When I graduated from the University of Maryland in 2006, I chased my dream of playing on the PGA Tour. I turned professional and started grinding on the mini-tours.

It hit me fast. The level of competition, the scores you had to shoot every single day, the mental grind. After 16 months, I knew exactly how hard it was and exactly why less than 1% of players who turn pro ever make the PGA Tour.

A year later, my college teammate Blaine took on the same challenge. Different results. He dominated at the mini-tour level because he had no idea how hard it actually was. His ignorance was his rocket fuel.

I've seen it on the other side too.

A few years ago, one of my executive coaching clients called me and said he had a business opportunity that could explode, and he thought I could help him get it off the ground. It happened to be in the oil and independent garage business. I knew absolutely nothing about it. Neither did he. He just saw an opportunity and had the courage to pursue it.

The work to get up to speed was real. But our ignorance turned out to be a benefit. We didn't know how hard it was to break into that space, so we tried everything. Cold calls, unconventional approaches, things the veterans in the industry would never attempt because they already knew the percentages.

That's the curse of experience. What you have seen, you cannot unsee. You get locked into patterns of thinking based on what has and hasn't worked before. You stop trying things because you already know how the story ends.

But someone new to a problem doesn't carry that weight. They don't see the obstacles the same way. They just see the opportunity.

This isn't an argument against experience. Experience is a great teacher. But there is real power in setting down your mental baggage long enough to approach something with fresh eyes.

So whatever problem is in front of you right now, what would you try if you didn't already know it was hard?

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