• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Be a fool

Published: Monday, 23 February 2009

When you learn something for the first time, everything is new to you.

So you explore, you try different things, you fall down, you fail, you fail, and you fail some more… But you keep persevering and you get up again and again and give it another go. There are no expectations and there are no critics, there’s only you and the work you are toiling away at. Then, people start to notice your work, comment and compliment you.

And suddenly, people begin to expect a certain style and excellence from your work in that field. You’re recognised and you can no longer be a fool - you’re an expert!

Now that you’ve learnt how to make it in that field, your once steep learning curve plateaus and your learning step increments shrink.

When this happens, find something new. Start something you can be arrogant about for not knowing, something where there is no expectation, where the only person whose curiosity you want to satiate is your own. Be playful, rejoice from and learn so that you grow. Branch out into something new and dare to create genius in what you know not.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Losing focus

    From an organisational point of view, it's better to focus on doing a small number of things right, than a large number of things wrong. In...

  • Holding a successful meeting

    Make sure everyone is clear about the meeting time and location. If you are the one hosting the meeting, show up. Woody Allen has a quote, “80% of...

  • Plates

    "If you have too much on your plate, get a bigger plate." I first heard this when I was doing a leadership course in London in 2009.  Everyone in the...

  • YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Day 6: Succession

      We spoke about our succession plans today.  We did a great activity:  if I were to leave Robogals on November 6, one month from now, what would I...

  • The meaning of no

    No doesn't mean… I hate you. You suck. Your project is stupid. You're not good enough. You're wasting your time on your project. You should be...

  • The Impostor Syndrome

    I first learnt about the impostor syndrome at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing in 2011.  A Stanford student asked a question...

  • SBS Viceland: The Feed

    SBS Viceland’s The Feed did a story with us where Anthony used his brain to control Teleport to see the top storey of his house for the first time,...

  • Daily plan

    My most productive days, the days I enjoy the most, and the ones that inspire me the most are the days where I have an extensive pre-written to-do...

  • Another context

    If you're over your university studies. If you're not looking forward to taking a week out of your life and attending a conference. If you don't...

  • Dianne's Garage

    This is how I spend the majority of my time:  Hanging out with my mentor Dianne in her awesome workshop.

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top