Finally, after all this talk about expertise and becoming more expert, what lies beyond the expert? In an oddly circular way, the most sought-after thing you want to achieve after becoming an expert is...the beginner’s mind.
The professional kiss of death for an expert is to act like one. Once you believe in your own expertness, you close your mind to possibilities. You stop acting on curiosity. You may begin to resist change in your field for fear of losing authority on a subject you’ve spent so long mastering. Your own judgment and views, instead of supporting you, can imprison you.
I’ve seen a lot of this over the years. Folks invest heavily in some language, say, Java, or C++ before it. They get all the certifications; they memorize the fifteen lineal feet of books on the API and related tools. Then some new language comes around that lets them write programs much more concisely and more intuitively, test more thoroughly, achieve greater concurrency more easily, and so on. And they don’t want any part of it. They’ll spend more energy deriding the newcomer than in seriously evaluating it for their needs.
That’s not the kind of expert you want to become.
Instead, always keep a “beginner’s” mind. Ask “what if?” You want to emulate a child’s insatiable curiosity, full of wonder and amazement. [...]
Approach learning without preconceived notions, prior judgment, or a fixed viewpoint. See things exactly as they are—just as a child would.
Wow. This is cool. I wonder how it works? What is it?