Unlearn to Find Progress

Learning is the quickest way to evolve and achieve. Knowledge is power and learning is what puts everyone on the path to new discoveries and developments. Fall in love with learning and never be bored, never be satisfied with what you currently know, and always be like a sponge soaking up every bit of information you can. With infinite knowledge resources, learning is a click away, but some of the best progress is found when you “unlearn” what you already know.

By “unlearning” you can constantly assess and review where you individually are and relearn new information to become a better version of yourself. A prime example of unlearning is with bad habits. When you try to break a bad habit, you are “unlearning” how you used to do something. You are breaking down your learned behavior and resetting it with something new. Through this reset and change, you find progress.

When baseball players look to improve their swing, they need to remove the muscle memory of their old swing and follow countless repetitions with their new form to lock in the improvements. Unlearning takes time. Unlearning is not as easy as learning but allows the chance for near-immediate improvements. With any habit you look to change, it is a requirement you unlearn before you progress and learn a new habit.

Unlearning expands beyond habits or personal ways of doing things. Unlearning encompasses individual beliefs and allows you to understand and accept when you are wrong. With any divisive topic or anything where opinions are formed, you have natural beliefs. By unlearning, you are able to grow and change your beliefs based on new information. You can accept when and where you are wrong and unlearn to then relearn new ways of thinking and believing.

It is a perpetual cycle of unlearning that helps you progress to be the best individual you can be. Becoming the best version of yourself requires continuous editing to your beliefs and ways of doing things. This is what unlearning does. Unlearning lets you realize your mistakes, where you can be better, and then removes these blemishes in favor of new and improved habits and ideologies.

Knowledge may be power, but the self-understanding and ability to change what is already known is just as important. By unlearning you find progress. Push to learn but never forget to unlearn.