Gwen Bell

This year has been a string of experiments.

Most recently, in February, publishing my first e-book. Then, blanking the slate on this site to build what was really alive in me, from the ground up, with the muscle of a tremendous team.

I deleted the archive on my site and blog. Then, I unplugged for nearly six months.

These might sound like drastic experiments (and you haven’t heard the half of it), but they’ve served their purpose. They’ve allowed me to approach the web with beginner’s mind.

What is this state of beginner’s mind? What’s in it for me? What’s in it for my clients?

When you answer the phone and bring your awareness completely to the words coming out of your client’s mouth, regardless of what they’ve said in the past, regardless of what you owe them or they owe you, when you’re simply there, there there, for that client, that’s beginner’s mind.

More or less. We could split hairs about the definition, but let’s go with this:  

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.

Suzuki Roshi said that (and he'd know a thing or none about beginner’s mind). It’s what KK said up there, about being a newbie forever. That’s not something to groan about or fixate on. It’s a chance!

I mentioned Google+ while speaking at a recent conference. Instead of excitement to learn something new, what I heard was, “but I already mastered Twitter.” This is your chance. Beginner’s mind! Leave the old behind and start new. (Knowing there is no old, there is no new.)

I intend to quit Twitter at the end of August 2011. It has changed. I have changed.

I've found Google+ to be a beautiful blend of what Twitter was (before the retweet was turned off) and FaceBook could have been.

Join me on Google+?

Today's Digital Dharma questions: What can you quit right now? What scares you to learn? Can you start today?