Mastering the art of Unlearning

A man walks into a bar and asks for beer. The man has a history of being braggadocious to everyone. The bartender pours beer in a tall glass but does not stop. The beer flows over the glass, all over the table and his pants. When the patron starts cursing, the bartender says, “Your mind is like this glass, so full that nothing new can go in”. This is a 21st century adaptation of a renowned allegory of a Zen teacher demonstrating this message by overflowing tea in her disciple’s teacup.?

The lesson is as true a thousand years ago as today. Our capacity for absorbing information quickly gets overwhelmed given the high volume of information and break-neck changes in the world. ?In our professional world, we proudly highlight “20 years of experience” on our resume to signal how smart and effective therefore we must be. However, we should honestly reflect - Have we accumulated 20 years of wisdom or one year of wisdom, just retained for the last 20 years??

For most of us, the answer lies somewhere in-between. Our teacups likely got full when we got good grades, patents, fancy titles, or worse, people around us told us how smart we were. Hunger and passion for learning new things to gain expertise unconsciously got replaced by the status quo mindset, always trying to defend the “expert” label. As we grow in our career, we may fall victim to this state and will feel stagnated if we don’t correct it.

Every person needs to “unlearn” to learn something new.?Some tea from the metaphorical teacup needs to be emptied.

We explore techniques to master unlearning by recognizing symptoms and strategies to make it your superpower. ?While the teacup metaphor is compelling, unlearning is not as simple as just turning the cup upside down. You are not throwing away everything you know, every time. Unlearning is not just about discarding knowledge; it's a mindset of constantly evaluating and questioning beliefs, and relearning when necessary. ?This cycle of learning, unlearning and relearning should ?never end.

Recognizing symptoms of stagnation

Struggling to unlearn is likely our blind spot, and like most blind spots, others around us may see it clearly.? Here are two key aspects of mindset, accompanied by examples, that illustrate this struggle.

Inclination towards maintaining Status Quo -

? You often seek data or input to confirm what has always worked for you.

? You frequently feel - why fix something now when it is not broken yet.

? You find yourself making cynical jokes on how things will never change in our environment.

Avoiding introspection -

? Your mind reflexively jumps to preconceived judgement as soon as information is received.

? You tend to frequently dismiss new ideas, often even before they are fully communicated.

? You want to be open minded, but past failures make you feel that unlearning is risky.

For both aspects, you may frequently feel that you don’t have time or priority to rethink what has already been established to work for you.?

Strategies to master the art of unlearning

Mastering the art of unlearning requires a few simple adjustments to your mindset and discipline. Here are some actions that will help integrate unlearning into your daily professional and personal life.

Regain curiosity of your childhood - Practice the habit of asking “tell me more”, instead of starting with “why”. Give yourself some soaking time to reflect on information before forming a judgement.

Celebrate Unlearning & relearning - Normalize your journey of unlearning by discussing with your colleagues and team members. Glamorize those moments, instead of feeling guilty of holding past ideas.

Practice vulnerability - Ask your team members to call out when they think you are exhibiting a close-minded approach to problems.?

Retrospect on your journey of unlearning – Regularly review the beliefs you have revisited and changed on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. As a bonus, incorporating these reflections into your annual performance review can effectively demonstrate your eagerness to learn and adapt quickly, both to your manager and set an example for your broader team.

Mastering the art of “unlearning” is about adopting a mindset that celebrates when previously held beliefs and notions are proved wrong. The joy of learning something new is liberating against the safety & comfort of holding on to a set of known concepts.

Have you tried unlearning things and what strategies do you apply??

If you love to take a deep dive on this topic, contemplating how these techniques can help with your personal life as well,? listen to this podcast version (12 minutes long).

Mastering the art of Unlearning - Deep dive podcast

Illustration by Jax ( Jenaaz Choksy ) whose art can be found on Instagram.

Podcast created with Notebooklm