It's a mistake I see quite often. A person assumes that because they've already read a book, already been trained in a particular area, have a diploma or degree in a subject, they've “seen this before.”

I've experienced it myself. I've gone to a conference, for instance, and listened to a talk about goals, and thought to myself, “I've heard all this before.”

There's a danger there.

I once heard Bill Johnson say, “When you decide you already know everything, you've chosen where to level off.”

I recently decided to stop thinking that I knew everything, that I had “seen it all before”. I decided to approach every environment, every book, every seminar… with the mind of a newcomer, of a beginner.

So now, when I hear a sermon or a speaker at a conference, or read a blog post, and catch myself thinking, “I don't need this. I've seen it before”, I immediately take that as a signal to ask myself a different, better question: “What part of this have I not seen yet? What can I still learn? What new revelation is in this old passage for me now, today?”

Not surprisingly, I found my progress in many areas of my life has accelerated exponentially. That is what tends to happen when you approach everything with the mind of a beginner.

I haven't seen it before. Have you?