What are the four stages of Competence ?

Whenever you take up a new skill or hobby, there are four stages of progressions you go through, till in the end you become a master. The four stages of competence are:

Unconscious incompetence
Conscious incompetence
Conscious Competence
Unconscious Competence

Unconscious Incompetence

It simply means you do not know the things that you do not know. I know it sounds confusing, so to further simplify it, let’s take an example of a Rubik’s cube. When you first buy it, you do not know that you cannot solve the cube that easily.

Conscious Incompetence

Continuing with the above example, you have arrived at a stage, where you realize that you don’t know how to solve the Rubik’s cube. So, basically it means that you know what you don’t know.

Conscious Competence

Over time, you slowly and slowly learn how to solve it, but you are no master yet, and can solve the cube, but only slowly and steadily, and always think twice before making a move. So basically cautious and careful. To sum it up, you know how to do it, but have to always think your way through it.

Unconscious Competence

This is the last stage of progression, and in this you are a master at that very thing. Taking the same example as Above, you now can solve the cube at higher speeds and efficiently, without thinking twice as before. In short you can perform that task with the unconscious part of you brain.

The above four stages can be indirectly connected to the the intellectual, physical and emotional stages, which are given below

Intellectual : You know it, but can’t physically do it.
Physical: You know how to do it, but always have to think twice
Emotional: You have been a master in that task by now, and that task has become a part in your daily routine with an emotional attachment to it.