Once I had plowed through each of the 66 books of the Bible for the first time,  I wanted to go back and relive some of that emotion.  There was only one problem--it wasn’t there anymore.  I wasn’t as excited the second time through any book of the Bible.  I wasn’t surprised by the outcome of a particular story and, worst of all, I actually started to skim through details of the Bible.

In the 1960s two brilliant psychologists, Paul Fitts and Michael Posner, attempted to answer the question of what separates experts from those who are just “ok” at something.  They described three phases that the mind goes through with all subjects and tasks. 

Phase 1: “Cognitive Stage”--This is where you are intellectualizing the task and taking it in for the first time.  Your mind is in the discovering mode.  Picture yourself learning to drive for the first time.

Phase 2: “Associative Stage” --You begin to concentrate less.  In this stage you make fewer mistakes at a task you’re performing and feel more and more comfortable.  After a few speeding tickets, one trip to the ditch, you are making fewer mistakes and now you’re turning on the radio.

Phase 3: “Autonomous Stage” or the “Ok plateau” --You feel you are as good as you need to get and you basically run on autopilot. Now you upgraded to a family car and you’re driving at the same skill for the last 20 years.  

We all learn through each of these stages and eventually move into the “Ok plateau.”  Fitts and Posner argue that experts in any field will subconsciously or consciously use a technique called “deliberate practice.”  They develop strategies for deliberately keeping their minds out of the “Autonomous stage” or the “Ok” stage of what they are doing.  

This is what I’ve had to do in many areas of my life.  I don’t want my relationship with God, my marriage, or how I am as a father to plateau.  I have to continue to pursue God and those relationships in a way that is always discovering, always exploring, and always getting better. There are two ways that will keep you from that stage in those areas.  The first is finding someone who will challenge you not to settle or plateau.  This is a Paul or Barnabas in your life that is challenging or encouraging you.  The second is to take a self-evaluation of where you are and where you want to grow.  

Dave Rizer, Danville Campus Pastor