​​​​George Marcou

Learning To Drive and Learning To Learn

 

 

It can often be frustrating that while so many elements of our daily lives have become instantly available, a skill can still take a while to master.  Our attention spans and patience have been trained to expect almost instant pay-offs.  This is still not the case with learning and in particular mastering new subjects.

 

It is important therefore to recognise the learning process and gauge our progress.  We can celebrate our progress and look forward to achieving the next level of competence.

 

It is useful to compare each stage to a process that almost all of us are familiar with.  For this, the process of learning to drive is a perfect fit.  

 

 

Learning Stage:  Unconscious Incompetence 

 

This is the stage where you simply have no knowledge of the subject.  It is often characterised by the phrase ‘you do not know what you do not know’, or the harsher sounding ‘blissfully ignorant’.

 

If we put this into the context of learning to drive.  This stage would be before the student has sat in the driver’s seat.  They may even be thinking that it looks easy ‘how hard can it be?’. 

 

 

Learning Stage:  Conscious Incompetence 

 

Starting to learn about a new skill or subject reveals the subject’s breadth and depth.  You start to see how much of the subject that you have to learn in order to be proficient and with this realisation comes the shock of how much you simply do not know. 

 

Once a learner driver has tried to operate a car for the first time, the realisation sets in that it is not as easy as it looks when you see an experienced driver doing it effortlessly. 

The more you start to learn at this stage, even with the utmost motivation and enthusiasm, it can seem like an impossible set of movements and awarenesses to coordinate.    You may not have been able to start the ignitition the first time, as every modern car seems to have a different quirk. 

Coordinating the clutch movement with changing gear, takes practice.  Mirror signal…  How many things do you have to be aware of at once when you are finally moving?  It seems like you have to be looking everywhere at once.  The road ahead, the colour of the lights up ahead, the driver looking like they may pull out in front of you, the child on the pavement looking like they are impatient to cross, the car in your rear-view mirror, your speed, am I going too slow?, distance from the parked cars, your position in the road, what’s the speed limit?, the parked driver opening their door just as you approach them, the cyclist, is that a zebra crossing?, check mirrors, am I in the right gear?, who’s right of way?, what was that road sign?, is this one-way?, why did that car just beep?, am I in the right lane?

 

Is this familiar to you?
 
This experience is very different to watching an experienced driver operate a car effortlessly.  The unanticipated scale of the complex challenge involved in operating a car, especially as experienced drivers have always made it look very easy suddenly wipes out the cocky confidence that accompanied the thought of ‘How hard can it be?’.  Well now you know, and it can be enough to trigger self-doubt which can deepen the longer you struggle to get to grips with the new skills and awareness required to reach a basic level of competence.
 

The Terror Barrier is often expressed as something like  ‘I’ll never get my head around this’ or ‘I’ll never get this right’ or ‘I must be stupid if I can’t learn this.  It must be me.’
If you have ever said these things to yourself or to others when you are learning a new skill, you’re not alone.  We probably all have at some point or other.
 
If these thoughts have persisted, outlasted and beaten your enthusiasm and motivation for learning the new skill or mastering that new ability, then you may well still be convinced that you are the odd-one-out that will never:
 
Learn to drive
Play an instrument
Learn another language fluently
Grow your own vegetables
Remember the lyrics
Dance like a professional
Use Photoshop
Knit
Maintain your own car
Fly a plane
Cook like Jamie Oliver
Make you own furniture
Memorise your lines
Play snooker like Ronny O’Sullivan

Sing like a professional
Understand the mechanics of business
Do your own bookkeeping
Sell your business and products like they deserve
Take professional-standard photographs
Start your own business
Make money without being someone’s employee
Get your head around your taxation
Be able to pass essential knowledge to others who need it
Inspire others
 
The Terror Barrier stops many people in their tracks and presents such a challenge that the process of learning remains unfinished.
 
This is a shame. Especially as reaching this point means that you have developed a large enough understanding of your subject to realise how big it is and to know how much there is to learn.  In short, at this stage you are no longer blissfully ignorant.  You have learnt a lot and just need to continue learning and practicing in order to get to the next stage which is now within reach…
 
 
 
Learning Stage:  Conscious Competence
 
At this stage of learning you know what you need to know, but you still need to consciously work on it and practice.  Your new knowledge or skill is not second-nature just yet, but you are on your way.

 

A typical expression at thsi stage could be,  'I'm getting the hang of this',  or pride at being able to excercise a new skill.
 
I would characterise this as the ‘New Driver’ stage, where you have achieved a high enough level of competence to pass your driving test, but still need to concentrate and focus on the individual actions, and remind yourself of the routine order to do things in.  Mirror, signal, manoeuvre.  You may still feel nervous when driving unaccompanied and may want to double-check aspects with people who you consider to be more proficient that you.  That is a great thing to do.
 
Practice. Practice. Practice.
 
At this stage you may still forget or miss things, with concentration and practice this will be less and less of a problem, as these skills, routines and actions become ingrained. 
After a while you will forget how difficult any of it was and will make an unnoticed switch to ‘autopilot’ and the final stage in the learning process.
 
 
Learning Stage:  Unconscious Competence 
 
This is the prize at the end of the learning process.  This is the reason to push through.
With the right motivation and a positive approach, anyone should be able to learn anything.  If one person can do it, then there is the proof that it is possible.  If it is possible, then you can do it too.   Not everyone has ‘natural ability’ or pre-existing aptitude, but everyone can follow the learning that has already been laid out and the path that has already been forged.  This is how we learn and dedication turns us into experts in our own right.
You are now on autopilot, the skill is ingrained, you no longer have to run through a process in your head before committing to the action.  The skill is unconscious. 
Software download is complete!
 
How advanced do you want your new skill-set to be?  There are always higher levels of performance and difficulty, if you want to pursue a subject to it’s ultimate end.
 
 
Some subjects are so big that they have not fully been explored by anyone yet.  The depth and complexity involved in these subjects means that they will still seen as ongoing with no end in sight for a long time to come.  These subjects will continue to deliver something valuable to those with curious minds.
 
Physics
The human mind
Outer space
Medical research
The cure for cancer
The search for free, clean, accessible energy
 
Once, you have reached a high-level of mastery, you can then innovate and potentially provide a contribution to your entire field of study.
 
 
 
Learning Resources.
 
Learning has never been easier thanks to the internet and modern technology.  These sources can compliment or even replace the traditional modes of learning through books and personal tuition. 
Many people find that these forms are more suited to their preferences and feel more natural.
You can even have access to material that would not have been published before and people and places that you would not have had access to, all thanks to:
 
There is a video tutorial for almost anything now on Youtube.
An ebook for almost every subject
Simulators
Blogs
Free resources
Published research
Opinion articles
Scanned documents and electronic archives
Audio books
Images and diagrams
 
 
 
What do you need to learn to run a business successfully?