Reading GuruBob’s blog I re-discovered the 4 Stages of Competency. It seems that as we go through life and learn new skills we go through these four stages/ phases of competencies. Everyone goes through them and we can actually be really competent in some areas and totally incompetent in others (me and ten pin bowling). Instead of having a big moan it’s useful to pin point at what stage one is in and then be clear about what one can expect to be feeling and doing. The Four stages of Competency are:
Not aware you lack a skill (Not knowing what you don’t know)
Aware you lack a skill (Knowing you don’t know)
Actively working at a skill although it requires a lot of effort (Trying to know)
So skilled that you no longer have to even know about it.
We can take this competency matrix and put it in the analogy of learning to first drive a car or any skill. Before you start laerning, most teenagers would have no idea how much they don’t know. When I was starting to master a clutch, and as the car shuddered and lurched forward I became acutely aware of how bad of a driver I was and how bad I was at driving my dad’s car. As time went on, I started to put the peices together and I worked hard on learning to drive. But it took countless hours of practice and many mistakes. Do you remember the first time you need to turn a corner, over take or change gears through a round about? Now I can happily class myself in the ‘so skilled I now no longer have to consciously think about it.’ I can listen to music, look at scenery, occassionally eat something and (naughtily) make a phone call. In fact, sometimes it’s so much on auto pilot I’ve been many a time known to drive straight home when I was actually needing o go past it – it just happened by condition!
At the moment I am hovering between Stages 2 -3 in regards to Internet Marketing and Stages 3 -4 in terms of Art. GuruBob continues in a later blog post about how we can more easy move through the stages. Two factors seem to be really important in moving through the stages and they seem to be:
Motivation – are you internally or externally motivated? Are you motivated by pain or pleasure, or motivated to move towards a goal or away from something?
Ability to follow through and the length of time it takes to be successful.
Being motivated from the inside without having to be told to be really helps you attain your goals. But the second part of that is the following through and continuing to learn until you no longer have to ‘consciously’ think through the steps. In regards to the time to being successful it all depends on the individual. We all know people (depending on the circumstance) that give up on something after a few tries but in other situations cling stubbornly to their guns, impervious to mortal cares such as sleep and conversation until they have attained their goal (Me and God of War).
Along the way to reaching your big goals it helps if you give yourself small rewards after you’ve reached small milestones along the way, but only AFTER you’ve done them and not before!
I know I can reach my goals if I follow through and take action. And so can you. Is that motivating enough?
4 Stages of Competency
We can take this competency matrix and put it in the analogy of learning to first drive a car or any skill. Before you start laerning, most teenagers would have no idea how much they don’t know. When I was starting to master a clutch, and as the car shuddered and lurched forward I became acutely aware of how bad of a driver I was and how bad I was at driving my dad’s car. As time went on, I started to put the peices together and I worked hard on learning to drive. But it took countless hours of practice and many mistakes. Do you remember the first time you need to turn a corner, over take or change gears through a round about? Now I can happily class myself in the ‘so skilled I now no longer have to consciously think about it.’ I can listen to music, look at scenery, occassionally eat something and (naughtily) make a phone call. In fact, sometimes it’s so much on auto pilot I’ve been many a time known to drive straight home when I was actually needing o go past it – it just happened by condition!
At the moment I am hovering between Stages 2 -3 in regards to Internet Marketing and Stages 3 -4 in terms of Art. GuruBob continues in a later blog post about how we can more easy move through the stages. Two factors seem to be really important in moving through the stages and they seem to be:
Being motivated from the inside without having to be told to be really helps you attain your goals. But the second part of that is the following through and continuing to learn until you no longer have to ‘consciously’ think through the steps. In regards to the time to being successful it all depends on the individual. We all know people (depending on the circumstance) that give up on something after a few tries but in other situations cling stubbornly to their guns, impervious to mortal cares such as sleep and conversation until they have attained their goal (Me and God of War).
Along the way to reaching your big goals it helps if you give yourself small rewards after you’ve reached small milestones along the way, but only AFTER you’ve done them and not before!
I know I can reach my goals if I follow through and take action. And so can you. Is that motivating enough?