The Power of Four: Stages of Learning - The Warrior Flow Way

“Without Knowledge, Skill cannot be focused. Without Skill, Strength cannot be brought to bear and without Strength, Knowledge may not be applied.”

                                                                             -Alexander the Great

Wow! Over 2,300 years ago and what was true then is still true today. Alexander the Great lead more warriors, trained more warriors, "knew more" about training warriors, and had an empire larger than the Roman Empire before his 30th birthday.  I think it's fair to say he knew exactly what the Hell he was talking about!

Alexander the Great was such a badass, it is said that when Julius Caesar took his Legion to the ends of Spain and saw what looked at first like a small outcropping, only to discover that it was a bust in honor of Alexander the Great. That he fell to his knees and cursed himself for in his words, "accomplishing nothing" (The Plutarch's don't offer much on this event but it definitely makes for a better story). He would then turn the Legion on Rome itself cross the Rubicon and we know how that turned out. 

"To send an untrained people to war is to throw them away."

                                                                           -Sun Tzu

Without training, you cannot learn nor teach others to overcome fear and have the ability to stand in that space between courage and fear known as confidence. Training to overcome fear is a big part of the Warrior Flow Way. It is a huge part of the underlying philosophy that separates Warrior Flow from other systems. Understand, that in Warrior Flow we are not in the business of reinforcing peoples' fears but to liberate them from the bondage it creates.

People come to us for help and have enough problems they don’t need us piling on. And I believe, correction, “I know” that through proper training you can to a large extent help them alleviate much of the fear not only in their martial development but in life. I mean a big part of why people come to the martial arts in the first place especially reality-based arts like Warrior Flow is to get over their bullshit. Hey, I get it! I’m right there with you.

The point is there is a whole self-actualization aspect to this type of training that goes far beyond putting foot to ass and taking names. That transcends the moral, physical, mental, and even spiritual aspects of the human condition.

Now, while I’ve covered this before in other writings like a lot of things in life there are just some things that bare repeating because in truth you can never hear them enough.

When it comes to learning there are basically four stages we all go through when training or learning however you want to define it. I don’t care what it is or what you are trying to learn or what method is used to learn or teach someone.

No task, or skill, no matter how subtle can bypass this process. They all basically have to follow this process because this is the way the universe works if you want to learn anything. So until we develop the ability to download knowledge from  “The Matrix” loading platform, this is the way it’s done.

Even if you learn what you know through astute observation, or intuitive learning, experience or whatever.  It doesn’t happen any other way to include learning how to process and Overcome Fear.

As Alexander the Great states above, it is a process that starts between your ears with “knowledge, focusing “skill”, reinforced by your body which helps focus “strength”, which reinforces what you perceive between your ears and so on. As I’ve said in previous Blogs it is a process of constant feedback and reinforcement. It doesn’t happen any other way.

 "All I know is that I know nothing."

            -Socrates

Subconscious

Definition

Sub·con·scious - /səbˈkänSHəs/

adjective

“Of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings.”

Here’s the deal, without getting too technical, your conscious mind commands and your subconscious mind obeys it’s that simple. So it’s what we command it to do and how we do this that’s the challenge.

“Remember Jerry, It’s not a lie if you believe it…”

• George Costanza, Seinfeld

If you’re a Seinfeld fan, then you probably remember this quote like it was yesterday. Arguably one of the funniest statements George ever made. However, there is a sort of truth to what he said. As I once told my wife when she asked me about whether I was capable of doing certain things I replied, “I can talk myself into anything…”

This is a powerful statement even if the context was a TV sitcom. You see our subconscious mind is an unquestioning servant. It works day and night to make our behavior fit a pattern consistent with our emotionalized thoughts, hopes, and dreams. It really doesn’t care so much about the information “per se” as much as it filters what either conforms to our preconceived notions and biases and controls what it allows in.

The point is, the subconscious mind is like a big memory bank that stores our beliefs, memories and life experiences and, follows a rule called "you get what you focus on". Sort of like the concept of a “self-fulfilling prophecy” where even if you had a false belief about yourself you’ll seek out “proof” or “social proof” as in the case of how we view certain types of people, even if it isn't real in order to confirm or reinforce that belief and behavior. In other words, our subconscious mind can grow either flowers or weeds in the garden of our lives. Once again, this is powerful stuff because your subconscious mind can be either used to be programmed for good or evil so to speak.

