Appendix V — The Psychology of Skill Acquisition

Introduction

This report focuses on the psychology of skill acquisition. That is, what goes on in your head when you set out to acquire some new skill.The Four Stages of Skill Acquisition

When you set out to acquire a new skill, achieve a new goal or form a new habit you go through a four stage process – conscious incompetence, conscious competence, subconscious incompetence and subconscious competence.

Conscious incompetence is where you are unaware of your complete ignorance on the subject.

Conscious competence is where you become aware of your ignorance on the subject. For example, when you develop your business plan and find that some skills are required which you do not have.

Subconscious incompetence is where you consciously attempt to execute the new skill but are very awkward in your attempts. This is the level of the dilettante. It is vital that you continue the internalization process until you attain subconscious competence which will then empower your thought life to a new level of performance.

Subconscious competence is where you execute the new skill habitually, automatically, flawlessly, masterfully, with great fluency, ease and in a flow state.

Triggering a Flow State

The primary way to trigger a flow state is to ask yourself or others a question. It is almost impossible for your subconscious mind to not respond to a question. Thus it is always advisable to develop a set of empowering questions. Empowering questions are questions whose answers will be empowering.

A second way to trigger your subconscious mind into a flow state is by developing great clarity of thought on a particular matter. Your subconscious mind resonates with crystal clear thinking and indeed the output of your subconscious mind is always presented to your conscious mind with great clarity.

Result of New Skill Acquisition

Until you achieve subconscious competence in the new skill you have basically wasted your time. You use your conscious willpower to internalize the subject matter to the level of subconscious competence and thereafter your subconscious mind takes over. When you have achieved subconscious competence you have acquired a new subconscious resource. Your subconscious mind will use the new skill as a resource in all its cogitations from then on. You will have taken your life to a new level and your thought process will be permanently changed. You will not think the same way as you did before and you will never again be exactly the same person that you were before. Your subconscious mind automatically goes through every permutation of the subconscious resources available and will present a solution to your conscious mind which is simple and profound.

When you increase your subconscious resources your confidence in your ability to acquire new skills (your self-efficacy) will soar. The achievability of your plans will soar and therefore the believability of your plans will soar. Your motivation will soar. Your ability to live according to your ideal behaviour will increase so your self-esteem will also soar. You will like yourself a lot more so you will be much happier. It is a virtuous cycle. The key distinction is that you must persist in the process until you achieve subconscious competence. This is how you change your life and how you create a designer mind. The process of attaining subconscious competence can be sped up with brain food, with repetition, with intensity and with group brain blitzing.

The Steps to Subconscious Competence

After you understand or comprehend the subject that you are working to acquire it takes about one week of review with normal effort to imprint the subject on your long-term memory. This is the level of the student cramming for an exam.

It takes another week of review to reach the critical mass of internalization. Critical mass is where the subject begins to be handed over to your subconscious mind as a new resource and also the reticular activating system (R.A.S.) begins to kick in. This is the level of the dilettante.

Since neural networks can atrophy with disuse it is necessary to press on further to secure the skill.

It usually takes another week of review to get from critical mass (the dilettante level) to the level of habit or subconscious competence.

Any additional review or conditioning will strengthen or intensify the habit, skill or goal being acquired and move you toward subconscious mastery which is a bonus.

Changes in Brain Physiology during Habit Formation

What is happening in your brain as you go through this process is that new neural and synaptic connections are being formed. These connections are dedicated to the new subject being acquired. The more ideas that are tied into this new neural network the more massive the neural network. The more massive the neural network the greater the skill, motivation or functionality of the neural network. Thus the proper brain nutrition can be quite helpful.

The concept is called subconscious loading, subconscious internalization or subconscious conditioning.

Acceleration of the Internalization Process

If you recall, brainstorming is the process of getting information out of your brain.

Brainblitzing, on the other hand, is the process of pounding information into your brain.

To brain blitz you meditate, cogitate, ruminate, think about, review, revise, regurgitate, repeat, focus on, drool over, dwell on, analyse, write down, rewrite repeatedly, read aloud, talk about, obsess on, act out, feel, emote, immerse yourself in, nurse, feed, coddle, grow, admire, savour, role play, imagineer, accumulate related ideas, visualize from every conceivable perspective, etc. In short you perform a full court press. It works every time.

If you brainblitz with your spouse you can get the same results five times faster than you can by brain blitzing on your own.

If you look at a picture of the homunculus, you will observe that the body is drawn in proportion to the nervous system. This tells you to type information using both of your hands in your brain blitzing effort in order to activate the maximum nervous system participation in building your new neural networks.

Another trick to use would be to recall a situation when you were highly motivated. Recall how you felt at that time and get into that state of mind. When you are in this state of mind begin your brain blitzing.

Also an adrenaline rush increases the energy available to the brain and thus increases the number of neural networks activated. Internalization can occur instantaneously under the influence of an adrenaline rush.

Recapitulation of Brain Blitzing

The concept is to saturate your neural networks with ideas (references) and create a neural network superhighway as rapidly as possible. The process is somewhat akin to “burning” a CD-ROM or a DVD.

Signposts of Progress in Brain Blitzing

When you follow this process of brain blitzing you are employing the rules, laws and principles which govern the activation of your subconscious mind.

Your goals will become a part of the working equipment of your subconscious mind and will take on an irresistible power of their own. You will be swept on effortlessly by the force and energy of your subconscious mind (the force of habit). Your goals will become the dominating obsession of your life. You will no longer have goals – your goals will take charge and sweep you on to success. Your new skills will be automatic and fluid.

Caution

You must personally experience this process in order to attain subconscious, visceral, gut-level understanding. Theoretical familiarity with the concept is useless because it does not create subconscious competence and therefore will never increase your motivation. It is very important to work your way through the process at least once so that you see viscerally for yourself what it takes and what the result is. If you push yourself through this process once you will never be the same.

Self-Motivation Revisited

Self-motivation requires compelling goals, achievable plans, all of the required skills needed in your project plus internalization skills.

To become an entrepreneur you need sales, marketing, financial, goal achievement and creative thinking skills plus product knowledge.

What Next?

Do you now know what progress indicators to look for in the internalization process? Do you now believe that you can master the internalization process and the brain blitzing process? Do you now believe that you can master any subject of your choice to the level of subconscious competence?

Could you explain the internalization process and the brain blitzing process in a simple way to other people?

Empowering Questions

1) How can I imprint self-motivation onto the neural networks of my brain with sufficient intensity to make self-motivation an automatic subconscious resource; how can I have fun in the process; how can I teach others in a simple way to do the same?

2) How can I internalize the best business ideas from the best business mentors to the level of automatic habit: how can I have fun in the process; how can I teach other people to do the same? How can I learn the process of brainblitzing so thoroughly that I can teach this skill to other people in a simple and compelling way?

Emotions

Emotion means “in motion”. To evoke an emotion recall a situation where you experienced the specific emotion. Dwell on that situation and the emotion will return. Make a list of experiences which evoke specific emotions and you will be able to evoke specific emotions at will.

The Critical Mass of Internalization

The Critical Mass of Internalization (CMI) is the minimum mass of neural networks and synaptic interconnections necessary to take a thought impulse from the passive state to the active state. The CMI connects your R.A.S. to your goal.

The Reticular Activating System (RAS)

We are inundated with external sensory information which is normally blocked from our attention. The RAS is a cluster of nerve cells located in the brain below and behind the ear. The RAS allows the mind to notice external information which pertains to our most pressing concerns.

The RAS gives motion and momentum to your goals. It quickens your receptive powers.