4 Stages Of Learning Anything
When we start anything new, we have to understand that we will probably be terrible at it. That’s not always the case at the beginning, but it is almost always true that we will hit a point when we realize how much we don’t know. I’ll be honest; school was generally pretty easy for me. I got the concepts pretty quickly and did well on tests without studying. That was until I took a Biology 201 course in my junior year of high school.
I went into the first exam with my usual level of preparedness. I had looked through my notes the night before and “studied” for all of 20 minutes. Now, I had no business being in a weed-out-level college course, but I was bound to hit this lack of preparedness wall at one point or another. I got my first test back and made a 57, which included a 13-point curve. That was definitely a wake-up call, and I finally figured out how to actually study for exams in a way that works for me. (Most people are very overwhelmed by how I study, and maybe I’ll post pictures on Instagram so you can see, but it’s what works for me). I finished the class with my first “B” which I couldn’t have been more proud of.
The value of a situation like that happening in a school scenario meant that the only choice I had was to buckle down and figure it out. I guess technically, it was an option for me to pretend like nothing had happened, but I most certainly would have failed that class at the rate I was going, which would have had some pretty significant effects on the rest of my schooling. The same isn’t true when this happens with our dreams, though. We go through four stages of learning any new thing, and it is so easy to quit something that isn’t mandatory.
1. Unconsciously Incompetent
We don’t know what we don’t know. Any knowledge that we do have is all the information we think we need. We are king of the hill in whatever new venture we are starting. If you know anything about the Dunning-Kruger Effect, this is what we would refer to as the peak of Mt. Stupid. We think we’re at the top when the reality is we’ve barely made it out of the parking lot.
2. Consciously Incompetent
We finally hit our “Oh my gosh, there’s so much I don’t know” moment. This is when we realize that we suck at this. This is where people quit. This is referred to as the valley of despair. The mountain seems too high to climb. There is too much to learn, and we start to think that maybe we aren’t cut out for this. Be patient. If we stick with the process through this hardship, great things will come.
3. Consciously Competent
We have started to figure this thing out. This is known as the slope of enlightenment. We’ve found a system that works for us, and now we have the knowledge or skill level to execute the plan. It may not be natural at this point, though. We still have to think about it, and we will still make mistakes, but this is where our work and confidence start to gain some traction.
4. Unconsciously Competent
These things have become as natural as breathing to us. This is the plateau of sustainability. We walk with confidence in our knowledge and skills. The activity simply becomes part of us. It is the kind of thing that we could wake up out of a dead sleep at 3 in the morning and complete.
I don’t care what dream you are chasing. You will go through this cycle. If the dream is to run a marathon, we may not hit the consciously incompetent mark until we struggle to get past 15 miles. Or maybe we don’t struggle until we get some sort of injury that we have to learn to care for and push through. Then, we become consciously competent as we make sure to land our feet at the correct angle or make ice and heat part of our daily routine. Then, we become unconsciously competent when we naturally run in a way that doesn’t further injure ourselves, and the remaining pain becomes just part of it.
The most important thing is to know this cycle and know where we are at with it. This way, we can be better prepared to fight through the consciously incompetent stage. It will be challenging, but knowing that we are on the right track with a way out makes the pain easier to endure. I think I am just starting to hit that stage with my writing. I am becoming more and more aware of the hurt in this community and how little I know that can actually help people in need. I need to make learning and research a much bigger priority so that I can actually accomplish what I set out to do.
I have also hit a point where life is very hectic. We are in and out of town every other week up until our move in January. And when we are home, things are crazy trying to wrap up the sale of our house, prepare for the move, and say see you later to the people and places we have loved. It has made finding time to write much more difficult. Even now, I am writing in my car while in the parking lot waiting for a doctor’s appointment because this was my best window. I have to push through this part where writing is hard to make it to the other side where, even in the crazy times, it fits very naturally into my life.
We have to have grace for ourselves in this process. The reality is I’ve only been doing this for six months. And this is my first time doing it while going through some significant life events. It’s all very exciting, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. We need to give ourselves time and room to grow so that we can push through to competence because I promise if we stick with the process, our dream will once again feel like it was created just for us.