George Carlin - "Some people have no idea what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it."

About this episode

This episode features a quote from George Carlin about mastery and unconscious competence.

Welcome to the Daily Quote , the podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host Andrew McGivern and this episode is brought to you by the Great News podcast . Because good news should be heard and the link is in the show notes. Today's quote comes from George Carlin , comedian, philosopher, social critic, and one of the most brilliantly observant minds of the last century. In a career spanning nearly five decades, 23 albums, 14 HBO specials, and three books, Carlin had a gift for wrapping genuine wisdom inside a laugh. This one is no different. He once said: "Some people have no idea what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it." Go ahead and laugh. But stay with it, because buried inside that wisecrack is one of the most counterintuitive truths about mastery you'll ever encounter. Psychologists have a name for what Carlin is describing. They call it unconscious competence, the fourth and final stage of learning any skill. It works like this. When you first attempt something new, you don't know what you don't know. That's stage one, unconscious incompetence. Then comes the painful stage of realizing just how much you're getting…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew McGivern

Topics covered

• comedy
• philosophy
• mastery
• learning
• motivation

Keywords

• George Carlin
• unconscious competence
• mastery
• learning stages
• motivation

Sponsors

Great News podcast

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