Sager - looks like you have attained conscious incompetence. You're halfway to Mastery. But don't be a dabbler.
1. Unconscious Incompetence - You suck AND you don't know it.
2. Conscious Incompetence - You suck, BUT you know what you suck at.
3. Conscious Competence - You no longer suck. In fact, you're good. But you have to think about it.
4. Unconscious Competence - Mastery. You're good and you don't even think about it.
Everyone starts at 1. 80% of new endeavors end somewhere in here. Of the 20% moving on, about 17% get stuck here. These are the "dabblers". They yutz around for awhile and then move on to the next shiny object. The 3% that reach level 3 are quite content. 2.9% stay at level 3.
But that 0.1% that moves on to Unconscious Competence…think Yo Yo Ma, Rene Fleming, Doc Watson, Maria Callas, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jaco Pastorius, Enrico Caruso, Pele, John Wooden, Christy Mathewson, Michael Jordan, Stephane Grapelli, Django Reinhardt, Itzhak Perlman, Bill Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Lee…you get the point.
My guitar playing is about to break from 2 to 3. After a 6 year layoff following the death of my mandolin instructor, I'm back at it and newly into level 3 (I have no use for B arpeggios…ever).
We should have a beer sometime.