Learning how to learn

Most of the time learning something new involves anxiety and tension in your life, and maybe even some self-doubt. The energy created in learning new things can turn negative and can even lead to avoiding growing if we don't handle it in a positive and constructive way.

I'm learning this in spades as I learn to start up a new business. Building my own website, managing domains and e-mails, setting up e-commerce accounts, registering for an LLC, and fine tuning materials to help people in their career all require new skills that I haven't used before.

This process of learning in all of these activities reminds me of a process I learned a long time ago that brought me great peace as I was struggling to gain new skills in my career. It's a super easy process to understand and has immense power in alleviating stress and anxiety as you learn new skills.

The 4 step process is shown in the picture below (graphic credit to athleteassessments.com)

Think about anything that you learned in the past few years. It may have been playing the guitar, using a video conferencing system, a new language, or anything new in your life. You most likely walked through each of the following 4 steps:

1. Unconscious Incompetence: You don't know what you don't know, or even that you don't know it. It doesn't mean that you don't understand the value, it's just that you don't know what it all involves or even what questions to ask. I think of my first 5 years of flyfishing as an example. How I struggled to learn on my own was a process of slow discovery of what I didn't know. It wasn't until I hired a guide that I was able to understand what I didn't know.
2. Conscious Incompetence: This is usually where the anxiety sets in, and in my experience is where the greatest opportunity for quitting exists. This is where you realize how bad you are (in the beginning) at something new. You are aware all of a sudden of what you can't do very well. It's easy to give up at this stage, but if you understand that it's normal and an expected part of the process, it becomes easier to accept and keep going.
3. Conscious Competence: This is where we start to meet with some initial success. It's still really hard because we are focusing on the new skill and it feels like a lot of work. For example, in perfect conditions I learned to cast a tiny fly across a river to a pod of rainbow trout, and a couple of times out of 10 or 20 casts it would land perfectly on the water where the trout would come up and eat the fly. At that very moment I learned it was one thing to have a trout eat your fly, it was an entirely different thing to actually catch a trout. Immediate success was met with a full understanding that I had a ton left to learn. But at least I was doing something right!!!!!!
4. Unconscious competence. This is where you fall into a zone and it all comes together. You really don't think about it. This is where I learned how to cast a fly to a trout, avoid the trees behind me, land the fly perfectly on the water, wait for the exact right moment to set the hook when the trout ate the fly, and carefully manage the currents and the fish to the net, wet may hands so as not to hurt the trout while handling them, and gently release them back into the river. Hours and hours go by and I'm doing things I literally could not possibly do just a few years ago. I am successful at the skill, yes, and I still meet obstacles and challenges, but I meet them now with a newfound confidence and hardwired skill that continues to grow over time.

There is never a shortage to learn something new in this world. Sometimes the world thrusts us into the arena as occurred during COVID-19, other times the desire to learn and grow comes from within. It doesn't really matter why we are learning something new, only that we are open to learning something new every day and that we enrich our lives with newfound skills, habits, or even a new way of thinking.

Hopefully this 4 step construct gives you confidence to learn new things easier and with less anxiety. I know it has for me and that is my hope for you.

Thank you for reading?The River, and if you have enjoyed it please subscribe to receive notification of future articles. For more professional development material, check out?www.therivercoach.org.

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A special thank you to those of you who have posted comments to share your experience and advice. I'm grateful as these interactions inspire me, and I'm certain it has helped others in their journey.