The four levels of competence – at which level are you?

So you wake up in the morning, get out of bed and prepare for the day.

At this point are you reading from a manual? an instruction booklet? a to do list?

No, you are operating at a level of unconscious competence.

You do what you need to do without thinking. You’re brain does not consciously need to engage as it’s subconscious knows the routine. It has the instructions and it follows them; to the letter.

So you’ve lost your keys – be it house or car. Did you put them in the usual place? Your subconscious is rummaging through the instruction booklet and it’s unable to help because consciously you put them somewhere you don’t usually put them. This is why we develop habits, routines – to make our life easier. The more routine our life the easier we may find it as we do not need to consciously make so many decisions – all the decisions are stored in our subconscious which we trust (usually) to “run the show”.

So the four levels?

1. unconscious incompetence – at this level you really have no idea what’s going on; what to think, feel or do. We experienced this level of competence from our earliest moments of life and this is why babies are often so wide-eyed. They are in learning mode; learning behaviour, learning language, learning experience. This is why childhood is so important as this is the stage where we develop and evolve our toolkit for doing what we do. We learn from others, we learn what is right and what is wrong, we learn what is good and what is bad, and we learn how to get stuff done – based on what we experience around us;
2. conscious incompetence – at this stage you begin to understand behaviour, language and learning. You begin to understand how to attract attention, how to nourish yourself and how to be you. You learn how to walk, slowly and gradually build confidence to the point of being able to get from A to B. You begin to understand how to structure sentences and build a vocabulary of words to communicate.
3. conscious competence – at this point you are progressing whilst still wary that you may not be fully competent and sense a degree of consciousnesss as to whether you are doing the right thing. This is the point at which a guiding hand can be of value whether it be to assist in evolving patterns of behaviour, strategies for communicating or encouraging a toolkit to inform how to understand what is meant by experience. This stage often travels through a bumpy patch during the teenage period of evolution.
4. unconscious competence – this is the level where the the toolkit, the strategies are fully developed. The behaviour, language and understanding of experience are at a level of maturity that an individual is able to achieve their full potential drawing on all they have learnt to engage, enlighten and empower them calmly and productive live life. Health and wellbeing are supported and desire and tenacity are balanced in a way to ensure stress is a motivator rather than a drain in daily life. With a clear perspective on life – unconscious competence is the optimum approach to living  wise life.

So now what?

Are you able to identify which level you are at?

Knowing that, does it offer any insight into how you are you currently “being, doing and having” in your life?

Is this insight new, or were you across it already like a rash? And if the latter, were you aware of how you are “being, doing and having” in your life? Are you self-aware? Are you self-actualised?

Being self-aware, being self-fulfilled, being self-actualised – it’s kinda the essence of life. If you’re there, that’s awesome. If not, well why not? Any emotion is yours and yours alone. Any behaviour is yours and yours alone. You are accountable for your health, wellbeing and everything else that’s rockin’ up in your life. You may like to blame others but does that really, truly help you?

Being self-aware, taking responsibility for the results in your life – this is how you can fully engage all your senses to energise into a more valuable experience of living.

It’s up to you to determine whether of not your are feeling fulfilled. It’s up to you to determine your self-worth. Don’t listen to the naysayers – they may think they can tell you whether your able or unable to do what you want to do; ultimately it is your choice.

If you are truly determined to achieve, if the desire is present within you and you are tenacious enough – you can achieve anything. The stronger the desire and the more tenacious you are to achieve you want to achieve in life, the more likely you are to achieve.

You have a wealth of wisdom at your fingertips. Read voraciously. Follow the stories of those who have succeeded in life. You will spot patterns, you will notice similarities in peoples’ stories – of the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, how they dealt with hurdles and overcame them, how they motivated themselves when they felt at their lowest ebb and how through continuous desire and tenacity they eventually achieved their prize.

So if something in life is not working for you, what level of competence are you at? And if something is not working for you, is it worth exploring why and doing something different – that might work for you?

Is it worth building a toolkit, a set of strategies to achieve what you want to achieve in life? your life? It’s your choice. It’s your call.