When you start learning anything you begin from the standpoint of what I like to call the ‘jackass’. This means you know nothing about what you are doing and where you are going. I was like this the first time I can to Excel. Now I can teach it without thinking about it. So what are the four stages of learning?
Phase 1: Jackass
When you start to learn anything knew… you don’t have a clue. You are confused, angry, annoyed, tired and alone. That’s the first stage and it’s sad to say most people will give up in this early phase. You are a complete dumbass at this level and you make mistake after mistake after mistake and just don’t seem to be learning.
Phase 2: Partial Success - or from Jackass to partial incompetence
This is when you begin to get a handle on things but you are still making big time mistakes. You fumble four times instead of five instead of five. You sort of get the hang of it, or at least think you have but ultimately you still fail. There can be no worse feeling that I have ever known then to be at this stage. One minute you are high as a kite the next you are wondering where it all went wrong.
Phase 3: The emerging champion
This is when your skills begin to shine through. Now you are failing two times out of four tries and having more success than failure. If you have ever learned the guitar you know what this feels like. It’s that magic moent when you pick up the guitar and play that song you have been practicing for years. The stars align more often than not and you are there. You just do it. Tomorrow it may not come off but today you are the emerging champion.
Phase 4: The Champion - unconscious competence
This is where most mavens wind up. They are the champions of their area and almost always produce brilliance. They are the Stephen Kings, Speilbergs and so on who even on their worst day are still better than the next person. People at this level find it very hard to tell people how they got there. They use strange sayings like: “it just clicked” or “there comes a time when you just get it.” These are amongst the few people who have become so good at something that they have in tucked away in their unconscious. I am sure if you had the chance to ask Clapton or Hendrix: why are you so good… they might answer with, “I just know what works and what doesn’t.” This is where you want to be… this level of unconscious genius!
You have to accept that learning is a process. There is a way you learn and a path that you have to follow to get to phase 4. It requires committment, determination, faith and courage. Now, there is another element… your natural ability. That is the subject of the follow up post which you will read if you come back tomorrow. 
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