-By Mrs Sheila Vishwanath
“Folks here is a problem that appeared in the IIT Maths entrance paper, let me see how many of you can solve it, “2+2=?” and there was complete silence in the classroom. After a good 30 seconds when professor Srivatsava turned, he was rather amazed to see the perplexed faces of his students and mind you these were the top 28 students of his class who were preparing to crack the IIT entrance exam. This question was posed to them just 3 weeks before their exam. So, now let’s understand here why their key to unlock mystery regarding this simple question became non functional here.
While you are reading this, think what is it that led to this unexplainable silence in the class? Is it the problem? Is it the capability of the students? Is it the demeanor of the professor? Now you will be surprised to hear what I am going to say. When checked the students said that it was their “BELIEF”. They just couldn’t believe that the problem had a simple solution given that it appeared in an IIT exam paper. There were 2 sets of students one who dismissed the question believing it to be a prank that the professor is playing, their mind said “This is not possible”. The second set of students were trying to figure out the answer as they believed and were rather convinced that the solution to this problem has to be complex.
You know that 95% of how you think, react, behave and act comes from what resides in your subconscious mind. Get to know more about the subconscious mind by referring to our article on https://createyourdestinyyourself.com/subconscious-mind-leading-to-reality/
Four stages of Learning
When it comes to learning any new skill. The learner goes through 4 stages
- Unconscious Incompetence- A stage defined by lack of awareness. Eg: You are unaware that Gen AI will be the next big thing in your field so obviously you are incompetent.
- Conscious Incompetence- This stage is marked by awareness but no action taken. Eg: Your colleagues, your boss, competition and even the news is talking about Gen AI and its potential to be the game changer in your field. You are now in full awareness of the potential of Gen AI and will choose whether to act or not i.e. to either embark on gaining competence or dismiss the idea and remain incompetent Eg: Not everyone is a swimmer whilst everyone knows swimming is not just a form of sport but also a form of exercise, they may choose to learn swimming or choose to not do so and take up some other form of exercise or sport.
- Conscious Competence- If in the previous stage you chose to act, that is when you decide to read about gen AI , enroll for a course, learn and start building your capability around it. That is, you embark on your journey of gaining competence. This now acts as the key to unlock mastery in this field for you.
- Unconscious Competence- You then realize this is a skill worth mastering as it can be the game-changer. You put in lots of efforts and ensure you become superlative with your knowledge and skills in Gen AI i.e. Mastery. Your efforts now act as the key to unlock mastery in Gen AI.
The role of the subconscious in the learning– Jignesh’s boss is often found using the phrase “Folks let it not be a Kodak moment” what he is saying directly is that let it not be a lost opportunity. If like me you grew up in the 80’s “Kodak moment” had a whole different connotation in our lives. It meant a “responsive moment” a moment when you are at your best and you get clicked. In a matter of years, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that a whole new generation of people like Jignesh’s boss comprehend the “Kodak moment” as a “regretful moment”. If we type “Kodak debacle” google throws up close to 4,40,000 responses. We all understand that it is not for no reason that the late 90’s and early 2000’s generation looks at the “Kodak moment” being a “regretful moment”. A lot of what happened with Kodak is attributed to its management’s inability to see the immense potential of digital photography. One may argue that incompetence arising out of ignorance is absolutely fine because one needn’t be aware of everything. “Ignorance is not a bliss anymore”. In today’s era ask a 60 or 70year old if they are aware of social media and 8 out of the 10 times you are met with an astounding yes as the response. In today’s day and age, you need to believe that being receptive is the key to survival and not thriving. Receptiveness may not translate into awareness if you believe that it is not important for you or that it doesn’t matter to you then you can choose to ignore. That is the stage of Unconscious Incompetence.
However, being open to receive information is the key. Often the subconscious mind BELIEVES that the information is not important or relevant or useful to me and then CHOOSES to remain in the state of unconscious incompetence. If the choice and belief are working in tandem then it is called an informed choice and that is fine. The problem arises when CHOICE & BELIEF are conflicting. Eg: You know Gen AI is important but you BELIEVE that it is tough, that it is too vast, it is in its nascent stage, there is too much hype around it. You thus CHOOSE to remain CONSCIOUSLY INCOMPETENT. You can call this ego & lack of foresight like in Kodak’s case or simply laziness leading to procrastination or fear of failure. Whatever maybe the reason it is the beliefs in your subconscious mind that is enabling or disabling the right choice (remember the Pepsi ad that made you BELIEVE “Yehi hai right choice baby” that got you to buy the Pepsi can or bottle)
Thus, the thoughts that you feed into your subconscious plays a key role in creating beliefs that get you to make choices that move you towards becoming consciously competent i.e. learning a new skill, habit or gaining knowledge in any field.
So, these thoughts fed into the Subconscious act as the real key to unlock Mastery.
Key to unlock Mastery - Affected by choice and Belief
Get your choice and belief to work in tandem i.e. your belief should lead you to make the right choices. The question is HOW DO I DO THIS?
