Learning something new

This article is all about helping you understand the different stages everyone goes through learning a new skill, and the negative reactions, beliefs and behaviors that it may trigger . Halting our progress or just making learning something new harder.

I’m called “Dr Live In The Positive”, and Liat has invited me to share with you some of my knowledge on learning and how to release these negative beliefs, reactions and behaviors that plague many of us. Learning something new(knitting) and becoming a happier, more positive and creative person at the same time!...And you thought Liat was all about knitting.

SO YOU WANT TO LEARN A NEW SKILL

Knitting is one of the great skills to acquire
1. Saves you money – you can make things for yourself
2. You can create your own designs – Be creative
3. Show those in your world you love them – Knit them something
4. Can be very relaxing on those winter/summer evenings
5. Meet other great people, knitters
6. Wear something you know no one else has, become the envy of your friends

THE FOUR STAGES OF LEARNING

Your about to learn something new, improve your skills or maybe your stuck and just not getting it, understanding the four stages of learning and what to do if whilst learning a negative belief is triggered will help you in those difficult moments when many of us give up on our dream.

Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence – “We don’t know what we don’t know”
This is also called “The Blissfully Unaware State”. In learning something new we all start here, we’re confident we want to learn but we don’t know how to do it – but we want to!!

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence
We take a few lessons, we read a book or two, we’re beginning to learn. We begin to realize just what we don’t know – “Now you know what you don’t know”. This often makes us feel uncomfortable (depending on our individual ability/aptitude),because learning a new skill can be difficult. Difficulties often trigger latent negative beliefs many of us have about ourselves.

Thoughts like:
- I can’t do it
- I’m not good enough
- I’m dumb
- I doubt myself
- I’m uncoordinated etc
…start to invade our minds.

These thoughts make learning harder, often causing us to give up on our dream – learning to knit.

This is where I come in -

What I’ve discovered is these negative thoughts don’t belong to the “Real You”, but to negative personalities of yours, having you believe they are you – They are not.

So how do I get rid of the above negative thoughts that are frequently triggered when l’m doing something new and that l find difficult and get back to my positive happy learning something new mood?

Follow the “10 step self sessioning process”

Step 1:
Find somewhere where you will not be disturbed and allow yourself to totally experience the emotion that has been triggered by the difficulty you’re having with learning – take a moment.

The emotion is normally
- Frustration
- Anger
- Give up
- Hopelessness
- Doubt
- Over-whelm

By totally allowing yourself a moment to experience the negative emotion that learning something new has triggered, it will release or disappear.

Step 2:
Ask yourself:
In order to react the way I did with this emotion to learning something that I find challenging or difficult, what is the negative decision I’m making about myself? Make it an “I” statement. For example:

- I’m not good enough
- I’m dumb
- I can’t do it etc

What is your negative belief?

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Step 3:
Now you have the negative belief, write down its personality (negative personality) and how it behaves.

eg: I’m not good enough – It gets frustrated, it gives up easily, it believes it can’t do it etc. Write down its personality as if it is “not you” – it does this/that, ask yourself why it behaves this way.

Step 4:
As you write down more of its personality, shut your eyes and see if you can feel or see a shape (it maybe any shape), separate to you, forming around you. This is the negative personality with its negative beliefs separating from you.

Step 5:
Now you have the negative personality separate from yourself – see if you can find yourself close by - a spot of calmness/light or you might just be your body.

Step 6:
Go back and forth. Look at the shape, then at yourself – the shape will shrink and you will grow. Keep going until the shape has completely disappeared – you should feel relaxed, calm, relieved, happy etc. This is the “real you” returning to your body.

Step 7:
Ask yourself….How has this negative belief and its behavior been affecting my ability to learn something new?

Step 8:
Now ask yourself…How would the real me(that calm happy positive person) handle this situation, when things are difficult or challenging, when I’m learning something new?

Step 9:
Go back to your knitting lesson and begin again with the “Real You” in charge. You’ve released that impinging negative personality – Well Done!

Step 10:
Every time it is felt, or if other negative personalities are triggered as you learn this new skill - just repeat this process until they are completely gone. Even thinking a negative thought for a mille-second can be released so it too disappears.

Learning will become fun, challenging and rewarding.

“Getting negative personalities out of your life is like getting weeds out of your garden. They rarely go at your first attempt to get rid of them”

You are now ready for the next stage

Stage 3: Conscious Competence
You have to think about it but you are doing it. You’re actually learning to knit. If any negative beliefs, reactions or personalities are triggered just stop and repeat the “10 Step Self-Sessioning Process”

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence
You are now doing it without thinking about it. These moments come tentatively at first, but soon the new skill will be an automatic.

Now You’re Knitting!!

As you learn new aspects of knitting, you will repeatedly go up and down the 4 stages of learning, this is how we learn anything. Have fun with it, enjoy it and use the “10 step self-sessioning process” to release any of those impinging negative thoughts you have, becoming a better person and demonstration of how you learn something new to those in your world.

Lots of Love,

Dr Keith Maitland
(Dr Live In The Positive)
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