How to Embrace Learning Something New When You're Used to Being Good

If you're used to being good at things, starting something new can feel terrifying. Here's why embracing the awkward beginner phase is one of the bravest things you can do, and how the concept of 'beginner's mind' can change everything.

There’s a special kind of terror that comes with trying something new when you’re used to being “good at things.” It’s not just about learning a skill; it’s about willingly stepping into a version of yourself that doesn’t know what she’s doing yet—and letting that version be seen.​

Why Overachievers Struggle with Being Beginners

Growing up as an overachiever trains you to believe that your value lives where the results are. You do the work, you get the grade, you collect the praise, and over time that cycle starts to feel like proof that you are on the right track. Then adulthood arrives with no grades, no rubric, and no clear next step only options. Suddenly, every new thing you try feels like a referendum on who you are, not just what you’re learning.​

Here’s the reframe that has been echoing in my head lately: it takes audacity to let yourself be bad at something on purpose. To choose the awkward phase. To show up at the beginning rather than waiting until you can perform at the middle. To say, “I’m allowed to learn this slowly, and nothing about that threatens what I’m already good at.”​ That's learning something new for ya.

What We're Really Afraid of When Learning Something New

It's fear of failure as well as of losing an identity built on competence and control. If you are the one who can handle it all, what does it mean to suddenly be the one who can’t figure out the basics? But maybe that’s exactly where a fuller identity begins: in the gap between what you already know and what you still suck at.​

Ch-ch-ch-changes - David Bowie

The world is, surprisingly, more open than ever to strange timelines, mixed careers, and people who change their minds. The pressure to have it all figured out mostly comes from inside. So this is a small declaration of rebellion: choosing to start anyway, even if it means looking naïve, slow, scattered, or unfocused for a while.​

The Power of Being a Newbie

Shoshin is a concept that comes from Zen monks, meaning"beginner's mind."

Instead of assuming you know something, assume you know nothing. When you do this, you can explore the world with curiosity, awe, and wonder, and learn new things. The fact is, we don't know what we don't know.

Trying something new is evidence that you trust yourself enough to move without guarantees. It's about being vulnerable It means saying: it's ok, this is my first time. Admitting that you are not a know-it-all feels like the bravest part.