Experience may be clouding your Good Judgment to do the right thing

In a Wall Street Journal editorial today there was a principle I had heard before:

There are numerous times when past experiences can prevent wise judgments. Barbara Tuchman long ago observed how generals tend to fight the last war, refusing to face new realities, almost always with disastrous consequences. And often, especially in today's dizzying world, we need to understand what Zen Buddhists call the "beginner's mind," which recognizes the value of fresh insight unfettered by experience. In this more contemporary view, the compelling idea is the novel one. Perhaps no one articulated the nature of the beginner's mind better than the composer Hector Berlioz when he said of his more popular rival Camille Saint-Saëns: "He knows everything. All he lacks is inexperience."

Experience which is a great leveler sometimes carries it's ugly stepsister on her back, Unteachabililty. What I might look to as experience and wisdom may be a mask for a spirit of know-it-all-is'm. I know this disease well, I have experience in it. There I go again.

But I had prepared a blog post on this very topic and tried to send it twice while I was in Dakota over the Holiday. It never made the trip. Now I know why.

While the WSJ article has mostly to do with politics, if you read between the lines you will see the truth of the concept. Teachability and inexperience as a mindset is not age related. A young friend of mine is hell bent on making a business work. A business that needs help in becoming what he hopes it will. He is going to need some counsel. I think tradition and commitment may allow him to fail first before he succeeds.

Among ministers the unteachable factor is the worst. Some are hungry for a word. Most are confident in their credentials and anointing. That's why the crash and burn takes place for so many of them before they get it.

In business, not hearing the hard questions will cause one to fail.

I wish every person could put aside his or her experience and ability for a moment and enter into the next thing they do with fresh eyes. What would you do if money were no object? If I did this exactly as I wanted to what would I do?

When we do things based on what others want or based on our experience alone we are walking very close to the trap of tradition, Unteachabililty, position over purpose. If we make a wrong step, snap.

I'm thankful that I was too stupid in my earlier year not to know that what I wanted to do was impossible. Cause I did it and it paid off big. A friend of mine once said to me the most cutting thing. I was in my late 40's at the time, he said, “If you were as cautious then as you are today you would have never accomplished what you have”.

Dare to dream. What amazing things would you do if you believed you cannot fail. I'm re-asking that question for myself - again. I'm convinced that timidity and fear have held me from what my purpose really is. Maybe you too.