3 Steps to Skip The Beginner’s Fear and Master Any Skill
You’ll never feel the rookie shame again
It’s scary to be a beginner, and it’s easy to quit.
The people who are miles ahead of you are intimidating.
It’s uncomfortable to suck at something.
You’re afraid of embarrassing yourself.
And that’s where you stop.
You stop because you can’t fathom reaching the top — it’s so far away.
But once you understand this one simple principle, that’ll all change.
Instead of being intimidated, you’ll be energised.
You’ll use intimidation as a springboard to success.
Achieving your goals will become easy.
And you’ll become a master at any skill you choose.
Part 1 | Understanding the tiers of skill
The first thing to understand is that there are tier levels to skill.
When you’re learning to dribble a basketball, you can’t comprehend what an NBA player does.
When you’re learning piano, you can’t comprehend the genius of Mozart.
And for this reason, you’ll be intimidated.
You’ll be afraid to start because being good is so far away.
You’re so inexperienced that you can’t even fathom what they’re doing. And that’s what scares you — it’s what prevents you from taking the next step.
The good news is, with every tier of skill you gain, you gain an understanding of the tier above.
You unlock that next rung.
Let’s use chess as an example:
I asked ChatGPT to split chess into progression tiers. You don’t need to read them in detail — but I included it to help visualise the concept.
Chess Progression Tiers:
Beginner:
Understanding the capabilities of each piece
Basic mating patterns.
Introduction to fundamental tactical motifs.
2. Intermediate:
Proficiency in standard tactical patterns.
Diversified opening repertoire.
Grasping elementary endgame principles.
3. Advanced:
Integration of strategic concepts: pawn structures, piece activity.
Broadening theoretical opening knowledge.
Refinement in endgame techniques: opposition, key squares.
4. Expert:
Mastery of advanced strategy: prophylaxis, initiative.
Specialisation in specific opening variations.
Precision in complex endgame scenarios.
5. Master to Grandmaster:
Deep positional acumen: exploiting minor imbalances.
Cutting-edge opening theory: novelties, deep lines.
Profound analytical depth: multi-move foresight, dynamic evaluations.
When you’re a beginner, you can only understand Tier 1. When you’re in Tier 1, you can only comprehend Tier 2 → and so on.
If you’re a beginner and you read “deep positional acumen”, “deep lines” and “dynamic evaluations” from Tier 5 — you’re going to be intimidated. You’re trying to understand the endgame before you understand the development of the board and approaching the game from the grass-roots.
But if you focus on mastering the fundamentals, you’ll slowly begin to ask questions about the next tier. You’ll say: “Ok, I get this — but how can I manipulate the game to give myself an advantage?”
And that’s how you slowly begin to improve at a skill, and subsequently, achieve your goals.
Part 2 | How to use this knowledge to springboard yourself to success
Now you understand that intimidation comes from not being able to comprehend the tier levels above.
You can leverage that to propel yourself forward.
Instead of getting intimidated when you watch a grandmaster chess player, you’ll think: “I just haven’t mastered my current level of understanding yet — and when I do, it’ll be more relevant to me and make sense.”
This change in attitude allows you to stay motivated and confident, despite being confused by the tiers ahead.
So when everyone else drops like flies at the first roadblock, you’ll double down.
You’ll understand that your only goal right now is to conquer your current tier of understanding.
The tiers above are for you to think about later.
For example — when you start a new job, it can be difficult to feel confident in your abilities, and it’s natural to feel as though you’ll never understand it. You think that the people around you are better than you.
But with this slight attitude adjustment, you’ll bask in the glory of being a rookie.
You’ll be open to the lessons from those who have mastered your tier, and you’ll continue to build skills and knowledge that’ll allow you to slowly work your way through the levels.
Understanding this idea is a cheat code to get through the rookie stages.
And now that you know it, you’ve got an unfair advantage. Whenever you’re confused, you’ll remind yourself it’s only a matter of time before you master this tier of understanding, and move on to the next.
…
Quick one!
If you’re enjoying the article so far - consider subscribing to get these every Saturday for free :)
…
Part 3 | Setting sub-goals to help split up the tier levels
We understand the concepts, and we’ve shifted our attitude — so now it’s time to implement it.
A crucial part of achieving any goal is to split it into sub-goals that are relevant to the tier of skill that you’re currently in.
Instead of setting the goal to learn how to be a grandmaster chess player, you need to split your goals up to align with the tier levels. This tiered approach will stop you from getting cut off by your goals and being intimidated by the tiers out of reach.
A better goal would be to learn the capabilities of each piece.
As you master that small goal within your current tier, you’ll unlock an understanding of the more complex problems within the game, as we’ve discussed.
Keep your eyes peeled for this concept in everyday life
Now, this doesn’t just apply to random things like learning to play chess.
You’ll start to spot this concept in every aspect of life.
Work, relationships, and life in general.
You’ll always feel confused by the road ahead — a common one I hear is:
“I just don’t know what to do.”
But that’s because you’re just in the tier below right now.
You don’t know where you’re going in your career because you’re still figuring out what industry you like.
You don’t know where you want to live because you’re just focusing on making money right now.
You don’t know who you’re going to have a relationship with because you’re focusing on bettering yourself at the moment.
The trick is to always stay confident and use your current tier as a reference point.
Don’t look too far ahead.
Don’t compare yourself to LeBron James when you’re trying to learn basketball. He can see the game in ways you didn’t even know existed. He’s playing on a completely different plane of existence to you, a realm of understanding that you haven’t developed yet, that you couldn’t even fathom if you tried.
But the only reason he’s there is because he served his time moving through the tiers, just like everyone else.
Like math.
In Grade 1, adding 7 and 8 together is hard. But at the university level, you’re doing reverse-upside-down-imaginary number math and sums become automatic as breathing.
You just can’t fathom it because you haven’t climbed the ranks yet.
So if you take one thing away from this article, let it be this:
When you’re intimidated and it feels impossible, force yourself to remember that you’re just a beginner. It’s impossible for you to comprehend the next levels.
But if you stick with it, it’ll all begin to make sense.
Thank you for reading and Merry Christmas to everyone!
I’m just sharing the lessons learned on my path to building my Mental Fortress - an impenetrable and stable mind.
If you found it helpful, that’s great. I figured, why not share it with the world as I crystallise my own ideas.
If you liked it, sign up for these free emails in your inbox on Saturdays at 7:00 am AEST :)
And click the little like button to give me some feedback. If not, tell me why. And if you know someone who you think will like it - send it their way!
Sincerely,
Eren