The Four Stages of Learning
Learning anything occurs in stages.
No skill can be mastered immediately and gaining proficiency takes practice, patience and time.
Nevertheless, it can be helpful to be aware of the different steps involved.
Doing so will help you to make sense of your feelings and to understand where you currently are on your journey.
In psychology, it is referred to as the ‘conscious competence’ model of learning and it is divided into the following:
Stage 1 - ‘Unconscious incompetence’
This is ground zero - when you aren’t even aware that you don’t know how to do something. Because of this, you might not recognise the value of acquiring the skill. Therefore, it is critical at this stage that you have a strong stimulus to learn.
Stage 2 - ‘Conscious incompetence’
This is when you are aware that you’re not very good at something. You are making lots of mistakes but you start to see the value in acquiring the skill. Mentally, this is often the most challenging stage to overcome.
Stage 3 - ‘Conscious competence’
You know how to do something. However, it is still a very deliberate and conscious process. It is not an ‘automatic’ process yet.
Stage 4 - ‘Unconscious competence’
You’re now so good that you don’t even notice how you’re doing it. The skill has become like ‘second nature.’ You are well on your way to mastery.
The above model applies to learning anything in life.
Knowing it helps you to be more self-aware which ultimately helps you to be a better learner.
After all, learning how to learn is as important as identifying what to learn.
