How to Be a Better Beginner

"People often associate the beginner phase with discomfort, including confusion, self-doubt, frustration over mistakes, and anxiety about meeting new people or being evaluated. However, being a beginner at any experiential pursuit is also uniquely rich. This applies whether you're training for a new career, taking up a skill, or parenting for the first time. Beginners often experience so-called "newbie gains," a period of rapid improvement in the first couple of years of a new practice, before progress continues but becomes harder to achieve."

"We only get to experience the beginner phase once. It's a snapshot in time that's worth learning to enjoy. Here are five tips for doing that, so you have a better experience of any new endeavor, instead of seeking to rush through it. 1. Don't Try to Be Invisible Beginners often seek not to stand out. They want to make their newbie mistakes quietly, unnoticed. However, this approach often counteracts actual progress."

"Social support increases success, for example, when you seek out people you can ask questions of when you're stuck or role models who can help give you a realistic perception of what to expect. When you go under the radar, you cut yourself off from these supports. Value progress more than you value avoiding your newness or mistakes being noticed. As a beginner, you can't avoid asking questions or trying things that will seem silly in retrospect,"

Jan recently moved to Colorado and wants to start mountain running after months of treadmill training. She feels excited but uncertain and hesitates to join a beginner-friendly meetup for fear it might not be welcoming. Beginner phases commonly include confusion, self-doubt, mistakes, and social anxiety, yet they also offer rapid initial improvement called "newbie gains." Social support, role models, and asking questions accelerate learning; hiding newness cuts off those supports. Beginners should prioritize progress over invisibility, savor early gains, and preserve memories of the starter phase rather than rushing through it.

Read at Psychology Today