Yay for the Four Learning Stages and Zumba!

I have reached a new level of incompetence in Zumba. I had always been more of a “free style” girl when it comes to dancing – thought I was a bit of alright too. This morning that illusion was somewhat shattered! For those of you who know about the Gordon Training International’s (or Abraham Maslow depending on who you credit the original model to) Four Stages for Learning Any New Skill …..I was at the unconscious incompetence stage going into the class (that is, I wasn’t aware of my incompetence). Within about 2 bars into the first song, I was acutely aware that I was now at a stage of conscious incompetence (I knew I was crap at Zumba). There was a moment when old wiring kicked in and I thought, “now is the time to escape – don’t linger in pain and embarrassment”. Unlike the young girl behind me, something in me decided it was good for me to be there – totally incompetent, aware of the fact, and trying to stay with the program as set by the instructor.

I thought about that girl who walked out when she realised she was up for a challenge. I wondered how she faced anything that was outside her comfort zone. My, possible erroneous assumption, was that she might do a runner.

It also got me thinking about the importance of allowing ourselves to be totally incompetent at something, until we get that small flash of competence, which, in turn, releases that little charge of dopamine and the voice inside my head saying “See, you can nail this”. “This” was only a little bit of the class that was a left over relic from old aerobic days (the grapevine move) – non-the-less, I reminded myself that, more often than not, incompetence comes before competence. The only way to move between the two is to persist with attempting to model the right behaviour consistently until my neurology gets its tentacles around the whole business.
I reckon we must be prepared to not get things perfect when we are learning. And if we learn every day, we must accept imperfection is perfect on a daily basis. It seems that conscious competence (the learning phase where you are still consciously thinking about the steps, but are competent at doing them) is still some way off in regards to Zumba for me. In the meantime, I have the opportunity to laugh at my hilarious attempts at perfection in the mirror.

If you are a leader in your family or workplace, or you want to be a better leader in your own life, I would like to encourage you to be prepared to be incompetent with something new and take the opportunity to enjoy your attempts in the process. You will be amazed at the buzz from neurotransmitters you will get when you see a glimpse of competency (we feel good when we make new neurological connections, which creates more energy!) and you will be demonstrating to others that it’s ok to be at the level you are at knowing that, with persistence and a smile, you will move (eventually!) towards the ultimate…..unconscious competence!!! Yay! That’s the bit when you can do it well, without even thinking about it!!

So, thanks today go to the 4 Stages of Learning a Skill and to Zumba for reminding me of the beauty and the joy in being my imperfectly perfect self.