How forgetting what you know will actually make you smarter.
WHAT IS UNLEARNING?
Now that you may be on holidays or just getting back to work -like myself :)- is important to analyse what's important to retain for reuse or else, to let go of certain behaviours because you are going into a new role this may be quite useful:
Unlearning is the art of stopping a habit or ritual. To unlearn, you must identify the information, beliefs, or behaviors that you have been acting upon that are not valuable to you anymore, and actively forget them. Unlearning helps you free up space for newer information and insights.
Unlearning is incredibly beneficial from a neurological perspective. Too much information can bog the brain down and prevent it from making decisions, which is the brain’s ultimate goal when it comes to information acquisition. Some researchers now argue that forgetting information is healthy because it allows our brains to free up the space to be able to make decisions faster.
Unlearning happens in big – and small – ways all the time. A simple example of this is with email. Responding to email as soon as you received it used to be seen as the height of productivity. Now, with more research emerging about digital distractions and productivity, experts suggest that you set aside a specific time to check and respond to email so that you can have time to think.
WHY UNLEARNING IS IMPORTANT
Unlearning is a powerful tool for your professional growth and development because it allows you to adapt to change and work more effectively.
As you improve yourself, you’ll set the standard for those around you to adapt and change as well.
THE PROCESS OF UNLEARNING
Because much of what we know is ingrained into our daily habits and core beliefs, unlearning takes a conscious effort. Here’s how to do it:
1. DISCOVER WHAT’S NOT WORKING
We make countless decisions every day. Some people clock that number at 35,000. Of course, we’d like to think that most of those decisions are intentional.
But Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, estimates that 40 to 45 percent of what we do isn’t a decision at all, but a habit. Duhigg says these automatic actions occur because the thinking behind our habits happens in one of the oldest parts of our brain, the basal ganglia, where thinking doesn’t feel as active as the thinking that happens in the prefrontal cortex.
One of the ways to begin unlearning is by actively thinking about the decisions you make that seem automatic. Which beliefs, habits, and mindsets are serving you well? Which ones aren’t? And which habits aren’t serving you as well as they once did?
A retrospective session which comes from Agile is a great way to flesh this out. Teams look back on the work they did and ask, “What went well this last iteration?” “What should we continue doing?” And importantly, “What should we stop doing?”
HOW TO UNLEARN
Use a retrospective technique called the 4 Ls. Write down what you loved doing, longed to do, loathed doing, and learned in the past week. Then, think about how these things could inform what to continue doing, what to make more time for, and what to let go of.
2. START WITH YOUR FOUNDATIONAL HABITS
Of course, questioning each one of the many decisions we make each day will lead to analysis paralysis. The key to making the most of unlearning is to find the foundationalbeliefs, habits, and mindsets that make the most impact on your life and work. Charles Duhigg calls these foundational habits “keystone habits” because they influence a series of other habits.
For instance, one of my keystone habits is getting up early and starting my day. I find that when I get up early, at around 5 a.m., I’m more motivated, more productive, and more focused throughout the day. If I get up when I absolutely have to at 7 a.m. and rush to work, I feel scattered, and this feeling sticks with me for the rest of the day.
HOW TO UNLEARN
Spend some time thinking about what your keystone beliefs, habits, and mindsets. Maybe it’s a simple as “I’m not a morning person” or as complex as “I’ll never be able to be a manager”. How might those beliefs change if you were to apply a growth mindset?
3. PRIORITIZE WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT
Time is fixed. Progress isn’t. You’ll only ever have so much time to do so many things, so you need to make sure they’re the right things. You’re probably getting some kind of reward from nearly everything you do. Even procrastination gives you the immediate reward of relief from a task that you see as undesirable. You might even be doing something semi-productive while avoiding what you know is your true work. But if you really think about it, those avoidance moments probably aren’t as satisfying as completing the task that will give you the biggest return.
HOW TO UNLEARN
Make a list of items that are most important to you. Then, make a list of the things you do every day. Cross-reference those two lists to find out how what you do contributes (or detracts from) what’s important. By unlearning or eliminating anything that doesn’t contribute to them, you will end up prioritizing the most important elements of your life.
4. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
You won’t know if you’re maximizing your investments if you don’t consider new ones every once in a while. The trick is to do so intentionally. Frans Johansson, in his book The Medici Effect, argues that innovation happens when different ideas, practices, and fields of study intersect.
Frans JohanssonInnovation happens when different ideas, practices, and fields of study intersect.
Johansson suggests forcing ideas together to find new ways of solving problems. He tells the story of the Eastgate Centre shopping center in Zimbabwe, whose design is inspired by entomology, the study of insects.
The architects needed to create a structure where people could be comfortable indoors during hot days and freezing nights – without consuming a lot of energy. They found the perfect solution in an unexpected place: African termite mounds. To unearth this unlikely connection, the architects stepped out of their offices and into the environment, making a concerted effort to find a new way to solve heating and cooling challenges.
Based on a culture article.
Comments