fooWare!

I recently watched an interview with Josh Waitzkin about his book “The Art of Learning”, and his explanation about “the beginner’s mind” really resonated with me, and I’ve become a real convert to this idea. The concept of putting yourself into the frame of mind of a novice, in order to put aside any bias in order to progress your understanding. The more I think of it, and the more I put it into practice, the more I find benefit in the proper application of the beginner’s mind.

The first time I was formally introduced to the concept was in relation to my martial arts training. During a seminar, I believe we were told “in order to learn, you need to be willing to make mistakes”. At the time, I probably thought I knew what that meant, but what I’m finding is that only recently is it really starting to fall into place. In recent training, I have been deconstructing techniques that I thought I knew, and approaching them with a fresh perspective.

I also connect this with another pursuit of mine, my training as a private pilot. When I was preparing for my checkride my instructor told me, “No matter what happens, you’ll come out of this checkride with a license. It will either be a white pilot’s license, or a pink license to learn.” I think from that point on, I looked at tests very different. A test is no longer the end point, but rather the beginning of the next phase of learning.

Now the question is, is there a difference between the “beginner’s mind” and an “open mind”. I think so, but feel free to comment with your thoughts. The distinction I draw is that a beginner’s mind is applied to free the mind of any preconceived notions in order to learn, whereas an open mind is one which has a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw from, but is open to all options in order to act.