Beginnering doesn't mean being a novice. It means approaching your work as though you are a novice. It's about being at peace with not knowing everything, with accepting interim failure as part of ultimate success. It's an attitude that frees you from the shackles of perfectionism and allows you to see more possibilities, build skills faster and learn more deeply because you've decided to let go of your natural inclination to try to look like a pro and go ahead and let yourself suck.

The process can be best described as DO IT FIRST, FIGURE IT OUT SECOND, which means begin without knowing how and learn how by doing.

The goal as you progress from novice to journeyman to expert is to retain your beginner mentality so your learning is always engaged, fun and sticky.

HOW MOST PEOPLE TRY TO GET GOOD AT THINGS:

Read social cues or follow directions to determine what should be done.

Enroll in a class where an expert shows you their solutions to some pre-solved problems.

Graduate from the class, not because you've mastered anything but, because the class is over.

Try applying those neat, cookie-cutter solutions to your own weirdly shaped problems.

Hit obstacles you didn't anticipate.

Read the difficulty as proof that you suck.

Hide your shame.

Get stuck.

Take a "break" (and never return).

HOW TO BEGINNER:

Decide what you want.

Commit to getting it done.

Decide what piece you're ready to do, now.

Start doing it.

Hit an obstacle you didn't anticipate.

Accept that obstacles are part of the process.

Shrug at the silly ways you get things wrong.

Stay in it until you find your way through, over, around it.

Celebrate your awesomeness.

Repeat.