Let’s take the example of swimming
Let’s take Nitin who has moved out of his stage on Unconscious incompetence and is now fully aware of a sport/exercise form called Swimming i.e. he is in the stage of Conscious incompetence which is where most of us are when we are embarking on a learning journey. He decides to enroll for a swimming class the very next day.
Now Nitin is watching the Titanic movie with his sister the previous night and suddenly the seeds of fear are slowly sprinkled in his sub conscious i.e. the fear of drowning and the fear of water. Post the movie he says “Didi water is so unpredictable and dangerous” and his sister responds “Yes that is why I hate water and in fact I stay away from water”. The seeds of fear that the movie sprinkled is now slowly getting embedded in the subconscious mind after what he heard from his Didi. Nitin is about to hit the bed when he receives a notification, it is really late but he decides to watch the video (Googleji has recommended based on what he had been browsing over the last two days…. That eerie feeling when you know somebody has been stalking you😊 but more on that some other day). It was a video of Michael Phelps and wow what an inspiration said Nitin to himself and went marching to get his bag ready for the morning class at 7am. That night Nitin dreamt of himself doing the butterfly stroke in the waters and woke up all charged up at 6:30 am. He typed breathing and swimming and the 1st video that came up was “6 reasons why you are out of breath when you swim”. The opening line of the video was “Swimming is hard & can leave you out of breath!”. That was it, Nitin just shut the video and went running to the kitchen to pick up a glass of water. His mom who was in the kitchen, was surprised to see Nitin awake so early and that’s when he told her about today being his first swimming class. Mom of course is well meaning and said “I am coming with you”. “I need to supervise, hope it is safe”. “Wait I’ll get ready quickly and come with you”. She then added “let me also carry an inhaler, what if you start gasping for breath?” Nitin said “Relax mom I’ll be okay and though he said these words the seeds of fear that were embedded earlier now started sprouting with what- if questions and he felt a sudden lethargy in his body. He just wanted to ditch the class. With reluctant steps he embarks on his journey to gaining Conscious Competence.
Transcending from the stage of Conscious Incompetence to gaining conscious competence is what we call as learning. Learning anything new or reskilling or upskilling requires one to navigate the path of beliefs and choices. This learning process can be grueling and filled with challenges. There will be multiple moments when you may slip into feeding your sub-conscious with the “I cant” story and if this is what you keep feeding into your subconscious, the sub-conscious will drive you to make incorrect choices like procrastinating, avoiding and sometimes even quitting. To transcend this stage, you need to get positive reinforcements throughout this period. Enroll for the right classes, have the right mentors, be part of enthusiastic communities who discuss and share best practices…….. all this goes a long way in you feeding the sub-conscious with the “I can” story and that translates into faster and better learning. All this actually serves as the part of the journey of the key to unlock mastery.
Once you become consciously competent and enjoying the process, your sub-conscious nudges you to choose mastery which is the ultimate stage of learning i.e. Unconscious Competence or what we call as habit. You get so good at it that you are considered a Master and in normal parlance you are looked up to as an Expert in the chosen skill/field. This is a stage when you move from being a learner who learns through formal training to a learner who learns via sharing her knowledge, experimenting, challenging, discussing etc. Thus, mastery is always a WIP- Work in Progress. You need to use the power of the subconscious , which is the key to unlock mastery and in the words of the famous Henry Ford “Whether You Think You Can, Or Think You Cannot, Either Way You’re Right.”
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So helpful
Well explained. Loved the write up.
Loved reading every word. Very thought provoking.
Extremely well written and explained with interesting examples. Loved reading the write up.
You are the best Sheila!!!
Wow, excellent article and very well articulated.
This is a fantastic article that is extremely well explained. I enjoyed reading it.
A well written on subconscious mind as in this gen almost 90% of teenager or even adults are stuck in their conscious mind and day by day it’s becoming normal to all they are just playing a worst role in their conscious but the ex. you gave about the belief of student on professor Srivatsav the readers can literary relate themselves.
And your point of view on gen AI made my mind filter as i was worried about the AI gen on my course which i opted and as you said Unconscious Incompetence… so yes i was… but after reading you points took me into Conscious Competence and i realised that it could be a game changer. i would be really thankful to filter a chapter of my life.
one again thankful and all the best for your journey!
It was really Helpful!
This is a very good website 💯
Loved it…. Gaurav fire Bannerjee…🙏
Its educational as well as inspirational …well done Gaurav Fire Bannerjee 💪
Brilliantly explained
Sheila Vishwanath’s article is a well written treatise that encompasses a refreshing approach to understanding the 4 stages of Learning.
She has very beautifully brought out the elements of Belief system and making informed choices by incorporating examples from the real world of Generative AI, which for sure has a bearing on Learning any skill.
Look forward to a series of realted modules.
Best Wishes Sheila & Gaurav on your initiative.