This is definitely not a new idea for people with some understanding of psychology or neuro-linguistic programming.
Comments, questions, suggestions are welcome.
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Let’s say you decide to pick up the violin, or any musical instrument.
Before you hold the instrument in your hand, you might have heard what it sounds like, but you have no idea what it will feel like in your hands. You might speculate, or think that you know how to hold it based on how you see other musicians holding a violin, but you really have no idea.
This is analogous to not knowing what to expect at all the very first time you approach a girl with the intent of picking her up. You might’ve seen other people do it, and you might even speculate what she might say or how it might develop, but you really have no idea.
This stage is called Unconscious Incompetence. In short, you don’t know some things, and you don’t know that you don’t know them.
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Then you might take some violin lessons, and the instructor might help you hold the instrument with correct form, and play a few notes. A friend, wing or coach might take you out, and have you approach a few groups of girls.. and voila! it’s like jumping into the water not knowing how cold it is. It’s great man! You feel good practicing the same 3 notes and making a short melody, or just realizing that “hey, I’m talking to girls! I’m meeting new people now”
And you start working on your sticking points, or ask your violin instructor for feedback, and more complex sequences to practice. In short, you know that you don’t know, and that you’re learning. This is conscious incompetence! and to me, it is the most fun stage of the game 
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Well, sooner or later, you’ll play a whole song on the violin in front of a group of friends, or fellow musicians. Sooner or later you’ll think about joining a local symphony and taking your musical skills to the next level. You’ll approach girls regularly, get phone numbers, go on dates, and might even be dating a few girls at the same time. When a girl says something that catches you off guard, you’ll be thinking “hmm, is that a shit test?” and then you’ll remember or rather logically think about how to respond. You might be happy with the level of your success, and even decide to quit the game, or put the violin down and move on to another instrument. Yet, there’s that voice in the back of your head that goes “hmm, there’s a 3 set over there, and an HB9.75 at the blah blah” – which is a-okay.
So, you’ve reached a level of competence which is allowing you to enjoy the fruits of your labour… play a tune on the violin, or bring new women into your life and you’re officially consciously competent!
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You might continue to play the violin, and you might continue to dedicate your time to becoming better with social interactions, women, relationships, and seduction. You will play for dozens of audiences, pick up a variety of different women and meet tons of different people. You’ll build a cool social circle, and one day, you’ll wake up, and realize wow, you fluently speak a second language. The ability to play the violin is like speaking a new language. The ability to meet, attract, and seduce people is a skill analogous to fluently speaking a new language.
The thing about learning languages is that you learn the alphabet, then the grammar and how to put short sentences together, and then you learn new vocabulary for a long time… until you’re fluent, and have a wide vocabulary range. Similarly, you might already speak “pick up”, but as you gain more and more practice, and go through a variety of different experiences, you eventually become fluent at it.
That is, you become unconsciously competent. You’ll get a vibe for people rather than listening for their actual words, and your instincts will rarely ever lie.
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For an elaborate description of the four stage of learning, read the first chapter of Introducing NLP by John Seymour and Joseph O’Connor.
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