Self Development Idea (9) - Recognize that We Don't Know What We Don't Know

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The diagram above is known as the “conscious competence learning matrix”, it shows that mastering a skill divides into four different stages.

In stage 1: Not only that the person does not know how to do certain thing, but also that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. In this stage, the person is just like a new baby.

In stage 2: The person has exposed to some new skills that other people can perform well, while he doesn’t know how to do it. In this stage, the person is just like a curious kid.

In stage 3: The person has put in effort to learn the new skill that he is interested in. He can then perform the task with full concentration. In this stage, the person is just like an apprentice.

In stage 4: The person can perform the task with ease as he already mastered the skill. The skill becomes his habit of handling any situation or task. In this stage, the person is the Champion in that field.

Well, this is just a very brief summary on the topic, and there are many literatures can be found in the web on this topic if one is interested… (Just search for “consciousness competence”.

On the other hand, based on this concept of this learning model, I think that there is one very interested aspect that we can questions and find some insights out of it…

Let imagine that we can quantify the number of skills in each of the different stage. How big would it be for each of them at any time? The picture above is designed to illustrate the relative size of each stage.

For example, the stage 1, “We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know.”, is by far the biggest as compare to the other 3 stages that it can only show an extremely small portion of it in our computer screen.

For any adult the stage 4 would be the second largest, although it is extremely small compare to stage 1. This is because that for any skill that had been mastered, it becomes part of the person behavior as a habit. It is like everyone has a "Wisdom Pot" that can keep all the skills that we had mastered for a life time. J

The stage 3 is the smallest, as we can only focus in learning one skill at a time.

While stage 2 is larger than stage 3, but one has the choice to choose whether to learn or ignore it.

Now, imagine that we can plot a curve for a person’s stage 4 against the time (or age)… How would it look like? How would the curves be different for a mediocre, an above average, and a super-achiever in life? I am sure you get the idea... The chart above illustrates the difference.

The next question would be... Given that everybody has the same among of time a day (24 hrs), How Come that the Super-Achiever can learn so much more valuable skills that the others cannot?

Perhaps that a quote by Jim Rohn, on personal development, can fully answer this question:->

"Learn to Work Harder on Yourself than You Do on Your Job.

If you work hard on your job, you can make a living.

If you work hard on yourself, you can make a fortune."

Well, this is especially truth in today environment... As a survey made in 2008,

"Given that The median years a person stays in one job is 4.1 years (2008), an avg person will have to have 7-10 jobs."

Picture source from:-> Graduation Thesis

"We are all beginners, and indeed the hopefulness of life is in the realizing
that there are such vistas of unending possibilities before us, that
however far we may advance, we shall always be on the
threshold of something greater."
- Judge Thomas Troward

"One can not escape a prison if he do not know he is in one."

- unknown