Becoming More Creative

NEWS & DEALS!

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Now there are four stages that we see in the development of skills of expertise. And regardless of the type of work that you do, the type of creative work you do, maybe you're in marketing, maybe you're in design, maybe you're an architect, maybe you're musician, maybe you're building a startup, you're an entrepreneur, you go through these four different stages to achieve real expertise and mastery of what you do and want to take you through each of these just now, as I take you through these four stages, I want you to reflect and maybe ask yourself, where am I on this stage? What point are you on this journey? And what do you need to do in order to get to that next stage in this four-stage process? - Becoming More Creative

Unconscious Incompetence

So the first stage that we often see is what we called Unconscious Incompetence. This is the stage if you learn anything new, a job or profession, a skill, a craft, where you even know that you're doing it badly, you don't even know that you're not very good at it. There are there's, there's also a joy to this as well, there's a beginner's mind, as they say, in Buddhism, where you just kind of go into it. And you just go for and you try different things. It is the guitar player who's learning guitar for the first time, just picks up the guitar and starts playing some strumming some notes and thinks I can make a few chords and get a song here. At this point, they're probably not even aware of how far they have to go to really develop mastery because they can get a basic sound on it, or someone, let's say is doing online marketing, for the first time they run their first-ever online ad campaign got that wasn't that difficult, you know that I was able to do that.
But there's a real difference between them. And when you get to the real experts. And that's why I want to get you through these stages. So this first stage is unconscious incompetence, where you don't even know yet quite how bad you are, how lacking in skill you are in this particular thing. And it's fine, we all go we all this is where we all start from - Becoming More Creative

Conscious Incompetence

The next stage is we go is to Conscious Incompetence. This is the stage where you realize how little you really know how far you have to travel on this journey. Now, this stage, some people will just get there and they'll go, I'm not willing to put in the work to kind of get there, I realize I can see where I am, I can see the quality of what I'm putting out, I can see where the people that I admire that kind of what they're doing. And it's so far, that journey, I'm just going to give up.

But for those that do decide to continue, it's about embracing that knowledge, of being quite conscious of how far your work is, and being finally realizing that this is a journey that you're going on every single creative person goes through this steam stage as well. - Becoming More Creative

Conscious Competence

Now, the third stage is Conscious Competence. This is the stage where you can actually do it now you can, you've really developed enough skill to be able to make this thing happen to be able to move the needle to be able to create that campaign to be able to produce that product produced that service. So you have enough knowledge now to create something of value. And, and it's good. And it's and it's pretty good. But it still requires you to be very, very have a huge level of concentration, in order to be able to just do it. So you can do the work. But it just requires a huge amount of effort on your part still, sometimes doesn't feel particularly natural. You're feeling your move, sometimes you have to force certain things, you have to try certain things. It can be a little bit frustrating. But once again, you're still growing. And you're now at this third stage of mastery. - Becoming More Creative

Unconscious Competence

And then the fourth and final stage is unconscious competence. Unconscious Competence is where you have such mastery and such skill, such expertise in what you do. It feels effortless. You're not even thinking about it. It's like if you've ever spent time with many great musicians, and you ask them, What are you thinking when you're up there on stage and playing that incredible piece? And they'll say something like, well, I wasn't really thinking I was just doing it. I was just creating.

And I think that's the jump when you go from that previous third stage where you are having to really think about things and give it a lot of mental firepower to that fourth stage where it becomes such an integral part of your identity and who you are. And you've developed the muscle memory, whatever that thing is to be able to create it and it looks effortless and is funny.

Even the media at times those people that have achieved that higher level, can sometimes get looked down upon because it looks like they're not really doing anything. There's like no work going on, they just kind of things just happen. Some people call them lucky, you know, you know, these things just happen. And sometimes it's easier for us to look at people who are a little bit earlier in the journey because we can see the pain, we can more quickly identify without pain, and that challenge of having to learn any new skill or a new discipline. But if you look at the real top, and whatever they are, you will see this effortless mastery. And I think we then go back in a circle again. Because in that effortless mastery, and being able to do things, there's that beginner's mind, again, there's a freshness of feeling because it feels very natural, it doesn't feel forced, like the very early stage of unconscious incompetence.

So these are the four stages, think about them in what you're doing just now in the creative what you're doing. Maybe I also think maybe you're learning a new skill recently, for the first time, chances are, you're gonna be that very first stage, and that's fine. Maybe you're most you know, you got many decades of experience in the job that you do, maybe a little bit further up, maybe you're right at the, at the top there and a level of mastery. I think when we understand this idea of these four stages to becoming really creative, really great in your creative work, then allows us to relax a little bit more. And to recognize this is all part of the journey. My name is James Taylor. Thanks for watching. - Becoming More Creative