I was reading a psychological text in a textbook. I don't study psychology, but I chose to browse through a psychology textbook and came across a page that truly made me think. It was the information processing model, I know.
My initial thought was, How does this exist? But, as I began reading, I came across a highly complicated chart that detailed how information is processed and stored, as well as how humans use it. Now, I am no psychology expert because I have never studied it, but after studying literature for 5 years, the Aristotle in me couldn't help but wonder about the state of mind when we process information for the first time.
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And as I continued to ask myself, I kept returning to Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement speech, in which he states that "the heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again." So, when I sat and began connecting the dots, I discovered why we as humans cease growing. Just three reasons: jealousy, arrogance, and ego. We develop such attributes when we have made a significant accomplishment, and it is true.
Consider the film Legally Blonde. Vivian knew what to do when she went to Harvard; she had Warner and was doing well at the university.
And we have our lovely Elle. Who is stunningly gorgeous and personable, but has little knowledge of the legal profession. She's criticised and underestimated.
She goes to grab some books and begins to read, work hard, and better comprehend the legal system. But the most critical scene was when she had no notion, went to court and was still frowned upon, but proved Chutney guilty. How did she do that? Not only was she intelligent, but because she had no idea what to do in her sector, she persevered and worked hard. That is what a beginner does.
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In the end, Elle does exceptionally well in life. A beginner does not have ego, arrogance, or jealousy. They have no idea what they're doing or how they'll get it done.
They have no experience, so they make mistakes, but they continue to learn. I began practising an Indian classical dance called Bharatnatyam, and one of the primary poses throughout the entire dance was Aramandi, which is a half-squat position, but it was quite painful to sit in that position and dance; my quadriceps hurt a lot. Despite this, I continued to notice and study, watching hours of videos until I discovered the greatest approach to build my muscle strength and sit in it for extended periods.
Now, let's go back to our psychology textbook; a beginner will absorb more, research more, observe more, and thoroughly examine their work. They are aware that they will fail, but they will continue to work hard with no expectations and continue to develop their talents.
And this is why many authors and well-known philosophers believe that beginning over and battling is beneficial to growth. Unfortunately, after a certain amount of time, we decide that what we do is sufficient and that it is fine; we do not put out all of our efforts; we grow envious when someone else performs better; and we become egoistic or arrogant about what we have accomplished.
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It's a pretty common attitude, and because of that, it's accepted as normal. Consider Vivian to be the experienced individual, while Elle is new and inexperienced. Eventually, Elle did well.
Let's apply this to real life: Steve Jobs was fired from his own company, started afresh, and made a strong comeback. That is the power of starting from zero and progressing step by step. We struggle because we don't know, but that desire to learn is exactly what we need to develop those talents, and it's fine. Nobody is perfect, right? However, as we make those mistakes, we learn where we went wrong and what measures we should take next. We examine every aspect of our performance and use that information to grow and get better.
Starting over is not a phase; it is a mindset. And anybody who has written a success manual has given this advice. Struggles and mistakes just help us examine, interpret, and utilise the mistakes we made while carrying out the activity.
It is a process. However, as I already stated, it is killed by ego, arrogance and jealousy. Only three attitudes kill that section and put an end to our development. A growth mindset is "I am here to learn, not perfect," but a no-growth mindset is "I am the best and know everything." Understand the difference over time, and you will understand how this contributes to becoming a humble person.
Reality is, being a beginner, you don't take the stress of perfecting, but you want to enjoy the process; as an experienced individual, you want to keep that performance up, so you take a lot of stress that blurs our thinking and execution capacity; at the end, it's about enjoying each process and remembering that starting fresh is not a process, but a mindset that applies to any career, relationship, or endeavour you pursue.
