We all have a way we learn skills. Understanding the format I’m about to explain means you can realize your power and capacity to learn more easily.
First, we are unconsciously incompetent. We don’t know what we don’t know.
Second, we are consciously incompetent. We know we don’t know and often feel less than or a bit stupid. We may also tell ourselves that we will always be this way so we don’t look to achieve more. We stop.
Third, we become consciously competent. This is when we are starting to learn and incorporate the new skills. It may be slow and some people stop here out of frustration and impatience.
But when we persevere and keep going, we ultimately hit the fourth stage of learning – unconscious competence. We can do it without really thinking.
Learning to drive a car is analogous to this. We go from not really understanding how it all works to thinking you’d never get out of the driveway without hitting something, through getting your brain, feet, eyes and hands all working in unison. Now, as you’re driving around, you probably have so many unknown bad habits, you need to go back to driving school!
We all learn skills this way – how to use time effectively, networking, communication, report writing and so on.
Action – Which of the four levels are you at in one of your skills? What do you need to do to get to the next level?
Don’t give up – keep going through this natural and universal process.