The Four Immutable Stages of Learning

While I’ve covered this in another post like a lot of things you can never hear the truth enough.

Subconscious Incompetence – While paradoxical I get where Socrates is coming from. Let's face it we're all ignorant on some level we can't possibly know everything. You don’t know what you don’t know. In other words, at this level, you don’t understand or know how to do something and you may not necessarily recognize the deficit. You may even deny the usefulness of a certain skill. But as students hear me say all of the time until you recognize the problem and acknowledge it you’re not fixing it. So you must recognize “your own incompetence”, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage. Not easy…

“Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.”

                                                                      -Socrates

Conscious Incompetence - You know what you don’t know. In other word’s you understand you don’t know how to do something and recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. This is where making mistakes is integral to the learning process. This also takes much humility because you are now realizing that you don’t know as much as you think you do. You also don't know "until you know it". If your ego is the size of “Jupiter” you’re probably not getting past this stage until you get over yourself. It’s been my observation that at this stage is where most of the wheat is separated from the chaff. People are too quick to place things in the too hard to do category thus cutting off their learning just when they're on the verge of a breakthrough. The answer? Persevere...

 “With the right attitude, self-imposed limitations vanish.”

                                                  -Alexander the Great

Conscious Competence -You’ve now even on a rudimentary level know or understand how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill. This is just part of the normal learning curve which can’t be accomplished without focused practice.

Okay so here’s where I get into philosophical debates with folks so let me be clear, your brain, you and I, that thing between our ears consuming an inordinate amount of our energy, cannot “not think” on some level. Even if that process is purely on a Subconscious level there is some level of thought. As soon as you think of “not thinking”, well? You’re “thinking”! There’s no way around it.

The key here is you don’t want to “overthink” the problem otherwise you “get in your own way” just “Zen out” with what you’re doing, “…approach life like a child playing a game”. You cannot practice something if you are not focusing on the thing you need to practice. In other word’s you have to think about doing the thing you want to do in order to do the thing you want to do. My point is your brain is always doing something. It is through this process of trial and error that you learn how to find the balance, the refinement, between thinking just enough and not overthinking. As I tell students when they're overthinking something, "just give a shit less".  As Einstein would say, “simplify and make no simpler”. Easy to say hard to do but not impossible.

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. “

                                                                           -Sun Tzu

Subconscious Competence – Here’s what you’re looking for. If you want to be victorious and overcome the fear of not knowing what to do when you have to do it, you have to build it in up front. You have to “win first and then go to war”. This is the place where you’ve had so much practice developing a skill that it has become “second nature” and can be performed easily or as we like to say “without thought”. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing other tasks. This is where you will find the space between fear and courage known as “confidence”. Where “you just know”.

The perfect example of this is how we drive a car in the beginning you’re thinking about driving the car because you are afraid of getting into an accident etc. As you learn that fear goes away and before you know it you’re just driving. There is no conscious thought to driving a car you just “do it”! That’s why we do all sorts of things in our cars we probably shouldn’t be doing when we drive like texting and messing with the radio etc. It’s because driving a car is a Subconscious Competence.

 "Where does the swordsman strike? Nowhere..."

                                                                   -Takuan Soho, The Unfettered Mind

Ancient warriors called this skill “Mushin” in sports we call this “Being in the Zone” or “Savvy”. This is that “je ne sais quoi” quality that people at the highest levels of whatever they do, seem to possess. That “thing” if you will. They learned to place their minds elsewhere and off they went. 

What I find fascinating, and I know this is controversial to say this, but I believe the thing which eludes folks even though it's right in front of us is, in order to get to this level, you have to practice going into Mushin by "letting go".  “Yes” even in developing Mushin, you have to focus on I believe just "learning to let go". Why? Because even learning to let go "is a learned thing". When you "try" you're implying on some level that there is something standing in the way, some form of resistance and you'd be right, it's you! As Yoda would say, "Do or do not, there is no try".

