• 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

  • The Bubble

    I used to think the bubble was a bad thing.  The huge number of people who called themselves an entrepreneur.  The over-inflation of entrepreneurs in...

  • Orlando

    I went to Orlando and gave three speeches in 4 days! I spoke to Baxter Healthcare virtually about failure - my failures, failing fast, failing...

  • Hundreds of decisions everyday

    Answer the phone. Reply to the email. Follow up with the guy you met last week. Go to the meeting. Don't go to the meeting. Don't become a board...

  • BigSpeak Top 10 Female Speaker

    BigSpeak named me one of top 10 female keynote speakers and one of their top 10 technology keynote speakers! I am utterly delighted! I only...

  • How to choose your projects

    Ask yourself: 1.  What do I want to learn? 2. What do I already know? Then: 3.  Devise a project you’re interested in that involves others - Create a...

  • Australian Office in Taipei

    In March this year, I was invited to the Australian Office in Taipei, Taiwan, to give a speech for International Women’s Day.   During my 10-hour...

  • Are you a champion?

    Do you take a bold stand in how things are going to turn out? Do you take responsibility for your actions? Do you have an empowering context for...

  • Happiness

    What I say is important in my life = how I actually live my life

  • Reasons

    Why, excuses, rationale, justifications, explanations, verbal diarrhoea, reasons, etc. In the end, the myriad and infinite possibility of reasons...

  • Doing things with integrity

    When you do something, do it whole and completely so that it's done to the best of your ability, then ship.  Your attention to detail shows that you...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top