I’m Not the Smartest Person in the Room

But I am a good listener, observer, and student

Shoshin (Japanese: 初心) is a Zen Buddhism concept that describes the beginner’s mind.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.”

— Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki

The concept describes the ability to let go of what you know in that moment to take in new information without judgement. When you’re an expert in something, it’s easy to disregard new information and continue to focus on what’s familiar. As humans, we do this subconsciously through variations of cognitive bias, we naturally filter out information that we know or believe to be true. By intentionally bypassing this tendency, we can open our minds to the moment, the discerning of that information can come afterwards.

“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

— Bruce Lee

I used to want to be the smartest person in the room. To have all the right answers and to show everyone how much I know. But there’s no room for growth if you’re the smartest person in the room. There’s also too much pressure. Once you’re on top, you’ll have to do everything you can to stay on top.

I’ve embraced the concept of shoshin in my everyday life, to be a container, to just take in what I hear, see, experience, to suspend my judgement as the moment happen so that I can receive all the information with as much clarity as I can. It disarms people to allow them to speak their mind and allows me to continue to learn new things.

You connect better to others when the goal is to hear what they have to say vs to show what you have to say.

Only then, can there be many possibilities.