"You" are standing in the way, "you" are holding you back, because "you" fear falling more than the sense of victory by getting back up. Learning to let go is a part of the process of learning anything to the "Subconscious Competence" level.

“Reality is created by the mind we can change our reality by changing our mind.”

                 -Plato

For those who have little children or in my case a Granddaughter you see this played out over-and-over. Now, I have a few clients whose kids I train whenever I do privates with them. I can tell you that kids are more naturally attuned to this than we'll ever be. Wise yet naive, they know things without knowing what they know. They think and it becomes.

While I always make it fun, for me it's work, for them it's all play but I can tell you I probably learn more from them than they learn from me. When I work with them I have to keep reminding myself who's really in charge. They are too funny! As you can imagine I especially like fighting with my Granddaughter, it reminds me so much of the fun I use to have playing with my Son. Every now and then she'll say something that makes me laugh and when she asks, why it was so funny? I tell her, "Your father use to say the same thing".  Comic gold!

The freedom they move with, the lack of fear to just do things. Who wouldn't want some of that?

Understand, the last time any of us were probably in a natural state of “Mushin” was when we were little children where we barley even had any awareness of our own existence. We didn't know enough to know and we didn't care. We did or did not, there was no try.

If you attend my classes one thing that people hear me say all of the time is “trust your abilities”. Why? Because without trusting in your abilities you never reach the state of being able to "let go". You never reach the state of confidence in your ability to bring it! Fear will weigh on you like an anchor and in your hesitation may cost you everything.  You have to "create the reality" by developing the ability to let go by changing your mind and resist the temptation to hold on to something that's only an obstacle in your mind. To fight against it is to fight against nature. 

A Few Caveats 

“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become...”

                                                                          -Heraclitus

I’ve over the years I’ve been asked by a number of instructors how I know what to teach when to teach it, or how to go about teaching certain things. I usually tell them from an instructional standpoint I use the same "basic method" that I learned in the military, these methods are thousands of years old and haven't changed, from teaching people how to use a spear, or sword to military formations it is not what you teach specifically but the method, for the method is just that "a method". For example, you can actually teach the "wrong thing" and still succeed in teaching them, they'll just do the wrong thing, "well". You see this in many self-protection programs, it looks good, it's bullshit, but it looks good.  

Anyway, after I get their bodies generally moving in a unitized manner. I focus on what I call "points or areas of resistance" applying the method that I'll get into later, and I try to help them remove any resistance that inhibits their "Freedom of Action" or ability to "adapt". Focusing on the most critical areas first and then building in the other skills and attributes. 

A lot of this, by the way, is fear-based either because they're afraid to get hit or the movement makes them feel uncomfortable. I get it been there done that... In any event I've found that 99% of this is purely mental, which to me is a good thing because if I can show you a better way to move within your body I can change your mind, and if I can change your mind I can make you less fearful because you now have a way of dealing with whatever threatens you. Which isn't that kind of the point?

For example, a common thing for people to do in the beginning is they try to keep people at arm’s length or control their hands with force, or they try to box people’s movement in by pushing on their arms. The reason is they don't want to get hit now in my view I also perceive this as a subconscious fear they have of either losing control getting hurt in general. Totally understandable. The problem is in your attempt to keep people out you actually "create a vulnerability" because the only way to deal with someone up close and personal is to train fight at "uncomfortable man distance". So if you train in this fashion if the attacker gets past your hands you're going to have a problem. This, by the way, is just as much mental as physical and I believe totally fear-based. I call this the “Fear Bubble”.

In other words, what they think is protecting them actually makes them vulnerable and what they think would make them vulnerable is what more often than not protects them. Go figure. Now if you've already trained and know how to fight at an extremely close range then this is not an issue but you have to develop it first.

So for a person like that the first thing I would do is place them right up against my body and fight with them to not only free up their movement at close range but to help them overcome the fear of being in that close. People don't like being in there especially when they are getting hit.

Granted the grappling arts are always in close but, having wrestled in high school I can tell you it's a different thing because you’re not worried about being stuck with intention. 

The idea is to make them understand that as long as it's within your Sphere of Influence it's your space to use as you see fit. Why would you give up "your space"? In order to take advantage of fighting within your Sphere of Influence, you have to train yourself to fight using every cubic millimeter of space. Eventually, with proper training you learn to become elusive or as some people have described it to me "invisible" even while pressed up against another person’s body. There’s more I could add but life short, I think you get the idea.

