The learning process has often been sabotaged because of the feelings of inadequacy people get when they make mistakes in learning a skill.
Ironically, not doing it right and making mistakes are vital steps in the learning process. Yet too often we give our attention to avoiding the bad feelings, rather than to the learning task. Understanding the four stages of learning a skill can help keep you focused on what works for you. The following are the Four Stages of Learning, according to Abraham Maslow.
Unconscious Incompetence
You don’t know that you don’t know how to do this. This is the stage of blissful ignorance before learning begins.
Conscious Incompetence
You know that you don’t know how to do this, at this point in time. This is where learning begins, and where the most negative judgments against yourself are formed. This is also the stage where most people give up.
Conscious Competence
You now know that you know how to do this. Although this stage of learning is a relief from the second stage, but you are nevertheless still self-conscious and somewhat uneasy with it.
Unconscious Competence
In this stage, the skill you have learned now comes naturally to you. It has become habitual.
