It is a natural cycle to want to improve yourself. The question is—when do you reach the point where you’ve stopped learning and you need to become a freshman again?

When you are an expert—you don’t get a day off.

When you are a freshman:

  • You can ask questions that an expert wouldn’t ask for fear of looking stupid
  • You can take risks that would look like career suicide for an expert
  • You can try things and not worry about failure— because for a freshman, it is about learning
  • Use the phrase “I’m no expert here...”
  • Use the phrase “Let’s try this and see if it works...”

For your current job or area of expertise:

How can you look at it with a fresh set of eyes?

What experiment can you do to see if it improves your job?

Outside of your current job:

What is something you don’t know much about that you could learn more about?