From Debits to Code to Titles: Why Learning New Rules Never Ends
Why mastering anything new means letting go of what you think you already know
College accounting class. Day one. The instructor wrote "Assets = Liabilities + Equity" on the board, as if it was supposed to make sense to a bunch of 19-year-olds who could barely balance their checking accounts.
I stared at those terms—debits, credits, depreciation—feeling like I'd walked into a conversation that had been going on without me. But here's what I didn't know then: I wasn't just learning vocabulary. I was rewiring my brain to see problems in an entirely new way.
You know that feeling when you're standing at the edge of something that looks impossible? When the gap between what you know and what you need to know feels too wide to cross?
When Learning Feels Like Drowning
That accounting class was just the beginning. Because apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided to add C++ to my course load. Why learn one impossible thing when you can learn two simultaneously?
Coding showed me that every field doesn't just have its own vocabulary—it has its own way of thinking. You don't just memorize syntax; you start noticing patterns in a different way. You start breaking down problems in ways that would have been unimaginable before. Variables, loops, functions—each concept shifted how my brain approached logical sequences.
But life wasn't done teaching me this lesson.
Years later, I found myself in the mortgage industry, starting from scratch again. Title insurance, encumbrances, chain of title—suddenly I was swimming in another sea of specialized knowledge. People in the industry would shrug and say, "You either get it or you don't."
I never bought that.
What They Don't Tell You About Learning
But here's what nobody tells you about mastering new systems: the real challenge isn't memorizing terms or following procedures.
The real challenge is letting go.
Letting go of the assumption that the old way is the only way.
Letting go of the need to understand everything immediately.
Letting go of the fear that you're too old, too set in your ways, too something to learn this new thing.
The Real Conversation
Just recently, when AI started showing up everywhere, I recognized the feeling immediately. Tokens, prompts, LLMs, agents, fine-tuning—another stack of terms paired with processes that looked familiar but didn't play out the same way.
My first thought? "Here we go again."
But then something clicked. I'd been here before. Multiple times. And every single time, what felt impossible at the start became second nature with persistence and curiosity.
I recently watched a video where the speaker talked about how old processes and mindsets often need to give way to new thinking. It hit me: this is exactly what I'd been experiencing my entire life, just never named it.
What Nobody Tells You About Getting Good at Things
Here's what I wish someone had told me during that first accounting class: You're not just learning content—you're learning how to learn differently.
Every field has its own logic, its own patterns, its own way of breaking down complex problems. When you're struggling to grasp new concepts, you're not failing—you're in the process of rewiring your brain to think in a new framework.
This applies whether you're learning:
Financial statements (seeing business health through numbers)
Programming languages (breaking problems into logical steps)
Industry regulations (understanding risk and compliance)
AI tools (recognizing how machines process information differently from humans)
The breakthrough comes when you stop trying to force the new system into your old way of thinking and start letting it teach you its own logic.
Here's the thing about AI specifically: understanding it shouldn't feel like learning a foreign language. That's why I created this video breaking down AI terms in plain English—because once you understand what LLMs, prompts, and context windows actually do (not just what they're called), the whole system starts making sense.
Someone Who Gets It
understands this completely. In her work helping people navigate change and build courage, she consistently emphasizes that growth requires releasing old patterns that no longer serve us. Her approach isn't about throwing away your experience—it's about staying open to new ways of applying what you know.
She gets that the discomfort of learning something new isn't a sign you're in the wrong place. It's a sign you're exactly where you need to be.
When Everything Made Sense
AI isn't asking us to throw away what we know—it's asking us to approach it differently, just like every other major learning curve we've navigated.
That realization changed everything for me. This wasn't about being smart enough, young enough, or tech-savvy enough. This was about being willing to sit with the discomfort of not knowing while my brain built new pathways.
The same way it had with debits and credits. The same way it had with variables and functions. The same way it had with title searches and lien priorities.
The Truth About Being a Beginner
This wasn't about AI being too complicated for regular people to understand. This was about giving ourselves permission to learn at our own pace, in our own way, without apologizing for not getting it immediately.
The mortgage industry didn't expect me to understand the chain of title on day one. Coding didn't expect me to write perfect functions without debugging. Why should AI be any different?
You've Done This Before
So if you're looking at AI tools—or any new system, really—and feeling overwhelmed, remember this: you've already proven you can do this.
You've learned new rules before. You've rewired your thinking before. You've moved from confusion to competence before.
The question isn't whether you can learn this new thing. The question is: are you willing to be a beginner again?
And if AI jargon is what's holding you back, start with understanding what these tools actually do instead of memorizing what they're called. Sometimes the simplest explanations unlock the biggest breakthroughs.
Making Hard Things Less Hard
Here's how to approach your next learning curve:
Expect the discomfort. That feeling of not knowing what you're doing? That's not failure—that's learning in progress.
Start with understanding, not memorization. Instead of cramming terminology, focus on what things actually do. (That's exactly why I break down AI terms in plain English in this video—because understanding function beats memorizing jargon every time.)
Find the patterns. Every system has its own logic. Your job is to discover it, not impose your old logic on it.
Practice patience with the process. Mastery takes time, whether it's accounting principles or AI prompts.
Ready to Stop Fighting the Learning?
If you're ready to stop fighting the learning curve and start working with it, let's figure out your next steps together. Sometimes the breakthrough isn't more information—it's a thinking partner who can help you see which learning stage you're actually in and what to focus on next.
Ready to embrace being a beginner again? Grab a SHIFT Quick Consultation and let's map out how to make your next learning challenge feel less overwhelming and more like the adventure it actually is.