Here’s another great example of ‘beginner’s mind’ in action.

Flea, long famous as the amazing bass player in Red Hot Chili Peppers, has pivoted to jazz trumpet. As a kid he played trumpet with his stepfather, but he hadn’t played seriously in decades. That changed when he decided to make an album.

💬 “I decided I’m gonna play trumpet every day for two years, and at the end of the two years, I’m gonna make a record. I don’t know how good I’m gonna be at the end of two years, but I know I’m going on a two-year-long stadium tour with the Chili Peppers and I can play in my hotel room, and that’s what I’m gonna do, and that’s what I did. I practised every day for two years, and went and made my record.”

Did he know he’d be good enough after two years of daily trumpet playing? No, instead he used it as a forcing function. No matter what: put out the record.

💬 “I got insecure that I wasn’t good enough. But it was more being moved to tears by how vulnerable it felt, like I’m baring my soul. I was prepared that it might not work, that it might suck. I was prepared to fail. But I read this thing by Neil Young where he goes, “I’ve made shitty records and I still put them out because failure is important.” When I read that by Neil Young, someone I admire so much, I was like, f– yeah! If I fail, great. It’s beautiful to take a risk. If I fail, I f–ing tried.”

Well, by listening to his album, Honora, you can judge for yourself whether he failed (spoiler: he didn’t).

A review of ‘Honora’ in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Now read:

The greatest experts are serial beginners.

What Herbie Hancock learned from Miles Davis.

What Billy Strings learned from his father.

Find the right teacher.

Imitating the greats?

The fundamental flaw in how we learn about expertise.

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I’m the author of Shu Ha Ri: The Japanese Way of Learning, for Artists and Fighters, available right now.