Four stages of competence

Okay kiddo, have you ever learned something new for the very first time? Let's say, you're learning how to ride a bike. At first, you don't know anything about it, you're unconsciously incompetent. That means you don't know what you don't know. You don't know how to ride a bike, and you don't realize that you don't know how to do it.

But then, you start to realize that riding a bike is a thing that people do. You start watching others, and you become consciously incompetent. That means you know that you don't know how to ride a bike.

So, now you decide to learn how to ride a bike. You practice, practice, practice. At some point, things start to click, and you can ride a bike! This is the stage of conscious competence. You know how to ride a bike, but you need to think about it and focus on what you're doing. You're good at it but still need to concentrate to do it right.

Finally, after a lot more practice, you can ride a bike without even thinking about it. You're at the stage of unconscious competence, which means you know how to do it so well that you don't even have to think about it anymore--it just happens naturally.

So, there you have it, the four stages of competence: unconsciously incompetent, consciously incompetent, consciously competent, and unconsciously competent.