The Conscious - Unconscious Competence model, developed by Noel Burch in the 1970s, describes the 4 stages we go through in developing expertise with a practical skill. The stage of 'Conscious Uncompetence' can be particularly difficult for people who can access negative self esteem when they can't perform well. This can set up a vicious cycle in which I feel bad about my abilities, which in turn reduces my ability to learn, making me feel worse about abilities.

Maintaining good self esteem about our ability to learn can have a big impact on how we actually learn. More on this in the next section.