原文出自於這裡 : In Order to be an Expert, You Must First be a Beginner
Author : Raechel Logan

中文是我剛剛花了20分鐘翻譯的。 不過我是沒有很嚴謹的試圖字字斟酌，只是把原文的涵義大概翻過來了，能讀英文的還是建議看文末轉貼的英文版。 這篇其實沒講甚麼了不起的大道理。 但確實點出了一個我們每個人都可能在平時與團隊互動時會忘記的一件事。 所以看了覺得值得貼出來，分享給大家，並讓讀者與我們自己都能隨時自我警惕。

本文開始 :

我曾經說過：「每天早上，我們都應該讓自己願意從初學者的角度來看待一切事物。」

這樣說是甚麼意思呢？ 嗯，剛好昨天我就見證了一件能充分比擬這概念的事情。

每個禮拜，我會參加室內足球的活動。 昨晚，剛巧有幾個從來沒有一起玩過的朋友加入了我們的足球遊戲。 還好這群「新人」實際並非新手，似乎也還滿有經驗與能力的。 只不過美中不足的是，在遊戲進行到一半、我在場邊休息時，注意到某位新人居然對其他老成員們嘶吼著指示並下命令。 我心裡想：「她以為她是誰啊？ 居然在這裡命令大家？ 我們不過是想玩場遊戲哩。」

接下來，當對方得分時，她又對著我們的守門員喊著：「Hey，守門的，你應該往前衝刺並卡掉對方的射門角度。」 不用說，我是越來越被這狀況弄得不滿。 當下半場我跟她又進場時，我心裡已經準備好萬一她也來命令我時，我打算怎麼回應。 這時候我聽到守門員反而問說：「你剛剛提到所謂的衝刺，但我到底該如何衝刺呢？」於是這位看似跋扈的新隊友，花了些時間解釋衝刺的涵義給守門員聽。

我則因為我們守門員的謙卑而吃了一驚。 他沒有像我那樣，因為新隊友的跋扈而生氣，相反的，他體會到對方具備自己沒有的經驗，於是立刻把握機會跟她學這新技能。 我卻因為自己的驕傲，覺得對方是個新來的沒資格指示我的行動，所以反錯失了一個學習的好機會。 但平心靜氣下，我其實自知雖然足球是個我喜歡的運動，但確實我自己並沒有很厲害。

當然，這經驗也讓我反思到工作上。 如果我們都能如同這場比賽的守門員 (剛好他也跟我一起工作) 一樣的謙卑，那不是很好嗎！ 而我所謂的謙卑，指的是讓自己「受教」。 做為一個團隊成員，我覺得最糟糕的態度，就是自認我們知道所有我們目前工作上的一切。 這態度不但會降低我們學習與成長的機會，更糟糕的是，這會讓我們討厭我們的同事。

但若反過來，讓我們每天早上上班時，都有一種自己今天是個「新手」的意願與態度 – 或最少在同事身上尋找向他們學習的機會(不管同事是否職位在我們上面)。 我想，我們定會能從別人的觀點與方法來體會新事物。 所以，假如我們有意願想在工作領域成為「最好的」或甚至是「大師」，那我們就必須持續學習更多的東西。 也總有更多可以持續學習的東西的。

原文轉錄如下

In Order to be an Expert, You Must First be a Beginner
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 by Raechel Logan

I’ve heard it said that we should “be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”

What do I mean by this? Well, yesterday I witnessed something that I think illustrates this idea really well.

Once a week, I play on an indoor soccer team. Last night we had a game and there were a few people there for my team whom I’ve never played with before. Luckily for us, these “new” additions to the team seemed to be very talented players. Halfway through the game, however, while one of the new players and I were in the box taking our turns to sit out, I noticed that she was yelling orders at the rest of the team. I was instantly turned off by this, thinking to myself “Who does she think she is, coming in here and trying to tell everyone what to do? We’re just playing around for fun.”

At one point, she yelled at our keeper for letting the other team score saying, “Hey keep, you need to charge and cut off their angle!” Needless to say, I was becoming more and more disgruntled with the whole scenario and when she and I ran back onto the field for the second half, I was prepared with a snappy comeback in case she tried to tell me what to do. Then, as I was stretching, I heard our keeper ask, “How do I charge?” And our bossy new teammate took some time to explain to him what she had meant.

I was instantly taken aback – struck by our keeper’s humility. Instead of being upset at our teammate’s bossy instructions (like I was), he recognized that she had more experience than him and took the opportunity to learn from her and improve his own skills. I had been too caught up in my own pride and disdain for being told what to do by someone who had no authority over me that I had completely missed an opportunity to be taught – to learn more about a sport I enjoy, but definitely am not particularly skilled at.

Of course this experience made me think about work – and how much better it could be if we were all as humble as the keeper on my soccer team (who also happens to work with me, oddly enough). And by humble, I mean teachable. As team members, I believe one of the worst things we can do for our careers and ourselves is to come to work thinking we know everything about what we do. This approach will not only cut us off from many opportunities to learn and grow in our company and our craft, but will most certainly lead to us disliking our colleagues.

Instead, if we come to work each morning willing to be “a beginner” – or looking for opportunities to learn from our coworkers, whether they have authority over us or not, I think we’ll be surprised what we can learn from other people’s perspectives and approaches to work. There is always more that we can learn and, if we want to become the best or the “masters” of our crafts, we must continue to learn more.