unconscious/conscious competence/incompetence (part 2)

In NLP, there are 4 levels of awareness in learning:

1) Unconscious Incompetence - you don't know what you don't know
2) Conscious Incompetence - you know what you don't know
3) Conscious Competence - you know what you know
4) Unconscious Competence - you don't need to know what you know

What this means is that, as a person is learning something new, he would most likely progress from (1) to (2) to (3) to (4). According to the Competence Learning Model, Level (4) of awareness is the highest level, where the knowledge and skill you learn is already internalized and becomes part of your habits and subsequently your behaviours.

If we take an example of learning how to drive, for someone who doesn't even know what driving a car is or feels like, he is in level (1). The moment he tries to operate the car, and realizes that he doesn't know how to drive one, he progresses to level (2). By taking driving lessons, practicing and constant driving, he progresses to level (3). After 1 year of driving, he will be in level (4).

The argument here is whether or not level (4) of awareness is in fact the highest level. Some argue that this is not very Buddhistic, i.e. that you are not mindful of your actions. And sometimes because of this, people become lax. Continuing from the driving example, more often than not people who have been driving for 20-30 years will feel complacent, comfortable that their driving is flawless. And when they begin to let their guard down, that's when accidents can potentially happen.

That's why there is an additional level of awareness, let's call it level (5):

Conscious Unconscious Competence

What it means is that you know that you don't need to know what you know.

You are aware that you don't need to consciously operate the clutch, the steering wheel, the gear shifts, the balance between the gas pedal and the clutch, the hand brakes, the mirrors. Because all this is already internalized in your mind, you don't need to think about it. But you are aware that you don't need to think about it, hence it is not mindless actions, but more of "reflex actions" that bring your awareness to the greatest height.

Prioritization

Many times your colleagues will rush up to your desk with an alarmed look in their faces, telling you to complete an urgent task!

"This is very urgent, priority number 1!" So they say.

But, have we ever thought of what urgent means? Wouldn't it be better if we do the important things first?

OK, firstly, some definitions.

Urgent - Compelling immediate action or attention
Important - Strongly affecting the course of events or the nature of things; significant
(definitions from dictionary.com)

By simple rule of combinations, we can see that there are 4 extremes of urgency/importance that can be derived:
1) Not urgent / Not important
2) Urgent / Not important
3) Urgent / Important
4) Not urgent / Important

How does this all fit into prioritization?

When we perform a task, we have to ask ourselves under which category will the task fall. Which is the best sequence to tackle tasks?

(3) -> (4) -> (2) -> (1)

Ideally, we should finish things which are urgent AND important. Examples? The immediate numbers needed to produce a sales quotation that needs to be submitted NOW!

If we continually finish all items under (3), we find that soon, we will be left with tasks under (4). And here is where we have to discipline ourselves to complete the (4) tasks instead of dwelling on the (2) tasks. Why?

Because (4) are more important, will have more impact to the results generated. Whereas, you can consider (2) as things which may seem to be screaming at you for attention but wouldn't mind being pushed to a later time. Examples of (4): the final marketing presentation that needs to be completed within 5 days time for the presentation to corporate clients. Just think of it this way: if we postpone (4), sooner or later it becomes (1) (3).

Now we can start to work on those pesky (2), which are time-sensitive but low on importance value. These are: replying to your boss on your birthday for staff parties, answering your instant messages asking you where to go for lunch, replying that SMS wishing you all the best for your upcoming exams.

Finish enough of (2), and your life will be much simpler, less cluttered and less stressful. Because now you are only left with (1), and you can sleaze your way through!

But hold on ... even within (1), you can still prioritize into the 4 categories! The same goes for all the other categories too. This highly disciplined form of time management can seem daunting at first, but with enough practice and diligence, it will become a good habit to keep.

To conclude, writing this blog entry now is at category (1).

:)

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Yummy! Chocolate! Lots of sweet, toothaching chocolate and candy!

From the imaginations of Roald Dahl and Tim Burton, this highly creative children's tale brings the adventures of Charlie Bucket & Willy Wonka to the giant screen.

The story is about an ordinary kid who gets a chance of a lifetime to visit the longtime closed-to-public chocolate factory owned by Willy Wonka, the eccentric and socially-challenged owner of the Wonka Chocolate Factory.

The factory itself is the main attraction of the movie. From hot bubbling chocolate waterfalls and rivers to edible grass and trees, magical candy-making machines, squirrel squad to remove the walnuts from their shells... the amazingly colourful world is brought to life in an almost cartoonish manner.

Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka to a likeable level, except when he does his gag of crashing face first into his rocket-powered glass elevator. Charlie's crooked house is an amazing piece of movie prop design. And the supporting cast of the 4 children and their parents provide the avenue for Burton to exercise his gothic flavour of comedy. You will be able to watch the greedy fat boy turning into chocolate, an over competitive girl turning into a giant blueberry, a too-intelligent-for-the-average boy turning into a miniature (subsequently flattened and stretched), and an overly pampered girl covered in rubbish.

