Amateur: Be New
Modern culture conditions us to expect fast results. Real skills take time to develop.
Set a timer for 60 minutes. Draw the worst painting of your cat/house/face possible. Use crayons. Use your non-dominant hand. The goal is not to make good art; the goal is to remember what it feels like to be untrained. The anxiety you feel is the "amateur be new" friction. Lean into it.
Furthermore, learning new skills stimulates neuroplasticity. The act of struggling to coordinate your fingers on a ukulele, or to memorize a few phrases of Mandarin, forces your brain to forge new connections between neurons. This not only makes you better at that specific skill, but it also increases your cognitive reserve —your brain’s overall resilience against aging and mental fatigue. amateur be new
When you are new to an activity—whether it is painting, coding, gardening, or playing an instrument—you bring a unique perspective. You aren't constrained by "the way it’s always been done."
What do you prefer? (e.g., highly academic, conversational, motivational) Share public link Modern culture conditions us to expect fast results
Zen Buddhism has a beautiful concept: shoshin , or “beginner’s mind.” Shunryu Suzuki famously wrote, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” The amateur approaches every task as if for the first time. They don’t assume they know the “right” way. They ask naive questions that pierce through conventional wisdom.
When you are an expert, the stakes are high. You have a reputation to maintain, clients to please, or an audience to satisfy. This pressure can lead to risk aversion. Experts often stick to what is safe and proven because the cost of failure is too high. Permission to Fail Draw the worst painting of your cat/house/face possible
When you feel embarrassed for being bad at something, remember the Latin root. You are doing this because you love the process, not because you need to win. The lover persists. The fighter quits when they lose.
