There are FOUR States through which you must pass to become a great actor (or a great anything)

State ONE: Unconscious Incompetence OR You don't know what you don't know.

State TWO: Conscious Incompetence OR You know what you don't know.

State THREE: Conscious Competence OR You can do it, but you have to think about it while you do it.

State FOUR: Unconscious Competence OR Not only can you do it, but you don’t have to think about it.  Also known as “Being In The Zone” or “The Flow State”.

EXAMPLE:  Riding A Bicycle

State One: You have no idea it requires balance (and a willingness to feel scared and to scrape the shit out of your knees) so you can’t figure out why you keep falling off.

State Two: You now realize it requires balance and a willingness to fall, but you can’t balance, so you’re still falling off.

State Three: You can ride now, but only while you are concentrating so hard on keeping your balance that you can’t see or enjoy the lovely trees on the street as you whiz by them.

State Four:  You’re riding down the street enjoying the scenery and you aren’t thinking at all about riding the bike, so you also notice the street signs, that it’s about to rain, and that beautiful creature who just passed you riding in the other direction. 

CHALLENGE:  Define the four Steps/States for yourself in terms of your life as an actor (or whatever art to which you aspire) and what you believe to be the necessary skills to be mastered, and then honestly identify (without either modesty or self-deception) which state you are currently in.