Competence Confidence

Stages of competence and their relation to confidence in the rider....

Unconscious Incompetence- The beginner. Isn't aware of what they don't know. Confidence can be variable, either the beginner is overconfident and unaware of their lack of skill*, or fearful because of the lack of skill. Ignorance is bliss!

Conscious Incompetence- Through some facet of learning (via an instructor or hitting the dirt ;) ), the rider becomes aware of a lack of skill, but is also unable to perform the skill needed. This marks the lowest point of confidence for the rider. "I suck!"

Conscious Competence- The rider has become proficient at the skill, as long as the skill is within conscious thought. Confidence rises, but is not static as when the skill drops from within conscious thought it does not exist for the rider. "I can! Sometimes!"

Unconscious Competence- Practice makes permanent and with enough conscious competence the skill finally rises to the point where the rider is able to perform it without thinking about it. "I dunno, I just ride. Doesn't everyone?"

Studies have reinforced that that there often isn't a direct relation between confidence and competence- the Dunning Kruger effect. Confidence levels of the uneducated are often disproportionately high, and confidence of the very competent are often low. http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2010/05/ssw_20100508_1237.mp3

Also important, during the conscious competence phase, is how many tasks the conscious mind can process at once. Answer: two.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/multitasking-splits-the-brain.html

PLUS, and this is critical to remember during lessons, the mind considers active listening one of those tasks.

It's been theorized that the length of time it takes to master a particular sport/art/etc. is 10,000 hours (or roughly 10 years). I'm not so sure that applies to horse sport, where we often hear that it takes three lifetimes! If I quickly add up some vague stats for myself, I've had approx. 380 hours of instruction from 13 different instructors, mostly during the past 5 years but beginning specifically in dressage about 18 years ago, so if I add in a minimum of 10 hours of practice for each lesson... 4,180 hours. Only 5,820 hours to go! (and to think I gave the horses tonight off!)