No Limits: The Art and Science of High Performance

by Mukesh Bansal

The Conscious Competence Ladder or Matrix is a model that was developed by Noel Burch in the 1970s. It explains the four levels we go through in learning a new skill. They are: Unconscious Incompetence or Unconsciously Unskilled: At this stage, we don’t know that we lack a certain skill, nor do we have awareness about the need to learn it. For example, if you work as a graphic designer for an ad agency, you might never have considered adding coding to your skill set. Conscious Incompetence or Consciously Unskilled: One day, your boss at the agency approaches you to ask if you can help build a client’s website. At this moment, you grow aware of your lack of coding skills. This is the turning point for you in your journey of learning. Conscious Competence or Consciously Skilled: In your journey to conscious competence, you seek resources, courses or teachers to guide you through an introduction to coding. You learn the fundamentals and are gradually able to apply them to actual website-building projects. However, the newness of the skills requires you to work with great concentration at every step of the way. Unconscious Competence or Unconsciously Skilled: At some point, after a few weeks or months of putting your new skills to work, the coding process begins to feel effortless. You spend less time thinking about each step, until eventually, the skill seems to be a part of you.