Remember when you were learning to drive?  You had been riding as a passenger in a car, observing others drive for years so you thought driving was going to be pretty easy, right?  You were clueless about how many moving parts you had to be aware of all at once.  (I know about this because my son just got his license).  When you slid into the driver’s seat for the first time, you realized you didn’t know what to do.  You were overwhelmed.  So, you took one step at a time, thinking about each step along the way:  put the key in the ignition, turn the key, depress the brake, put the car in the appropriate gear, apply pressure to the gas pedal, steer around the turns while at the same time maintaining appropriate pressure on the gas pedal (which is the gas and which is the brake again?), watch for other vehicles and pedestrians.  Each action required careful thought and intense concentration.  At the end of your first few spins around the parking lot or down some quiet street, you were exhausted.  But, getting your license was an important rite of passage and you weren’t giving up.  That little piece of paper and all it represented was worth the pain you had to endure to get it.  Each time you drove, you practiced all of the different things you needed to do and remember, and each time, you had some fits and starts, some potential whip lash moments, near brushes with the phone pole standing oh so close to the right shoulder of the road.  You were by no means ready for your solo run but you were making progress.  You kept practicing and fairly soon, it all came together and you could get from point A to point B without incident.  You had to think about what you were doing but it wasn’t so painful anymore and all of the pieces were becoming more integrated.  With more and more experience, it all came together and one day, you arrived at your destination and realized that you didn’t remember passing any of the landmarks along the way.

What you went through was the normal learning process.  You had followed the Conscious Competence model.*  You began as an Unconscious Incompetent, when you didn’t know what you didn’t know, moved to the Competent Incompetent phase where you became aware of what you didn’t know or weren’t very skilled at doing.  Once you became aware of what you needed to do and how to do it, you were a Conscious Competent, having to pay acute attention to each aspect of the process of driving as you did it.  Finally, the new actions and skills became ingrained and natural and you could do them without thinking… the Unconscious Competent stage.

You’ll go through this same process every time you face a change.  Good to get comfortable with it!  It’s here to stay!
* The origin of the Conscious Competence Model is unknown.