Doing anything consistently will lead to Mastery.
So beware!
1. If you aren’t conscientious about what you apply yourself to consciously, you’ll just master what you practice unconsciously.
So f you don’t apply yourself to mastering feeling good about yourself, for example, then you might instead master having a low opinion of yourself. If you don’t conscientiously practice having a peaceful relationship with your beloved, you might instead master having a relationship full of conflict and yelling.
2. If you don’t learn from a mentor who knows the most effective and efficient way to do something, you might instead master a more tedious and difficult way of doing that thing.
So if you practice how to do something in seven steps that can be just as – or more – easily done in four steps. you’ll still master how to get the end result, but you’ll just be doing it the long way around.
Mastery is a PROCESS. To the degree that Mastery is also a “product,” it’s the product of practice. The greater mastery you achieve, however, often leads you to recognize at least the next possible level of mastery, and likely how much more there is to learn and achieve beyond even your level in that moment.
Here are four phases of Mastery:
1. You don’t know that you don’t even know what’s possible. (”Unconscious Incompetent“) e.g. You’re too young to know that someday you will grow up and drive a car.
2. You know that you don’t know how to do something. (”Conscious Incompetent“) e.g. You know that it’s possible to drive a car and that you will, some day, but you don’t know how to drive one right now.
3. As you begin learning / practicing something, you gain competence and confidence, but it requires your conscious attention to what you’re doing. More at first. Less and less as you learn and practice. (”Conscious Competent“) e.g. You finally begin to learn to drive. It takes a great deal of concentration at the beginning, but the more you practice, the more relaxed you become and the more “natural” it feels.
4. After constant repetitive practice, you learn to do the thing without thinking about it. It “flows.” From the standpoint that this means you accomplish things with less mental and possibly less physical effort, the danger is that you can also become less attentive, adding more risk to the activity. (”Unconscious Competence“) e.g. Mastering driving a car. You no longer think about all the things you must do – steering, braking, foot on the gas, watching the guages. It’s more effortless, but your lack of concentration and focus can lead to an accident.
(Alan Chapman writes about this model and some if it’s possible origins at THIS ARTICLE on his “BusinessBalls” Web site).
Here’s an amazing example of someone who has been practicing his skill since 1952. He’s a perfect example of “unconscious competency.” To me, his level of Mastery makes him look like an artist while he demonstrates his skill. Enjoy!
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Jay Aaron
Strategic Visionary / Visionary Strategist
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/newthoughts
Web site: http://JayAaron.com
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