Thinking on Your Feet

According to the just-do-it view, skilled action at its best is associated with ‘flow’ experiences that leave no space for thought; when we start thinking about what we are doing, skill breaks down in distinctive ways. We can get a grip on this idea by considering one of Ryle’s descriptions of skilful action:
A mountaineer walking over ice-covered rocks in a high wind in the dark does not move his limbs by blind habit; he thinks what he is doing, he is ready for emergencies, he economises in effort, he makes tests and experiments; in short he walks with some degree of skill and judgment. To understand Ryle’s view of skill, we need to focus on the last sentence of this passage, which claims that the walker is both walking and teaching himself how to walk at the same time.

Source: aeon.co