state’. This takes time and effort to achieve, but the results are magical.
You know when you are watching a master because although you may not appreciate every facet of their skill, they make it look easy.
Learning at any level takes time. It takes about 1,000 hours to reach conscious competence at any worthwhile skill. It takes about 5,000 hours to reach unconscious competence. And it takes about 25,000 hours to reach mastery.
There are two short cuts. The first is good teaching. A good teacher will keep your level of motivation high, divide the work into manageable chunks, give you a constant series of small successes, keep you in a good emotional state and satisfy your intellectual curiosity about the subject. They will also be good at the subject themselves and accelerate your learning by being a good role model. They will not only give you the knowledge, but also a good strategy for learning it.
The second short cut is accelerated learning. Accelerated learning goes directly from stage one (unconscious incompetence) to stage four (unconscious competence), bypassing the conscious stages. NLP modelling is one way to accelerated learning.
The Learning Zone
When you are learning new ideas or behaviour, beware of two dangers:
1 You are completely stuck and do not know what to do next. You might feel anxious or helpless. You are in the ‘anxiety zone’, where the perceived difficulty of the task seems greater than the resources you have.
Stop!
Take a mental step back. Breathe deeply and think what you want to do next. What resources do you need? More information? Someone to ask? A complete break? A padded cell?
2 It all seems too easy and you can do it with one arm tied behind your back. You are not stretched enough. You might feel bored or uninvolved. You are in the ‘drone zone’. The resources you have seem far greater than the difficulty of the task.
Stop!
Take a mental step backwards, breathe deeply and then decide what to do. Maybe you can set yourself some further outcomes that stretch you. Maybe you need a break or maybe you do not need to learn that skill after all.
The learning zone is when the perceived difficulty roughly matches the perceived resources.
The anxiety zone is when perceived difficulty is much greater than perceived resources.
The boredom or drone zone is when the perceived resources are much greater than perceived difficulty.
When you feel alert and curious, when you can manage to stay in the learning zone and avoid the anxiety zone and the drone zone, then learning will be rewarding and enjoyable.
The most important thing to be aware of when you are learning is your emotional state.
Simple and Generative Learning
Simple Learning
There are two main types of learning. The first is simple learning, sometimes called single loop learning. Here there is a gap between what you know and what you want to know, and you take action to close that gap. The results are feedback leading to increased knowledge or skills. The feedback lets you know whether you are approaching your goal. If your actions get you nearer the goal, that is, close the gap, then you do more of them. If they increase the gap, then you do less of them. (At least that’s the theory – it’s amazing how often we assume that we have to do more of the same actions!) Solving the problem is closing the gap.
Simple learning
Simple learning and problem solving take place within a boundary of assumptions and beliefs about what is possible and necessary. For example, a man may get frequent headaches and go to the doctor. The doctor prescribes painkillers. The man goes away happy and the next time he has a headache, he takes the painkillers. Simple problem, simple solution. An example from business would be an organization that wants to invest in a more modern and faster manufacturing plant. They try a number of possibilities and settle on the most cost-effective one. Six months later the plant is built and running to full capacity. Simple problem, simple solution.
Generative Learning
The other type of learning is generative learning or double loop learning. Generative learning brings our beliefs and assumptions about the issue into the feedback loop. Feedback from our actions leads us to question our assumptions. In the previous examples, the man might question why he is getting frequent headaches. He might find out that he needs to change his lifestyle or diet. He may also wonder about taking responsibility for his own health, rather than looking to the medical doctor to fix all his health problems.
The business organization might question whether it is worth investing in new equipment for a product that might be out of date in a year’s time. They might question whether they are in the right market and think about alternative products rather than assume they can continue to do what they have always done.
The basic questions to ask for double loop learning are:
Generative learning
‘What are my assumptions about this?’
‘How else could I think about this?’
‘How might my assumptions be contributing to the problem?’
‘How come this situation has persisted?’
| NEUROLOGICAL LEVELS |  |
Another model that is also helpful in thinking about learning and change has been developed by Robert Dilts from the work of Gregory Bateson. The model is called ‘neurological levels’ and is useful without being consistent or exhaustive (or even logical). It has been widely adopted in NLP thinking. The levels are as follows:
1 Environment: the where and the when
The environment is the place, the time and the people involved. You set the boundary on what to include. You may be successful only in specific circumstances or with particular people – ‘being in the right place at the right time’.
2 Behaviour: the what
Behaviour is what we do. In NLP terms, it includes thoughts as well as actions. Sometimes behaviour is difficult to change because it is closely connected to other levels. You see behaviour from the outside.
3 Capability: the how
Capability is skill – behaviour that is consistent, automatic and habitual. This level includes both thinking strategies and physical skills. Capability at an organizational level manifests as business processes and procedures. Capability is only visible in the resulting behaviour because it lies within you.
4 Beliefs and values: the why
Beliefs are the principles that guide actions – not what we say we believe, but what we act on. Beliefs give meaning to what we do. Values are why we do what we do. They are what is important to us – health, wealth, happiness and love. On an organizational level, businesses have principles they act on and values they hold. They are part of the culture of the business. Beliefs and values direct our lives, acting both as permissions and prohibitions on how we act.
5 Identity: the who
Identity is your sense of yourself, the core beliefs and values that define you and your mission in life. It is built