While the story is simple in nature, Burton decides to put some depth into the Willy Wonka character by providing a back story to his Freudian slips, charting how his precarious relationship with his dentist father created the Willy Wonka that he was.

Nonetheless, this movie will be a candy fest for the eye, so sit back and enjoy the movie!

unconscious/conscious competence/incompetence

UPDATED: 6:55PM

This is a very brief and good analysis of the Competence Learning Model.

ORIGINAL POST:

unconscious incompetence
conscious incompetence
conscious competence
unconscious competence

(more updates later)

Are passion and strength mutually exclusive? (part 2)

I asked a question in an earlier post, which has garnered 2 responses to my attention.

Are passion and strength mutually exclusive?

Response 1

i believe that my passion will drive to the strengthening of my strength. with passion i can drive it towards my strength but with strength, it will not drive my passion. with passion, it will drives me to go another step further, but with strength it will only takes me as far as i want to go.

-->Very deep...

Response 2

it must have strong correlation with the co's vision, mission, goals &objectives
becoz to really harness and build a person, the orga plays a HUGE role
to me its not mutually exclusive
make sure there's a balance of both passion and skills
Efficiency+Effectiveness = f(passion) x f(skill)
help ppl identify what is their strength in skills and passion; some ppl think they know, but they actually dont, until someone tells them

-->Err... right...

Any more responses? Feel free to drop in the comment box

An opportunity (part 2)

My training has been confirmed!

Meetings

Meetings are time wasters: myth or fact?

In truth, properly conducted meetings are not time wasters, but are an essential step toward achieving decisions and solutions.

Normally, people conduct meetings with the intent of discussing ideas, presenting information, and brainstorming. While this is not wrong, it is also not efficient.

Discussing ideas can be conducted in small working teams. Information dissemination can be done via e-mail or other forms of communication. Brainstorming will be more effective when done in an informal setting.

So what should meetings be used for?

Making decisions.

When a decision needs to be made that require the input of all parties involved, it becomes necessary and more efficient to hold a meeting that gathers all the parties together. By presenting their respective points and options, the meeting participants can come to an agreement on the decision to be made, or the team leader/chairman can decide on behalf of the group. In any case, the meeting should end with the feeling that something has been achieved.

I'm not sure how else to write this, so maybe I'll keep the points for another blog entry.

Leaders

If you want to be treated like a leader, BE a leader!

I may be just an engineer, and the general perception of engineers are people who will work and work and work to solve a problem, will not be very interested in dealing with people, etc.

But just because your title is "engineer", it doesn't stop you from exploring other avenues of growth. Take challenges to lead work teams. Learn management and leadership skills from books, mentors and training workshops. Assume leadership roles whenever difficult situations are presented. Learning how to cope with disaster is key toward effective leadership.

Pretty soon, even though your title is "engineer", people will naturally come to you for guidance, leadership and decisions. You no longer have to work and work and work to solve a problem. You need to make the right decisions in order to make the work happen!

Of course there will be people perfectly contented with being the worker. That is not bad at all; in fact, without workers, a world full of leaders will run into chaos and unproductiveness.

For me? I do like to work. I like to analyse, dwell into the intricacies of problems and solutions, find ways to tackle different situations. But thinking from a different perspective, assuming the leadership role is also work! It's working with people, it's motivating people, it's ensuring that the workers do the work! When you see it from this point of view, nobody has the right to criticize leaders for not doing any of the hard work. Because the most difficult work is to correctly and efficiently assigning work to the correct workers. The most demanding task of a leader is to make right decisions and learn to improvise should the decision backfire.

The most important thing a leader should be is "confident and decisive". Amidst a swarm of engineers who can prescribe 1001 ways of solving a problem, we need ONE good leader to choose ONE good solution and make it happen!

Where do I want to be?

I have never given a comprehensive answer to this question.

Generally, I know that I want to be financially independent by age 35. I also want to have the freedom to do anything I want at any time without any restrictions.

But that is a very long term goal. I have never set any medium term goals before.

For example, where do I see myself within 1 year? 2 years? In 6 months?

I must think of myself as an organization. I must be able to define what is my vision, mission and purpose in life. Only then can I move forward with my marketing plan and strategies, selling my "products" and services. Chart my long term action plans in order to achieve the ultimate goals I have set for myself.

So, from now, I shall try to think of myself as a corporation :P

An opportunity!

A colleague of mine who was scheduled to go to a training had to pull out. An opportunity was presented to me. There is a chance to upgrade myself!

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is the topic, and hopefully if all goes well it'll be one of my stepping stones toward achieving the managerial dream! :)

Leaders don't need to do the technical work... Leaders need to make the decisions.