How to get better at anything (aka how to be patient with yourself while you learn)
By: Jael R. Bakari
Tags: Improvement, Success, Learning

TL:DR- Know where you are, find people to duplicate and carve your own lane.

I’m sure you can relate to this. You’re staring a big problem (metric, work issue, productivity, goal list etc.) and you immediately panic because you’re thinking, “I have no idea what I am doing!!!” or “I know I need to do this but how?”

Not to worry because:

You are in good company (we’ve all been there).

AND

2. I’m going to share a few of my favorite tips for moving to the next step.

But first let’s look at why improving is hard sometimes and how to get passed it.

The Learning Cycle

competency cycle

The learning cycle is how we move through different stages of competencies at the task we are doing. Put simply it measures how much time we take to think about the steps involved in the task. The more experience we have with the task the more proficient we become overall. If you look at the picture above you’ll see the four stages of this cycle. They are unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious incompetence and unconscious competence.

Breaking down the stages

Unconscious Incompetence

At this stage you don’t know what you don’t know. It makes no sense to beat yourself up at this point because simply put: you just don’t know any better.

Conscious Incompetence

Here you are aware that you don’t know something and it is uncomfortable because you want to move to a place where you can know. Think time here is pretty high but not because of lack of ability but rather you are missing some key bits of information to be able to navigate through the task effectively.

Conscious Competence

Here you have reached a point where you know what you are doing and you’re feeling a bit better now. However it’s still a little difficult because you still have to think a lot in order to get through it. Your brain is still adjusting so be patient at this stage. The most important thing here: perfect practice makes perfect; just focus on doing the right things repeatedly.

Unconscious Competence

This is the holy grail of knowledge. Once you reached this stage, it’s all muscle memory from here. Here you can literally do this task in your sleep. This stage is not reached overnight, it takes practice, dedication and limiting self-doubt by knowing where to look to correct any mistakes.

The Improvement Process

Now that you can tell where you are on the knowledge cycle, the improvement process is going to be pretty simple. The whole objective is going to be not to improve the result but rather improve the behavior that gets you the desired result.

For example: If I’m trying to become a better at organizing myself, i won’t just yell at myself for not being organized, but rather ask questions like what are some things i can put in place to help me be more organized? What tools can i use etc.

Focus on Behaviors

To do this you are going to want to do a little bit of digging and find 3 things

Find the people (at least 3) who are already at the unconscious competence stage of the cycle.

Identify common behaviors, tools and setups that they regularly use (either by watching or asking. Note : because it’s natural to them it may be hard for them to explain what they do, it’s best to give them example scenarios to get an idea of how they think about the task.)

: because it’s natural to them it may be hard for them to explain what they do, it’s best to give them example scenarios to get an idea of how they think about the task.) Practice doing what they do and create tools or checklists as a reminder to help you make the behaviors stick.

2. Find the people (at least 3) who are not proficient with this task

-Identify common behaviors and practices that they have and put this on your AVOID AT ALL COSTS lists.

-Practice avoiding what they do and create tools or checklists as a reminder NOT to do these things.

3. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!

-Build muscle memory by practicing perfectly and before you know it you will be at guru status and helping others who were once where you are.

-Find your flow and use the methods that work best.

I hope this helps. Go out there and conquer that mountain (or mole hill ☺). I’m rooting for you!