The Expert's Journey - Voice One September Newsletter

The Expert's Journey

We often talk about the four stages of competence:

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence - We neither know nor understand how to do something, nor recognize the deficit, nor have a desire to address it.
Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence - Though we don't understand or know how to do something, we recognize the deficit but haven't addressed it yet.
Stage 3: Conscious Competence - We understand or know how to do something but the work shows as it requires a great deal of consciousness or concentration.
Stage 4: Unconscious Competence - we've had so much practice with a skill that it becomes "second nature" and can be performed easily and efficiently.

Moving from stage 1 to stage 2 is easy. It happens quickly and all it takes is the desire to learn and improve. Moving from stage 2 to stage 3 takes longer. This is where you learn foundational skills and techniques to be able to perform new tasks.

Regardless of your chosen field, moving from stage 3 to stage 4 takes continuous effort applied over time. As it applies to actors, your arrival at stage 3 usually means you've taken a few classes and have learned many techniques that you apply to your fledgling career. You technically know how to deliver a performance. You continue to take classes with other dedicated voice actors and professionals and though you're in class less, you don't abandon structured education completely as you recognize that you still need guidance. Either 1-on-1 or in a small group workout with your peers, you drill and practice so you OWN these techniques. A strong desire, steely determination, and ability to trust your actions allows you to move into the highest level, Stage 4: Unconscious Competence.

Even though you've talked all your life, learning voice-over as a business skill is like learning a new language - by stage 3 you know the grammar and have the vocabulary but you still translate in your head. When you actually arrive at stage 4, you begin to not only think in the new language, you dream in it. Your competence, quite literally, becomes unconscious. It becomes part of you. As Fred Astaire used to say about technique, "You learn it so well that you forget it."

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell posits that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything. Even though you've talked and read most of your life, your job as a voice actor is to make people understand, feel, and take action. Remember, it's perfect practice that makes perfect. Enjoy your journey.