Five-year old Thomas learned to ride a bike over the past few weeks. Watching him initially stagger and fall was painful for me, and the resulting bruises and abrasions were painful for him.
Alas, there are no shortcuts to learning—a truth my own skinned knees have taught me well. Instead, there are predictable stages of learning for every new skill we seek to attain.
Psychologists describe the four stages of competence, or the "conscious competence" learning model involved as we progress from incompetence to competence in any skill.
The model explains that we human beings gain new skills in the following order:
Unconscious incompetence. In the beginning, Thomas noticed other bike riders whizzing by, and it never occurred to him to wonder how they did it. He was busily focused on kicking a ball, and not really troubled by his lack of bike-riding skill. Then one day, he casually climbed up on his older brother’s bike and realized miserably that he had no idea how to make it work.
Conscious incompetence. Discovering what we don’t know is a lousy feeling. A few days later, poor Thomas was right there with his bike, wanting to ride but unable to keep it upright for more than one turn of the wheels at a time. Each mistake gave him new information about how to manage the feat.
Conscious competence. As he attained conscious competence, Thomas was thrilled to be riding his bike, but he had to work very hard to make it happen. He called out excitedly to his mom to watch, but couldn’t take his eyes off the road ahead for one minute.
Unconscious competence. When we’ve finally mastered a skill, it becomes second nature and no longer requires any conscious thought. Thomas now rides like the wind, sailing down the street with his friends as they weave in and out of each other’s’ paths.
Children and adults alike are on this continuum in every new skill. Grateful for this excellent object lesson from Thomas, I can apply it to my own incompetence as I learn an updated version of my computer’s operating system, and experience hope that, like Thomas, I will one day acquire unconscious competence—probably just in time for the next upgrade.
