Success Mindset: How To Be A Beginner

Oct 5

Practice is hard for me - if I'm not naturally good at something, I just don't want to do it. Sitting with the discomfort of not being the best at whatever it is, or with knowing I don't know the first clue about whatever is really, really irritating.

I'm so Type A it's almost not even funny. I want to know how to do it (anything...all the things) the right way and I'll do it myself thank you very much.

If you’re familiar with the Strengths Finder personality test, my #1 strength is Competition. I don’t even remember strengths 2 and 3 for me because they didn’t win the test. I hope you didn’t miss the irony there. That’s how serious I am about being the best.

I’m watching my young daughter exhibit this same mindset and it’s clear that by helping her work through new things, I’m also teaching myself how to do the same…

…funny how that happens with children.

I’m not afraid of doing something new, however, and I don’t fear change - quite the opposite in fact.

I mean…how many people do you know that have gone from being a Senior Special Agent, to the social media manager for a worldwide metal band, to running a successful Pinterest marketing agency and becoming a business mentor?

My money is on zero.

If I determine I need to make a change, it's usually a big one and I jump in with both feet and figure it the ‘eff out. If I need to make a change in my business? Ok, pivot time, let's do it.

But personal changes such as lifestyle, relationships, and/or emotional? Eek.

I’ve had my share of true beginner experiences that have forced me to just. deal. with. it. and sit in my own discomfort.

When you read through this list, I hope you find yourself and some of your own experiences in them - then we’re going to talk about how to use the experience of moving through being a beginner to help you in your online business.

My biggest beginner experiences:

In no particular order…

Learning to take care of my finances.
Learning how to drive a stick shift.
Learning how to be a runner.
Training for a triathlon.
Learning to boulder and rock climb.
Meditation.
Not putting others’ feelings above my own (constant work in progress).
Becoming a mom (← biggest “I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing” experience ever).
Becoming a mom of two (oh you thought you had this down? Yeah not so much, no).
Designing and building a website for the first time (after I told the drummer for Iron Maiden and his project partners I could).
Graphic design.
Learning to paint with watercolors.
Learning to eat and cook in a way that heals my body instead of punishing her.

These are the ones that stick out to me, and they cross over personal, business, and life skills.

Some are still a work in progress, while some were abandoned after achieving my goal.

But all of them are experiences that have added positively to my experience of life and I’m glad I stuck with them.

Best Tips to Be a Successful Beginner:

Celebrate Step 1

I was more excited to run a mile without stopping for the first time in my adult life than I was when I finished an Olympic distance triathlon. It was a thrilling glimpse into what I could achieve if I didn’t give up.

You’ll have more fun focusing on the next small step, than looking at how far you have to go to achieve a skill level you want in the future.

This tip isn’t about building a habit, but celebrating something you’ve never done before. That could be the first time you meditate for 15 minutes, or the first blog you publish, or the first podcast interview you land.

You’ll want to replicate that feeling of accomplishment, and you’ll discover the habits and actions you needed to take to achieve that first step and do it again.

Build your confidence bit by bit

When your skills or confidence start to get wobbly, go back to the basics and get some quick wins again.

I learned this tip when I was learning how to rock climb and was having a difficult time not giving up when trying harder climbs. When I’d get frustrated and my muscles were strained to failure, I’d take a break and go do some easy climbs to regain my surefootedness and confidence.

It was a reminder that I was not at square one, I HAD built my skills, and I COULD get better (if I didn’t give up).

Everyone has times when they let go of routines and habits they know they need for a fulfilled and healthy life.

If you’re not quite where you want to be with a new skill or habit and it’s causing you to just drop it, go back a step to when you were successful at it and practice some more.

Get a coach or mentor

There’s nothing like someone to show you the way and help you build your skills. They can encourage you, get you out of your own head, and show you what to watch out for.

Online entrepreneurship can be lonely and isolating. Finding the right business mentor can make the difference between achieving clarity around your business goals, or just staying stuck.

Need a second set of eyes on your business? Learn more about Voxer Coaching with me.

Build the strength of your foundation

As you get better and better at whatever skill you are trying to learn, there will be times when you need to take a break from advancing.

Runners know the weeks where you focus on building your stamina and base-run distance are just as important as the weeks you run farther than you ever have.

There are a lot of articles out there about how long a habit and/or a skill takes to form (90 days, 1,000 hours), but I have found it’s actually much longer. I can create a habit like batching meals every single Sunday and do it for several months, only to drop it one day and never do it again.

It’s when this happens that I realize:

was this really a habit/skill that I’d mastered?
what was the WHY behind learning this new habit/skill in the first place?

Usually, I need to revisit the importance of the WHY behind the skill and recommit to it if I still think it’s valuable.

Those moments can be discouraging, but by going back to the basics you can regroup and move forward.

Take the leap

You can only practice so much before you just have to go for it. The “it” meaning the next thing you need to do to up your game.

Staying in the comfort zone of your foundations and going back to basics won’t get you where you want to go — even if they can help keep you from giving up.

I can’t give you any more insight or tips as to how to do that — just like I couldn’t give you tips for how to jump off the high-dive at the pool for the first time.

You just have to try. You just have to do it.

You’ll be ok, I promise. If it doesn’t work out, then you’ll try again.

Watch one. Do one. Teach one.

Like anything you are trying to learn or get better at, there are three-levels of mastery:

Watch or listen to how to do the thing,
Actually do the thing (and then do it over and over),
Knowing how to do the thing so well that you can teach it to others.

The same techniques hold true to anything you are trying to learn as an online entrepreneur or small business owner.

Let's use Pinterest marketing as an example:

You’re not sure how to use Pinterest for marketing your business, so you find a mentor you know, like, and trust.
You build your foundational skills of knowing how to optimize your profile, find your keywords, and create great boards that are going to attract your target audience.
You learn some graphic design basics and best practices for creating Pins for your content or products, so your Pinterest audience goes to your website to check out your stuff.
You build your comfort level and skills by creating a few new Pins every week for your best content (or products).
You create a new Pin design to see how your Pinterest followers like it and start learning how to use Tailwind to free up some of your time and schedule your Pins.
You start scheduling your Pins a few at a time, building up to 15+ per day by learning how to create an organized system for batching your Pinterest content.
You learn how to analyze your Pinterest marketing results so you can keep doing what works, and try new things you haven’t thought of before.
Your launch your first Promoted Pins campaign with the knowledge and skills to use Pinterest to build your email list and sales funnels.

Makes sense right? I won’t say it’s easy, but it IS clear how to follow the tips I outlined above to learn and build the skill of Pinterest marketing.

The same is true for time management skills, running a business with a team, creating a self-care routine, etc.