What Nobody Tells You About Learning: You Have to Unlearn

Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to learning something new is an old assumption we no longer question.

What If the Problem Isn’t What You Need to Learn, But What You Haven’t Questioned?

Imagine getting your first pair of glasses as a child. They helped you see clearly. You got used to them. You learned to read, move around and make sense of the world through them.

But as you grow older, things change. Your eyesight might change. The prescription that once worked may no longer be right. Maybe the frames that suited you as a child no longer fit who you’ve become.

You wouldn’t keep wearing an old pair of prescription glasses just because they worked fine five years ago. You’d question whether your glasses still worked for you. And if they didn’t, you’d change them.

Yet when it comes to learning, we often do the opposite.
We keep the same beliefs. The same assumptions. The same ways of interpreting things.

Learning isn’t the problem. The problem is what we’ve yet to unlearn.

Unlearning isn’t about getting rid of everything we’ve learned. It’s about catching ourselves when we’re on autopilot, when our old patterns keep steering us without us even noticing.

We may find ourselves drifting with the waves, being carried back and forth without ever really going anywhere. We can also take the wheel and become the captain of our own ship.

Then, when something isn’t working, we look for something new to add.
Another method… Another piece of advice… Another book…
But sometimes, the problem isn’t what you’re seeing. It’s the lens you’re looking through.

We can keep adding to what we already know while still not understanding what is happening within ourselves. The missing step in learning as an adult is catching ourselves before we jump into learning. We need to sort through the knowledge we’ve accumulated thus far and unlearn what no longer serves us, rather than keep piling more things to learn on top of it.

We were never taught to be curious about how our past experiences have shaped the way we see things today.
Something that once helped you navigate the world may no longer help you navigate the world you’re in now.

Instead, when we encounter challenges, we often slip into autopilot mode without even realizing it, looking outward for answers that may not actually apply to us, while losing touch with what’s happening within us.