Open Mind, Insert ______

In the last few years, I have had more new experiences than I can count. In addition to parenting (which, I suppose, is a new experience every day), I have ended up in a variety of work (and not working) situations, each of which has come with its own set of rules and challenges. How is it that you take what you know and adapt it to handle what you don't know? How do you take what's old and adapt it to something new?
 
What I am learning each day is that an open mind is the best thing I can take into any new situation. I used to think that I had to have a font of knowledge. Perhaps, to a certain extent, that is true. The knowledge from previous experiences can certainly help with the new ones. But rely too much on the old, and you are likely not to adapt to the new. Keep looking for what you knew somewhere else, and you are likely to miss seeing what is in front of you.
 
What I am learning, perhaps slowly, is that one of the best tools in my bag of tricks is an open mind--open enough to try something new, open enough to support the people who are new, open enough to see what might work and what can change. It's not about throwing away what came before. It's about really seeing--and working with--what is coming now.
 
With an open mind, just about anything is possible, and as far as I can tell, that's a pretty good way to think in a freelance world. So if you're filling in that blank, perhaps it's "Open mind, insert possibilities." Yep. That works. Until it's time to open your mind again and try something else.