Fall is in full bloom in Ohio. I love the canvas of color — oranges, rusts, and browns that frame the season. A few weeks ago, I came across an exception: a bright green acorn. Aren’t all acorns supposed to be brown?

Some acorns are disrupted and fall before they’ve ripened to their rich, brown color. I brought it home and put it on my desk to see what would happen. Over time, it ripened just like the others still clinging to their branches.

But not everything “drops” at the perfect time. As learners, most of us have been thrust into situations before our learning has caught up. With the right environment, support, and persistence, those messy starts can still ripen into valuable skills.

Learning Isn’t Linear

We’ve been misled by the illusion of easy learning — “3 ways to master ___,” or “Become an expert in 30 minutes.” Learning doesn’t follow a checklist. It’s uneven, full of stops and starts, failures and recoveries, unlearning and relearning.

Efficiency may be prized in today’s world, but mastery takes time. True growth unfolds in stages, not a single leap. And those stages matter; they add nuance, confidence, and adaptability to our “skill” performance.

Scaffolding: The Architecture of Learning

In education, scaffolding is the backbone of skill development. It breaks learning into manageable steps and builds complexity over time. Before someone can do, they need to know relevant content and be shown content or process.

Too often, training starts at the end — expecting performance before understanding. Scaffolding meets learners where they are, providing the right level of challenge and support. It’s a safety net for confidence, not a shortcut to mastery.

Think about when you first learned to drive. You didn’t start with freeway traffic or parallel parking. You started small: learning how to start the car, shift gears, and stay between the lines. As your confidence grew, so did the complexity — driving in rain or snow, merging, parking, and handling unexpected detours. That messy middle made you adaptable. Practice, repetition, and reflection made it stick.

Not So Fast, Experts: The Value of Novices

Experts sometimes forget what got them there. Experience can narrow perception, creating invisible lanes that keep us from exploring new routes. Novices, on the other hand, bring curiosity and fresh eyes. They ask, “Why not?” instead of “That won’t work.”

Think of how newer drivers rely on technology like backup cameras and lane sensors — tools that many seasoned drivers initially distrusted. Yet, those innovations now make driving safer and more precise. Fresh learners aren’t weighed down by old assumptions; they explore what’s possible with the tools available now.

Curious beginners inject energy, experimentation, and possibility into learning environments. They remind us that innovation often begins with not knowing — and the willingness to try anyway.

The Strength of Experts

Experts bring something equally essential: adaptability. They’ve experienced enough “messy middles” to know when to rely on structure and when to improvise.

A seasoned driver, for example, knows how to navigate a snowstorm — when to accelerate gently, when to steer into the skid, when to trust intuition rather than automation. That flexibility isn’t guesswork; it’s built from thousands of miles of experience.

True expertise isn’t rigidity — it’s the ability to flex, adjust, and apply learning to new and shifting contexts.

The Journey is the Point

The journey, not the destination, is the essence of learning and skill development. Real growth happens in stages. These stages provide nuance we need to adapt our skills to different situations for positive impact. Embrace the messiness of learning as part of the journey.   

From Comfort to Courage: Putting Learning Into Practice

Skill development is rarely neat—it asks us to step beyond what’s familiar. Growth begins when we stretch from comfort into courage: asking the question, trying the new approach, or admitting we don’t know, yet.

That’s why the Comfort to Courage Learning Confidence Worksheet is a helpful next step. It offers small, structured ways to scaffold your learning journey—building confidence through action, feedback, and reflection.

So, what stage of learning are you in right now?

 And what small, courageous step will you take next?