I’m behind on my Christmas shopping. I love giving gifts and showing appreciation for those I care about, but dislike the consumerism that comes with this time of year.

Feeling the time crunch I finally went out to a couple of stores today. One of them being a yarn store to get supplies for a present. As I was checking out I got into a conversation with an employee–a nice older woman who was a little rough around the edges.

We were talking about yarn, but something she said stuck out to me: “Being a beginner is good. Everything you do is a win. You have a whole world of possibilities before you.”

And there was my nugget for the day.

Here are three advantages to being a beginner in any endeavor:

• An open, curious mindset. You don’t know the rules yet, so it’s impossible for them to box you in.
• The ability to make mistakes. A lot. Yes, technically everyone has this “ability”. But the difference is that beginners are more unapologetic and resilient when mistakes, inevitably, arise.
• Small wins. Beginners have many small exciting moments. Imagine: you don’t fall over this time, someone enthusiastically says “that’s really good”, something that was once confusing is making more sense now.

There’s no way for this woman to know that she’s a part of my daily blog post.

But I hope that you can walk away with a bit of her wisdom. Continuously seek a beginner’s mindset in any stage of your work.

Consistency beats talent that doesn’t show up.