In order to become successful in life, you have to acknowledge the fact that your learning never stops. And even if you are 60 years old, you will have to learn new skills so that you stay up to par and are able to compete with others around you. So in this short lecture, I will be sharing with you the four stages of learning that every individual has to go through before learning something new. And moreover, I will relate these four stages with the example of driving, which I feel is an example everyone can relate to. The first stage that you will come across is known as unconscious incompetence. Or in other words, you don't even know that there is a skill set that needs to be learned.

Now, if you can recall and go back in the days when your parents used to drive you to school, that was a time where you had no clue that driving was something that you will have to eventually learn. Now, professionally speaking, when you start your careers, there will be a lot of skills that you will have to learn in order to climb the career ladder. So this stage is at the very beginning, where you don't even know that you are incompetent. After this comes the second stage, which is known as conscious incompetence. Or in other words, you have realized that you need to learn something in order to progress further. Again, if we talk about driving, maybe when you were around 16 years old, this was a time where you realize that you have to learn how to drive so that you can become more independent, hang out with your friends, and do a lot of other things which cannot be mentioned over here.

After this comes the third stage, which is known as conscious competence, or in other words, you roll up your sleeves and take on the challenge that is in front of you. If you talk about driving, this was the time you sat behind the wheel for the very first time. I'm sure you were extremely nervous. You were adjusting the sideview mirrors the rearview mirror, your seat, and all the variables that go along with driving, and you were holding on to the steering wheel as if you were holding on to your life. And slowly and gradually you started driving. If you take a professional example, let's say public speaking, or presentations, if you're new to presentations, you will be extremely nervous, because people are looking at you, and observing each and every move that you make.

And you might end up doing the wrong things at the wrong time. But that's fine. If you do it 10 times you will gain more confidence. And if you keep practicing it over a period of time, you will become a master at it. Likewise, comes the fourth stage, which is known as unconscious competence. Or in other words, you don't even know that you're doing something and you're just going with the flow.

If you take the example of driving, this is three or four years down the line after learning how to drive and now you have become an expert at it. Now you can even listen to some music, talk to your friends over the hand three or the passenger sitting next to you. These were things that you could not have even imagined when you first sat behind the driving wheel. So these were the four stages of learning that all individuals have to go through in order to learn something new. Now again, the thing is that the more you practice it, the better you will become at it and you will look forward to greater challenges that are in front of you.