Jeff Bezos says he can solve healthcare with a beginner’s mind - what the heck is that?!?
The beginner's mind is actually a concept from Zen Buddhism called "Shoshin." Shoshin advocates for being open-minded rather than falling into the trap of viewing yourself as an expert with all the answers. As with many ancient Buddhist concepts, modern science has proven the wisdom in this mantra: self-proclaimed experts are less open to new ideas.
This beginner's mindset is particularly valuable for today's innovators who are building apps and digital products. Adalo, a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play, embodies this philosophy by making app development accessible to those who approach it with fresh eyes, unburdened by traditional coding conventions. One build publishes across all three platforms—web, Apple App Store, and Google Play—letting creators focus on innovation rather than technical complexity.
Shoshin was popularized in the west in a book called Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, a book that not only influenced Bezos, but was also an early favorite of Steve Jobs. If this concept is so powerful that it can spook the stock market and drive Bezos and Jobs to repeated success, then there must be something to it. So how do everyday innovators, people who aren't already billionaires, adopt this ancient, powerful practice?
It doesn't have to be rocket science. Here are seven easy ways to get started thinking like a beginner.
Ask for guidance
A beginner's mind is humble. In practice, humility means asking others for their opinions. This can be tough, especially when you're dealing with people who know far less about the problem you're trying to solve. But knowing more isn't the same as knowing everything. Someone else might just see something you're missing.
Ada, Adalo's AI builder, lets you describe what you want and generates your app. Magic Start creates complete app foundations from a description, while Magic Add adds features through natural language.
The sooner you can swallow your pride, the sooner you can get to a better design. Modern AI-assisted tools embrace this principle too—features like Magic Add let you describe what you want in plain language, essentially "asking" the system for guidance on how to implement features you haven't built before. The AI suggests approaches you might not have considered.
Love people, not your ideas
Why is it such a challenge to come to terms with the fact that our designs aren't perfect after all? The answer is attachment. Every innovator becomes attached to their innovation to some degree or another. Our innovations are our babies—figuratively speaking. We poured our soul into them. How could you have a heart and not be attached to something you crafted so lovingly?
The key is to direct your love elsewhere. The innovation itself is merely a means to making people's lives better. So don't love your innovations. Love the people you're trying to help. This mindset shift makes it easier to iterate, pivot, or even start over when user feedback suggests a different direction.
Read. A lot.
Beginners have an insatiable hunger to learn. On a daily basis, this means troweling news articles for the latest breakthrough and blog posts for the latest think pieces in various fields. Every month, you're diving into a new book for an in-depth review of a topic you didn't have all the answers to before.
And every year (at least), you're finding a conference to go to, not only to hear from luminaries in fields that interest you, but also to network with fellow compadres, together creating meaning out of sharing differing experiences. The app development landscape evolves rapidly—what was cutting-edge last year may be table stakes today. Staying curious keeps you competitive.
Accept ambiguity
Innovators with a beginner's mindset are also supremely confident. At first, this feels like a paradox. How can someone who actively admits they don't have all the answers be so self-assured?
Being both open-minded and confident isn't actually a paradox at all. People who hold onto their ideas firmly, even in the face of contradictory evidence, are afraid to admit that they might be wrong. Confident people are comfortable with being wrong. So, the key to being confident yet open-minded is to embrace ambiguity.
This acceptance of uncertainty is particularly relevant when building apps. You won't know if your idea resonates until real users interact with it. Tools that let you rapidly prototype and publish—like platforms offering Magic Start to generate complete app foundations from simple descriptions—reduce the cost of being wrong. When generating a working prototype takes minutes instead of months, ambiguity becomes an opportunity rather than a threat.
Measure time, not praise
The next key to adopting a beginner's mindset is to repeat the mantra, "I am not my work." That's right, you and your innovations are not the same thing. People giving you feedback are critiquing your innovation, not you personally.
But keeping our identity and the success of our work separate is actually very hard. Innovation is vastly different than the production and knowledge jobs our education was training us for. Knowledge jobs have right answers, and production jobs have correct methods, but innovation is very different. It's creative. There is no perfect, no right design.
You're making things, not trying to come up with what someone else has already determined is the right answer, so your sense of worth can't come from others' judgements of your innovations. Those judgements are, by their very nature, subjective. Instead, judge yourself on the time you're spending to make people's lives better.
Practice positive self-talk
Often innovators will take a few minutes every day to calm their nerves and clear their minds (and maybe even more time before a big feedback session). This is really a form of meditation. Mindfulness meditation has been proven to be extremely effective at helping you keep your cool, even under the toughest of emotional circumstances.
