Art of learning to unlearn

The year 2020 was not a usual year, but one of the things that proved helpful to get through the year is the topic of this article. There is so much we all had to unlearn and a lot that we had to learn to adapt to the different needs.

Unlearning as a process is forgetting something that you have learnt over the years through experience. In the age of computers, to clear space we clear the cache and history. The same way to clear brain space we need to unlearn. It can help you clear up brain space from past experiences and preconceived notions.  

As a professional with a diverse background, I have enjoyed working with experts in their area and also people who are new to the field and are keen to learn. The experts provide a point of view that might help to know and prepare from the past and how we can apply it to the future. What I enjoy working with the new professionals is the out of the box ideas and thoughts that they might bring to the table. 

I am an advocate for experience but at the same time I have faced some challenges with this as it can prove to be a limiting factor. It can sometimes act as a hindrance to explore new ways of thinking, to be open to what is yet to come. Experience may cause you to assume the outcome which may or may not be positive, making unlearning the experience difficult as well as necessary.  

I have found a few ways that have helped me in learning and unlearning:

1) Embrace change: I have moved states, countries, industries and all of that experience has been very helpful in unlearning. Having worked in industries spanning different sectors helped me understand different business problems and to apply my learnings from one set of solutions to the other – thus unlearning the traditional paved path way of solving a problem. It has also helped me develop personal attributes such as perseverance, adaptability, passion towards problem solving, and patience.

2) Meet Diverse people: This might be a benefit of my profession. I have been blessed to have met a very diverse set of people personally and professionally. Learning from the knowledge of industry stalwarts, and the fresh perspective of passionate graduates has helped me look at the same situation in different ways.

3) Being Open to experiences: Negative experiences carry more lessons than positive ones. And they teach you to face bigger challenges in the future. With time, I have unlearnt disliking bad experiences, and have learnt to embrace all forms of challenges. Moving countries, traveling to unexplored destinations, being the first post graduate in my family, moving industries are all experiences that have shaped my persona and my thoughts and I would not trade them for anything.

With this, I would like to end this with a thought, our journey can be fulfilling not only with using our previous experiences but also being open to the word ‘yet’ to experience new learning. So be open to learning and unlearning.

Happy exploring!!