Permission to Practice
We’ve all heard it said, “practice makes perfect.” Whether you’re learning to play an instrument, taking on a new job, or figuring out how to develop a spreadsheet, giving yourself time to practice — time to repeat the required skills over and over again — is what leads to mastery.
Years ago, I learned that practice requires one to move through the following stages: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, unconscious competence. In other words, when you start to practice something, whatever it might be, there’s actually a stage at which you are very aware of the mistakes you’re making (conscious incompetence). During this stage, it is essential to give yourself permission to continue to practice, and more importantly, to be incompetent without judgment, knowing that the current incompetence will pass and give rise to a level of competence after a period of time. What I’ve noticed is that many people struggle with practicing without judgment.
Admittedly, letting go of the judgment can be challenging. After all, you’re wanting to move on to the next level, to prove to yourself that you are capable of whatever skill you’re working toward. What I know for sure, however, is that adding judgment to the equation often just holds you back. It keeps you in conscious incompetence longer than necessary.
Understand, I’m not suggesting that you pretend you’re competent before you are. This isn’t about ignoring incompetence. This is, however, about being aware without making yourself bad, slow or wrong in any way. It’s about allowing the incompetence to simply be part of the process. Why? So that you can truly learn and move on.
So, what is it that you are striving to learn? What skill are you wanting to add to your toolkit? How willing are you to practice, practice, practice (aka, get it wrong, get it wrong, get it wrong) before you get it right? The more willing you are to hang out in the practice space without judgment, to hang out in the practice space with awareness, the quicker you will move to the level of conscious competence and eventually unconscious competence, otherwise known as mastery.
Bottom-line: if mastery is your objective, you need to give yourself permission to simply be aware of where you’re at, knowing that this awareness will propel you forward like nothing else.
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