This is the last in a series of articles on the way the unconscious and conscious mind applies itself to new learning. It is a very useful paradigm to help you achieve your personal development targets in all aspects of your life, but especially in business. The next time you attend a sales training course, or a management training course, having this understanding of how your mind works will help you achieve your overall desired outcome.

The overall goal in learning is to reach a level of Unconscious Competence in the target area you have chosen to learn. Thus, in effect, your highly effective behaviour becomes habitual. A habit is the representation of the operation of our unconscious mind which affects everything we do.

We tend to incorrectly have negative connotations with the word ‘habit’, but in actual fact, the habit can be our best friend and our most powerful tool. Thanks to the brilliant work of business development gurus such a Stephen R Covey (author of the 15+ million selling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) we are beginning to see the power of the ‘good’ habit.

However, even the best experts in their field have gone through this process of learning with a certain mindset or belief system which they later have identified has held them back.

You may have heard of top level snooker players or golfers who have decided to change their playing style. In order to ‘get back to the drawing board’ they decided to go back to Key Stage Two - Conscious Incompetence, where they learn the most and move through the next two stages to complete their new growth.

If you’re looking at your own training and development or that of your staff, it would be useful to identify at what stage of learning you or they are at, and whether you or they need to go back to Stage Two to implement a positive habitual change.

Related posts:

1. The Four Key Stages of Learning – an Introduction
2. Stage Four of Learning – Unconscious Competence
3. Stage Two of Learning – Conscious Incompetence

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