Y’all this is a thing. We rarely see the hours of rehearsal, the days of study, the crumpled papers in the bin, the erased equations, the failed experiment, the burnt roast, the missed communication, the lackluster meeting.

We see the book, the Ted Talk, the election, the promotion press release, the  graduation, the lovely supper, the play, the journal publication, the strong team, the successful pitch.

 

We see the end and miss the transformation.

A difficulty we often don’t talk about is when you were an expert in one sphere, and then you move to another: You become a beginner again.

You were good at handling conflict with your college roommate, but your new office mate deals with communication differently. You can help your team members work through communication difficulties, but feel ineffective with the team dynamics of the internal leadership team.

People are different. People change. You change. You have become a beginner with a new person and a new team. 

The joy of this beginning is that you’ve been here before. You’ve brought all the hard-won skills from the difficult conversations and crumpled papers and failed labs with you. 

You have a practice muscle. You’ve used it before. You know the work it takes to be successful. Now you practice in a new application, with a new person, in a new dynamic.

So here’s to you with new roles, new babies, new projects, new teams! 

You’ve made the transformation before. You can do it again!

I’m cheering you on beginners!