 Show Them, Then Tell them, Then Make Them, Then Make Them Forget

“In the end, when it's over, all that matters is what you've done.”

                                                                      -Alexander the Great

When I teach people I generally use the following method: 1) show them what you want them to know, 2) tell them what it is and demonstrate how it’s done, 3) walk them through it and make them do it, 4) increase the level of difficulty until the can do it without thought, until they forget they're even doing it, then move to the next level of the skill.

• I show them “what it is” and let them know I can “bring it” no matter how mundane or seemingly inconsequential. This is where you want to kind of “show off” a little. Besides, why should they believe any of this stuff if I can’t actually do it? Makes sense to me.
• I then tell them what it is as best I can along with a demonstration. As an editorial comment, I’m sorry but you have to tell people what it is whenever you’re teaching something. If you don’t tell them how are they to know? If they already knew it, they wouldn’t be there training with you so tell them.

Using my driving a car analogy, think about it when you first learned to drive a car, I don’t care who you are, someone had to tell you something. You had to learn how to control the car, rules of the road, etc. You didn’t just jump in and go if you did you would have met with disastrous results. But now you just jump in and go. There’s no thought you just do it. Why? Because as you went through those four stages I spoke of you very quickly arrived at the level of Subconscious Competence for knowing how to drive. In other words, you “learned”. After that, you just “let go”.

If you leave it up to their own interpretation they may perceive what is going on “the wrong way”. It will take them just as long to learn the right thing as the wrong thing so why would you lead them down the wrong Rabbit Hole? You’re better off not teaching them anything.

• Anyway, I show them how it’s done and I begin to work on that skill, attribute or whatever it is. Now, this is the part where people think I talk too much, me personally I always feel I haven’t told them enough. Again, I’ve seen where people aren’t shown what things are how it retards their development because they go off on a tangent in one direction or another “down the Rabbit Hole” in the wrong direction. The key is whatever I show people it is “an idea”, “a thing”, a building block and nothing more and is part of a larger whole. Moreover, the only thing that matters is are they actually learning what they need to learn? That’s all that counts.

 “Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.”

                                                                         -Heraclitus

• I make them do it and keep doing it until I feel that their body is starting to respond without much pause or delay but takes on a more “natural feel” to their movement. I’m not looking for perfection I’m looking for a rudimentary understanding that’s it! If they could do it perfectly then I’m wasting their time.
• Once I get them to this point where they’re just doing it pretty much without thought I then increase the level of difficulty whatever it is just enough above their ability to force them to do it. Once I feel they really have it then I go after them and bring it in order to force them to control and work through their fear as I go 100-mph with them or what John has called “moving at supernatural speed” (this is way cool by the way). It isn’t quite "supernatural" it just feels that way. I make them do it until they forget until they stop having to think about it, until it becomes a part of them.

In turn this as I like to call it “fuses” it into their body so that they develop this ability to “bring it” within whatever we are working on without them having to think about it, because it triggers on a level within the body where there is no time to think about what to do. Their body just knows what to do.

Eventually, at some point you have to make them feel the danger, you have to bring them to the point of panic, the point of fear, the edge of death if possible so that they learn how to control those emotions, the fear, anger, focus the panic reflex.

Let them feel the adrenal rush, the elevated heart rate, the frenetic movement of their bodies, the deep penetration that makes them think they're going to cough up a lung. Let them feel the wind and the grazing of your strikes against their bodies. 

You have to make them pay for doing things that are not possible, for trying to block things that they couldn't stop on their best day. Let them feel the density of your strikes, the compression of their body until it is seared into their subconscious. Sort of like burning your hand on the stove after about the "eight-time" you get the message, "don't do that shit." They have to understand what can kill them so they know what to do to avoid getting there in the first place. Without feeling the danger, they don’t know what they’re looking for in the body and will not, I repeat will not respect what can kill them.

Over and over, wash, rinse, repeat. There is no other way...

Well that’s it just thought I would throw this out there again just to reiterate the important points about learning and developing Warrior skills.