Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery, 2nd Edition

Start with the Beginner’s Mind

Zen teachings often speak of the “beginner’s mind” or “child’s mind.” Like a child, one who approaches life with a beginner’s mind is fresh, enthusiastic, and open to the vast possibilities of ideas and solutions before them. A child does not know what is not possible and so is open to exploration, discovery, and experimentation. If you approach creative tasks with the beginner’s mind, you can see things more clearly, unburdened by your fixed views, habits, and what conventional wisdom says it is (or should be). One who possesses a beginner’s mind is not burdened by old habits or obsessed about “the way things are done around here” or with the way things could have or should have been done. A beginner is open, receptive, ...