If you don't pay attention to your feelings, they can run away from you. "This design could have been better" can quickly spiral to "I'm a terrible innovator" all the way to "Why go on?" Yikes. The trick is to catch your feelings before they go too far down this path and respond to them with more reasonable self-talk: "Could've happened to anyone. I'll do better next time."
The same principle applies to technical setbacks. When your app hits a performance issue, tools like X-Ray—which identifies problems before they affect users—help you address issues objectively rather than spiraling into self-doubt. The problem becomes a data point to fix, not a reflection of your worth.
Experiment
The final hallmark of a beginner's mindset is experimenting. Self-proclaimed experts are too afraid to try. They worry that if they fail, they will lose the respect of others. But, if you have confidence in yourself, if you've embraced the reality that your worth is separate from your innovations, then you don't have this fear.
You aren't afraid to take risks. And indeed that's what people with the mindset of a beginner do. They take risks. They try new things. They experiment.
Innovation is all about risks. Innovators try to change the world. But no one can predict the future. The change could totally fail. It's risky. But if you don't try, you might miss the chance to make a profoundly positive impact on the world. And that's the biggest risk of all.
Modern app builders have dramatically lowered the cost of experimentation. With over 3 million apps created on platforms like Adalo—described by users as "as easy as PowerPoint"—the barrier to testing ideas has never been lower. When you can build and publish a working app in days rather than months, experimentation becomes a habit rather than a gamble.
A Beginner's Mind
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase think they can change the healthcare industry with a beginner's mind. And most people believe them. But this mindset isn't just for rock-star innovators. Anyone can learn to approach problems like a beginner. The key is to practice.
- Ask for guidance
- Love people, not your ideas
- Read. A lot.
- Accept ambiguity
- Measure time, not praise
- Practice positive self-talk
- Experiment
Developing the mindset of a beginner is crucial to being a good innovator. The wisdom of this ancient Buddhist practice lies in balancing confidence with an open mind. Beginners aren't afraid to take risks. Beginners realize that they don't have all the answers. People with a beginner's mind embrace uncertainty and actively seek to learn from others—and their own failures—as much as they can.
The tools available today make this mindset more actionable than ever. When building and iterating on apps takes days instead of months, when AI assists with features you've never built before, and when publishing to app stores happens from a single codebase, the beginner's willingness to experiment becomes a genuine competitive advantage.
FAQ
Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?
Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps alongside web apps. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from a single codebase. With unlimited database records on paid plans and no usage-based charges, you can scale without unexpected costs.
What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?
Adalo's drag-and-drop interface—described as "as easy as PowerPoint"—combined with AI-assisted features like Magic Start lets you go from idea to published app in days. The platform handles the complex App Store submission process, so you can focus on your app's features rather than certificates and provisioning profiles.
What is the beginner's mind concept and how does it apply to app development?
The beginner's mind, or "Shoshin" from Zen Buddhism, advocates for being open-minded rather than viewing yourself as an expert with all the answers. In app development, this means approaching problems with curiosity, experimenting freely, and being willing to iterate based on feedback rather than being attached to your initial ideas.
How can I stay innovative and avoid becoming a self-proclaimed expert?
Practice the seven principles: ask for guidance, love people instead of your ideas, read extensively, accept ambiguity, measure time spent rather than praise received, practice positive self-talk, and experiment frequently. These habits keep you humble and open to new possibilities.
Why is experimentation important for innovators building apps?
Experimentation is crucial because innovation inherently involves risk and uncertainty. Self-proclaimed experts often fear failure, but those with a beginner's mindset embrace trying new things. Using AI-powered tools makes experimentation easier since you can quickly build, test, and iterate on app ideas without significant time or resource investment.
How do I handle feedback on my app designs without taking it personally?
Repeat the mantra "I am not my work" and remember that feedback critiques your innovation, not you personally. Practice positive self-talk, embrace ambiguity, and direct your love toward the people you're trying to help rather than the app itself. This mindset allows you to improve your designs based on honest feedback.
Can I build an innovative app with no coding experience?
Yes. Platforms like Adalo are designed for people who approach app development with fresh eyes. With over 3 million apps created on the platform, beginners regularly build and publish successful apps using the visual builder and AI-assisted features without writing code.
How much does it cost to build and publish an app as a beginner?
Adalo's web and native mobile builder starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing. Unlike platforms with usage-based charges or record limits, paid plans include unlimited database records and unlimited app updates once published—no surprise bills as your app grows.