Beginner’s Mind for SEO, Web Analytics, and Social Media

Posted on 23 December 2009

I’m tired of self-proclaimed gurus.

In our field, there are an ever-increasing number of ‘experts’ and ‘gurus.’  A quick search on Linkedin shows 45,000 gurus and 450,000 experts overall, with a ridiculous concentration around SEO.  Employers are even seeking out this level of hubris by adding the term to their job listings.  The graph below shows the percent of job postings on Indeed.com including the word ‘guru’ as a function of time.  You can’t argue with the stats; our collective bravado doubled in 2H07.

Don’t get me wrong; confidence is pretty important in these fields, but the problem with the titles and a ‘guru’ mindset is that we can

• start believing our own hype,
• stop learning every day (which is likely what got us here),
• and start thinking in a box (I’ve seen this problem before…).

The title of this post is a reference to one of my favorite books, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.  Suzuki’s quote below that encapsulates the problem with this mindset.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few”

The start of a new year is a terrific time for clean slates and fresh starts.  How to you plan to ‘begin’ again?