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The 4 stages of competence: how we learn new skills
Welcome to The Productivity Blueprint newsletter 🗞️
We hope you enjoyed last weeks issue, where we talked about the benefits of journaling and how to potentially start this new hobby. If you missed the last post, you can catch up here 🙂
Today is all about the four stages of competence. Let’s dive in!
“By stretching yourself beyond your perceived level of confidence you accelerate your development of competence.”
Competence is first defined as the “ability to perform a task successfully”, which can be achieved through 4 different stages.
To make it easier to understand, we are going to use an example: imagine a scenario in which you are in a plane and the pilot passed out. It is now up to you to fly the plane.
Unconscious Incompetence: In this stage, we’re blissfully unaware of what we don’t know. Our confidence might be misplaced as we underestimate the complexity of the task at hand. Think of it as the stage where you believe flying a plane is as easy as taking a taxi. Awareness of our ignorance is crucial to moving forward.
Conscious Incompetence: Here, we realize just how much we don’t know. This stage involves an awakening to our limitations and a readiness to learn. It’s like sitting in the pilot’s seat and realizing that navigating an aircraft involves more than just pushing a few buttons. Recognizing our lack of skill is the first step toward improvement.
Conscious Competence: Now we start to learn and understand how to perform the task. We’re able to carry out the task with effort and concentration, like flying a plane steadily while navigating to the next airport. This stage is marked by our ability to teach others what we’ve learned, although we still need to focus intently on the task.
Unconscious Competence: At this stage, the skill becomes second nature. We perform tasks effortlessly, almost instinctively. It’s like the skilled pilot who no longer thinks about every action but performs them naturally. However, mastering a skill may lead to forgetting the learning process, which can make teaching others challenging.
The journey through these stages isn’t always linear. We often move back and forth between stages as we encounter new challenges. Ultimately, the key to mastering a skill is the harmony between our intuitive and analytical thinking.
So, to connect back to our plane flying example, can you fly a plane without training? It’s more about how quickly you can transition from naive confidence to skilled competence. The smoother this transition, the better prepared you’ll be.
TL/DR: In order to build competence in a set of skills, you must first be aware of your ignorance. Then, you must recognize your lack of skill and be open to learn/teach others what you learned about. Finally, you must be able to perform tasks almost instinctively. It is important to understand that these stages aren’t always linear and the focus falls on the balance between your intuition and the analytic part of your brain.
 | This app “gamifies” your self-improving habits and helps you build your competency. You can choose to learn new skills from Journaling to even building strong relationships, in a “gamified” way. What we love: There are levels to achieve, XP to collect, and competitions to participate in. |
đź’ˇ Challenge of the week
Challenge yourself to identify a skill you're currently learning and assess which stage of competence you're in. Then, set a specific goal to move to the next stage—whether it's acknowledging your limitations, actively learning, or striving for mastery. Share your progress and insights with us!
That’s all for this newsletter! We hope you enjoyed learning about the four stages of competence and how they apply to skill development.
Until next week,
The Productivity Blueprint Team
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