when I first became interested in photography—I didn’t know anything about exposure, ISO, aperture etc.

I was just excited about learning how to take photos that had blurry backgrounds.

I wasn’t aware of the rules, the dogma, the limits, the oversaturated markets. 

I had nothing holding me back.

Because I wasn’t aware that it couldn’t be done, I was able to do it. —unknown

Beginners are lead by their curiosity. In order to grow—we must always be willing to wonder, search, & learn.

The minute you think you know everything is the minute you stop learning. 

Adopting a beginner’s mindset allows us to follow our curiosity, to ask questions, to explore new areas of our craft, to learn about other subjects that can be applied to our craft, to keep moving forward.

Knowing everything is overrated.

Yes, we want to master our craft, but life is about the journey not the destination.

Strive to be curious.

There is so much to learn—so much to be excited about.

Live your life with a beginner’s mindset.

I’ll leave you with another Steve Jobs quote.

Thanks for Reading.

-Tim

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. —Steve Jobs