Green, Blue, and Black

Ski Areas have a smart way to tell skiers the type of terrain they may be facing. Even the Ski Area map shows the runs by these three colors and symbols. Of course there is always the one “hot dog” that tells the beginner, “Sure you can do the diamond, they’re not that hard.” Then laughs the whole time said beginner either falls and tumbles down the entire run, takes off their skis and walk down, or finds them self on their behind the whole way down. But millions of skiers have utilized this reference system to have successful days skiing. They get to choose the level of challenge they would like to accomplish that day.

There is a principle in life, and we’ve all experienced it, called the “novice” progression. So many times in life when we begin an endeavor we are clumsy, ignorant, forgetful, and often make fools of our selves. We look at the “hot dogs” around us and want to be there. However, the novice is a wonderful place to be and more of us should want to be novices or beginners.

It is quite common in life to try and skip the beginner/novice phase, and jump to the advanced/expert. We have a tendency to not want to look ignorant or stupid, to look like we have it all together. Yet the novice stage is actually one of the best places to be.

It is in this novice stage that you will grow by leaps and bounds. Your skills develop very quickly and each time you train you find you have mastered the skill a little bit better than before. In skiing, each time you go, you are able to get on the lifts better, not fall as much, go faster. In weightlifting, the novice prize is you get to train with a little more weight, you are stronger, each and every time. There is a thrill to learning and growing in your new opportunity of learning. You can afford to make mistakes and there is a lot of grace.

But with passing time your skill levels begin to morph into a more intermediate state. You’ve mastered the beginner or novice basics, and now you are on to more advanced abilities. But you notice that these new tasks are harder to master and take longer, you don’t see results as quickly, and sometimes you even go backwards. A trainer tells you something and it takes 100s of tries to understand what he is coaching you into. Sure, you are a “beginner expert” but you’ve suddenly become aware that you aren’t an advanced or expert person yet, and to get there the changes come slower.

In martial arts, the biggest dropout belt was “blue” or intermediate. Often we are “proficient enough” but to get to “expert/advanced” is going to take a considerable more time. It may take you one year to go from white to yellow to advance green, but to go from blue to purple or red might take a full year, and from red to black, 2 more years.

I started Starting Strength and followed their Novice Linear Progression. It was exciting because each time I went into the gym I was PRing. It was exciting to put 25s on, then 45s, etc. Invariably, I would get all kinds of advice. I would listen politely but why mess with what was working? Of course the NLP can’t last forever and at some point I became an intermediate lifter. The programming had to change some. But I came to realize that the various pieces of advice came from what I would call “advanced” lifters. These people were doing all kinds of different things to get stronger than what I was doing. Things like rack pulls, or deadlifting with bands. The natural inclination is to wonder if I should be doing something like that.

It dawned on me that this is the “advanced” or “expert” dilemma that occurs on both sides. On the beginner side you see them doing all these different types of workouts and you think that this should be the thing that will make me better. Not realizing that they had built a strong foundation already before they started to do more complex training. After Covid and the gym shutdowns, the advanced lifter noticed a loss in strength but because of his foundation, his strength came back within weeks. My strength took much longer to come back. An expert skier, might never get rusty if he were to not ski for some time because he has skied, practiced and raced for years.

On the expert side, you forget what it is to be a beginner or even intermediate, you forget that you forged a good foundation and that it took time. So maybe you shouldn’t be giving all this advice on various things to do in the gym (“influencers” are often taking drugs anyway) unless you qualify it by saying, “After you have built a strong foundation…” So much time is wasted in the novice phases trying to incorporate complexity or advanced skills rather building a firm foundation with basics. Almost all that we do begins with “basics.”

As a beginner, you want to do complicated things because it makes you feel that you aren’t a novice. But many people get frustrated because they don’t see the progress they think they should see. Or in the case of skiing you may get yourself somewhere that is so difficult, it discourages you from ever skiing again.
Everyone is always trying to hurry along the process, but the process ALWAYS takes time no matter how much you try to shorten it. Life is a process, it just is. It is wonderful to be a novice, it might be the best and most enjoyable part of the process. It’s great to be an intermediate, be patient and enjoy the process. It’s wonderful to be an expert, but try to remember that it took you time to get there so help others enjoy the beginner/novice process.

I see this also in spiritual situations also. Someone comes newly into the kingdom of God and we expect them to immediately act like a fully mature believer. But developing spiritually is a process, God says in Ephesians that we are to GROW UP in him, in all things. That is a process. I observe, especially in Charismatic circles, this idea that “God has a purpose and a plan for your life, a destiny.” We can spend so many years running around trying to figure out what that purpose and plan was, always looking to the “future” because the present couldn’t be that. When yes, God has a purpose and a plan for your life, “to grow you up in all things in Christ.” I was trying so hard to be that advanced/expert believer that I forgot what being a kid or novice in the kingdom might look like or be like. I have made many mistakes as a believer, and I was so hard on myself because, “I should have known better!” Yet, so many areas in my life had to go and still have to go through training processes, this includes in the realm of the spirit.

So enjoy the process, the process of being a kid in the kingdom with Daddy God and the family of saints. Grow in Him, grow in all He has for you, grow in your identity, ENJOY THE PROCESS!