3 Principles of The Beginner’s Mind

When you think about starting something you’ve never done before, what comes to mind for you?

A feeling of uncertainty? Excitement? Fear?

All of these could be showing up for you, which makes sense. The beginning of any journey often brings a mix of these feelings. I also believe that these feelings hold immense value because of one word:

Humility. 

A beginner with humility has the chance to learn. This may seem obvious, but you often see an alternative “beginner’s mind.” In this alternative, the person does not stay humble and therefore cannot learn. They feel as though they need to posture and stay tough. They cling to a “nothing can hurt me” mentality.

While this may feel like a safeguard or armor against vulnerability, I believe a TRUE beginner’s mindset rests in humility. And that mindset is not only available to you at the beginning of your training journey, but forms a practice you can cultivate forever.  

[Challenges We All Face When Starting A New Hobby]

Digging deeper

Let me be clear: martial arts will demand that you find more of yourself. Meaning, you do not reach the 10-year mark in your journey and look in the mirror to see the same person.

You will change and become better in many ways. For some, that change will look like a relaxing of the ego. For others, it will help tap into their ego — an ability to push themselves beyond what they thought possible. It’s a complex road of growth, and no two people experience it the same way.

However, there is one throughline I believe we can all agree on: it’s better to stay humble than to assume you know everything.

Pride will get you stuck faster than any lack of talent, strength or experience ever could. So, we stay humble and keep a beginner’s mind. 

Here are the 3 principles to keep with you to help make sure of it:

1. Always assume that there are things you cannot see.

Humility fully forms when you admit that your view is limited. When you approach your time on the mats (and in life) with this attitude, everything starts to improve. This happens simply because you assume that there’s more to the map than what you currently understand.

A perfect example is when the professor shows a technique, and you try to implement it in training. It rarely works right away because the other person knows exactly what you’re trying to do. Even if they haven’t been taught a defense to the move, they instinctively recognize what you’re attempting and respond with what comes naturally.

With this principle in mind, your next step becomes problem-solving. You don’t assume the technique “doesn’t work.” Instead, you work to understand why it didn’t and how you can adjust. But the foundation of that problem-solving has to come first: the assumption that there will always be things you cannot see.

You can’t fix something if you refuse to admit you don’t fully understand it. 

2. Feedback is a gift, not an attack on you as a person

I used to have a real issue receiving feedback because it felt like failure to me. And failure felt final. Like I was playing a video game that wouldn’t let me respawn. You have one shot to try this, and that’s it. Miss, and it’s game over. That’s what feedback felt like to me. 

That type of thinking demands perfection. And the truth is, you’re just never going to be perfect — not in martial arts or anything else in your life. You might as well get comfortable with the feeling of not getting it right sometimes.

When you get feedback about something you’re doing wrong, that’s not failure. It simply means that someone cares enough to help you get better. That’s what feedback is: care.  

And that’s a gift. 

[Training Deliberately: Seeking Feedback To Hone Your Game] 

3. Be Willing To Look Uncool

Ever seen a 6’5” dude get out of the backseat of a small car? I have.

There’s no cool way to do it.

Have you ever met someone who is just… too cool for school? They won’t do anything that could potentially embarrass them or try something they might not be good at right away? 

If you want to get good at anything, avoid this type of insidious mindvirus behavior like the plague. Because guess what, my friend — you’re going to suck at first. That’s just the way it is. And even if you think you don’t suck? You probably do. You might as well take this third principle, put it on a post-it note and hang it on your bathroom mirror. Memorize it. In no world does anyone make it through this journey without looking like a fool once or twice.

When I first started Jiu Jitsu, I couldn’t even do the forward roll that we had to do in front of the entire class during warm-ups. I was forced very quickly to unlearn my be-cool-at-all-costs attitude and replace it with “I’m a beginner, and beginners know nothing.” I’ve decided to keep that mindset for life.

These three principles, when followed, help cultivate the beginner’s mind. Something that, when maintained in your practice of martial arts, will inevitably carry over into your daily life as well. What happens on the mats shows up in life, and what happens in life shows up on the mats. The faster we accept that, the faster we grow.

At the end of the day, belts don’t make you better. Time doesn’t automatically make you better. Talent alone doesn’t make you better.

Humility over time will.

Here’s to becoming a black belt beginner.