Shoshin

It means, 'Beginner's mind.'

The idea is straightforward. The expert's cup is always full. No room for anything new. The beginner's cup is empty. Ready to receive.

After more than 40 years in sales, marketing and business, you might expect my cup to be fairly full.

Experience matters. Pattern recognition matters. Knowing what works and what doesn't matters.

But curiosity excites me. It always has.

When someone sees things differently, I want to understand why.

When a client describes their market in a way I hadn't considered, I lean in.

When someone at a networking event makes a point that shifts something in how I'm thinking, that's not uncomfortable.

That's the good bit.

Shoshin isn't about pretending you don't know things. It's about staying open enough to notice what you might be missing.

And that matters everywhere.

On your website, are you describing your business the way you've always described it, or the way your best clients actually experience it?

On social media, are you posting what you assume people want to hear, or what you're genuinely hearing them ask?

At a networking event, are you waiting to talk, or are you actually listening for the thing that changes how you think?

The moment you stop being curious about your clients, your market, and your own assumptions, you stop improving.

Experience is an asset. Certainty is a risk.

How open is your cup?

Just asking as a friend.