Are You an Unconscious Incompetent?

Daily Boost - Motivation and Coaching

Ever meet someone who wants to be great at something but has no idea where to start?

That was me in a sauna on Thanksgiving morning, talking to a young guy who wanted to be a motivational speaker. He had the passion but zero clue about the path forward. Sound familiar?

I shared a classic Zig Ziglar lesson about the stages of competence that changed my life years ago. Turns out, knowing what stage you're in makes all the difference. Because you can't get where you're going if you don't know where you are.

Featured Story

Thanksgiving morning. My wife kicked me out of the kitchen, so I hit the gym.

After my workout, I headed to the sauna. Young guy in there, polite enough to get off his phone. We started talking. He's a locksmith, but what he really wants? To be a motivational speaker.

Problem is, he had no idea how to get there. No content. No roadmap. Just the desire and some friends who said he pumped them up.

I've been there. I've done 12,000 podcasts. I knew exactly where he was stuck.

So I spent the next 20 minutes in a hot sauna walking him through the stages every beginner goes through. We talked until our heart rates went crazy and we had to bail.

I'll probably never see him again. But I got to do what someone once did for me. Pass it forward.

Important Points

You don't know what you don't know when you start something new, and that's perfectly normal—everyone around you gets it, even if you feel like a dummy.

Admitting "I have no idea what I'm doing" changed everything for me, and it'll change things for you too because pretending to know blocks real learning.

The final stage isn't just being competent yourself—it's recognizing and developing the unconscious competence in others, which is where real impact happens.

Memorable Quotes

"You cannot replace experience. You just can't."

"Some of the best motivation I've ever had in my life, I did not like the person when they delivered that lesson."

"The ability to recognize and develop the unconscious competence of others."

Scott's Three-Step Approach

Accept that you're an unconscious incompetent when starting anything new, and embrace that stage instead of pretending you know more than you do.

Move to conscious incompetence by admitting what you don't know, which opens the door to real learning and removes the pressure of having all the answers.

Work toward conscious competence where you know you're good, then use that knowledge to help others recognize their own unconscious competence.

Chapter Notes

0:02 - Holiday happiness and one-finger waves

0:34 - When you need a kick in the butt, not blues

0:57 - Thanksgiving sauna wisdom with a future speaker

6:47 - Four stages of competence explained simply

8:14 - People who don't know how good they are

9:19 - The fifth stage: helping others figure it out

Connect With Me

Search for the Daily Boost on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify

Email: [email protected]

Main Website: https://motivationtomove.com

YouTube: https://youtube.com/dailyboostpodcast

Instagram: @heyscottsmith

Facebook Group: https://dailyboostpodcast.com/facebook

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices