We’ve all heard the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
I didn’t realize that this came from psychology.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that occurs when people who lack knowledge and skills have an unrealistically optimistic view of their abilities.
One article I found on the topic shows the learning stages along the curve which I found interesting.
My Story
This weekend, my daughter is getting married.
They have been engaged for about 18 months – plenty of time to prepare.
Yet, the last four months have been a crazy swirl of decisions, meetings, events, and payments.
The to-do list was clear, but I was reminded of the saying “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
We were a classic Dunning Kruger model!
In the beginning confidence was high and competence was low.
All the wedding planning resources give you check lists and we thought “we got this”.
Months in, we realized we needed much more than a check list.
Things that we thought would take an hour took 4-5.
Decisions we made needed to be revisited & altered as the overall flow of the day came into play.
We learned. We leaned in. We took action.
We could do a much better job if we started over again.
Yet, we had fun learning and growing together.
My Advice
Be aware of the Dunning Kruger model.
Yet don’t let it deter you from doing something you’ve never done before.
Knowing where you are on the curve will help you plan the next steps.
Your Turn
Have you recently experienced the Dunning Kruger model?
If so, what did you learn?
How might you recognize you are about to enter the curve?