Levels of Competence

The publisher of Success Magazine, Darren Hardy, states in his bestselling book Compound Effect, “Your biggest challenge is that you’ve been sleepwalking through your choices.” He goes on to say that half the time you’re not even aware your making them.

Mr. Hardy reminded me of a process I discovered many years ago entitled The Four Levels of Competence.

We all have areas of incompetence and should have a goal to be in a constant state of learning and personal development. This is not something to be embarrassed about. It is imperative we keep growing to take our personal success to a higher level.

Here are the Four Levels of Competence and a very brief overview of the process that occurs each time you learn and master something new:

Level 1 – Unconscious Incompetence:

At this level, you don’t know that you don’t know or I have heard it said you are blissfully ignorant. If you are ignorant or unaware, how do you recognize your own incompetence?

• Failure: When we fail we are faced with a few choices. We can continue doing the same thing until we fail again. We can also quit because the pain of failure is too great or we can gain new knowledge and start fresh with a desire to learn from our mistakes and commit to not repeat this failure.
• Desire: You want to succeed! You become a sponge and acquire as much information as you can to give yourself the best chance of success. When you seek out knowledge, it will find you.
• Necessity: Sometimes events in our life force us to make change. Possibly an unexpected job loss or illness. Through this we have to take a hard look at ourselves and examine our options through a different lens or “new eyes”. Stephen Covey calls this a paradigm shift.

Level 2 – Conscious Incompetence:

At this level, an individual may not understand or know how to do something but they cannot deny there is a lack of knowledge or skill in this area.

Level 3 – Conscious Competence:

Here the individual has overcome what they didn’t know and is on the path to learning, however, it does not come automatic. They have to consciously walk through the steps each time.

Level 4 – Unconscious Incompetence:

At this level, your new skills become habits and you can perform them without conscious effort. It becomes second nature.

We are never too old to learn something new. It will invigorate you and keep you young. Whatever your pursuits, we all begin in the same place. Stop sleepwalking and begin the process today.

Have a great week!

Pierce