Where should I start: how to stop being a “newbie” and focus on the improvement rather than starting from scratch

If you ever thought of changing your usual job for an unusual one, you may catch a scratching anxiety. That you are not enough.

You are a newbie.

But that’s fine. However, this can harm, as well as benefit, you. It depends on how you see your new path and how you address your skills at the moment.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the (least painful way of) transition to a PM position from any other area of your expertise.

If you did decide to transit to product management, for example, you will probably start with googling “Product Management for beginners” or something. What’s Quora? How to check metrics? What’s important? What’s a backlog? Do I have to be a project manager as well? All of this.

And it’s a good start! However, you should not be so keen on the courses and help for beginners for too long. Even if you have never encountered anything like product management in your life, you are not a beginner.

Am I contradicting myself?

Yes and no.

We tend to think that if we know a lot about one area, we have no clue of the other. But that’s not entirely true. For example, if your major is Data Science, you already know a great deal of what a product manager has to do on a daily basis. Data! Metrics! Numbers! You already know it.

The one great thing you find out for yourself, once you decided to change your path, is that almost every area has a certain connection to the one you are considering for yourself. Unless you were a literature teacher who decides to be a rocket scientist. But even here I bet you will find something that will help.

Here’s a list of tips to encourage you to do things differently if you want, but do not get stuck in a beginner position, when you actually can be doing more already:

1. Accept that you don’t know anything, but don’t short-charge personal experience. You know things. You are just not sure about new ones.

Some people struggle with accepting the fact that they have to start something from scratch. From the square one. They think that this way they may seem worse than others.

But that’s not true. Just the opposite, to be honest.

If you have ever learned a language apart from your native one, you know how it feels when you become proficient in something that others do just because they were doing it from the very beginning.

If you still struggle with acceptance and don’t feel right, check this printable pdf cards, which are a nice reinforcement to your amazing journey.

2. Don’t wait until good things start happening. If you feel stuck — check your vision, and clear the goals.

That will help you see ahead of your present moment and understand that the square two is just right next to you.

It’s difficult to sail when you don’t know for sure where you are going, right?

Well, it’s not that different from your beginner’s path. You just sailed, you haven’t even lost the shore from your sight, but you know it will happen. And at the moment you get stuck… You may feel that you have to get back and check on the things that you’ve done before, just to be sure. But it’s a trap!

Remember evil mermaids luring sailors to inevitable death?

Well, your “stuck” syndrome is not that dramatic, but it doesn’t help you see and go any father as well.

If you want to deal with it, check the article on how to make your creative (and not only) juices flow.

3. Don’t act childish. Of course, you don’t know things, but it doesn’t make you a kid. I’m serious.

You can check this amazing article on WikiHow where you will see the difference between a newbie and a pro gamer, and how you can easily spot one in the game environment.

You don’t have to be or act lousy to learn how to play or do something.

But you do have to be self-conscious about your choices and decisions. And it’s an advantage! When you start out as a kid or a youngster, you usually do all of these mistakes you feel sorry about.

Now it’s your turn to show how to be a pro in… starting out!

4. You have probably been a newbie at something (for too long), and you know that.

That what holds you back when you want to start something else. This experience says: “You started, but you haven’t gotten any far. You sure you can do this again?”

I know plenty of people who have been “yoga newbies” for decades. You know, those who just start doing yoga every Monday and finish on Tuesday to start on the next Monday. Next months. Or next year.

The conversation is usually like:

“How is your yoga?”

“Ah… I’m still learning”

“Any improvements?”

“Nah, you know… It’s always like I’m starting out again”

And I bet it is. Don’t be that.

Be smart. You are a newbie just because you want to be a pro after all, right?

5. The best thing about your condition and the further transition is that you will have a lot of experience after that.

I know it’s not making you feel any better now. However, you’ve gotten a sweet bonus in this sea of bitterness: it’s time to experiment!

An experiment doesn’t always mean you do things that are stupid and nobody would ever do that in their lives because they are pro.

No.

When you experiment you test things out. You don’t do them oddly or intentionally stupid. You do them differently than you have been doing for ages.

Just think of you at the moment. You have decided to start something from scratch. And you have a goal. And a plan. And even a motivation for now.

You just have to work a little bit harder and look for the next step. Here’s a great story about a newly born entrepreneur, enjoy the stage of being a beginner but eager to look for more.

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What are your the best ways for starting something from scratch and not being stuck in a beginner’s role? Have you ever done something like that before and how did it turn out? Let’s share some stories!