How to unlearn is a valuable skill.
Especially in today’s technological world where we have access to more knowledge than ever with just a click of our smartphone or tablet, we don’t realize that a lot of this information, as well as all the data gathered and absorbed over the years, may not be serving us all that well.
In fact, it may be preventing us from learning “what we need to know”. So the question becomes: “how to unlearn what you didn’t need to know in the first place?” 
Having gathered so much useless knowledge does inhibit our ability to know “how to think” and solve problems effectively.
We have spent so much time learning “what to think”, that we have forgotten how to accurately assess this information in a way that contributes to our overall objectives.
Actually, we have crippled our thinking ability.
“We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our education system.” — Charles Bukowski —
How To Unlearn — Never Stop Asking Questions
Our educational systems have trained teachers to present knowledge to students, and then test them on their rote memory skills primarily through multiple-choice tests. These grades then determine a student’s future prospects at least some degree, but are these students prepared for thriving in a world that is built on innovation and change?
All of this previous knowledge inhibits our decision-making because having all this information does not guarantee we understand it so that we can effectively apply it to get Results. The only real security in our lives is our ability to create and get the results we seek. This is true empowerment. When we have disabled this function, we are then left looking for security outside of ourselves.
When presented with information, we should never stop asking questions. As I have mentioned in previous articles, “why” is a wonderful term to use to get to the bottom of any area of uncertainty. By continually asking “why”, we will eventually get to the core issues of our inquiry, and thereby discover “what we need to know”. 
Stuff We Don’t Need to Know
There is much knowledge and information which we have picked up that we simply don’t need to know. This includes a lot of past conditioning by schools, parents, religious organizations, friends, family, and the government. When properly analyzed, much of this data is either overstated, false, or just doesn’t make any sense.
It is a matter of bringing this stuff up to the surface, logically analyzing it, keeping what works, and let go of the rest. Yes, it does take work and is time-consuming, but it is very much worthwhile. It is a freeing experience that you will thank yourself for the rest of your life.
I remember a story of a business person who was visiting a third-world country, and he was walking through a village with a business person from that area, and the foreigner commented on how unfortunate it was that a young child was caught up in poverty and lack of proper education.
The business person from that particular country interrupted the foreigner and said to him that the child has far fewer roadblocks to learning than himself and the foreigner.
Obviously, the foreign business person was taken aback by this, since he was a high-level executive with an Ivy League education.
But the point that the local business person was making was the fact that the child had less useless information within his mind to inhibit his ability to think and create, than the foreigner with all his knowledge and ability which contained many useless data which actually prevented him from learning more.
I don’t remember if the foreigner actually got the point or not, as this was a story I heard many years ago. But it clearly points out the importance of making some room in our minds, so that we are able to then learn what we need to learn, to do what we need to do, without any unnecessary interference from old baggage of useless and false data.
Yes, we do carry around a lot of rehashed data and information which confuses us and tricks us into thinking we know what we really do not know and understand. We are operating on “Borrowed Data”.
How To Unlearn — Cleaning Up the Mess
“The most useful piece of learning for the uses of life is to unlearn what is untrue.”
When we spend the time to effectively clean out the false data in the closet of our minds, we are able to free up a lot of space for knowledge that will serve us best. We also then are able to more easily source our needed information and knowledge from within.
Our intuitive abilities will kick in, and we will receive new information which is not tainted by memories that may not be true. At this point, we learn how valuable it is for us to source our information from within, and to question all information from without. We are learning to think for ourselves, and we have separated ourselves from the herd who have been brainwashed by standard educational sources to rely on outside knowledge. 
By no means is this an easy project. Many years have gone into conditioning ourselves to outside influences, and these habits of the mind run deep.
We will experience much resistance as we break away to freedom. But that is okay. It’s part of the game which we signed up for when we showed up on the scene.
The main thing to remember, as I have mentioned many times before in previous articles, is that Presence and Observation will lead us out of any limiting experiences, and clean up the mess within our minds.
When we become the Observer of our thoughts and experiences, we are the Captain of our Ship.
We are now able to steer our ship in any desired direction without the hindrance of inaccurate maps, and this allows us to navigate effectively. Any storms we encounter along the way will be met with a clear mind with which to consider our options.
A Whole New Viewpoint
Once this mess is cleaned up, we will have developed a whole new viewpoint of life. We will know how we have put all our previous ideas and beliefs in place, which then directed our decisions and actions. The cloud cover will have dissipated so that we now see things from a much larger viewpoint.
This new viewpoint is something that we will want to duplicate so that we can effectively steer our ship to our desired locations. This allows us to easily accomplish our goals.
By “unlearning” many unconscious beliefs and assumptions we have freed ourselves to expand, progress, and experience more of our potential. The chains have fallen off of ourselves.
This whole new viewpoint is beginning to penetrate all areas of life. We are beginning to see changes in our educational systems where teachers and administrators are seeing the importance and value in unlearning old systems based on assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors which no longer work, and maybe never did. These groups, individuals, and organizations have been discovering new ways of working together by releasing old habits and beliefs and supporting change in many areas.
So it is not only us on a microcosmic level who are recognizing the importance of how to unlearn what we didn’t need to know, but this is being reflected on a global scale as well. 
Embracing the Challenge of Unlearning
Since we have been bombarded from all directions since we entered this plane of existence so many years ago, there will be a few challenges to letting this stuff goal. Especially the stuff which has seeped into our belief systems to such an extent that it seems so real that it just has to be true.
Changing our mindset, and ultimately our viewpoint will alter how we see ourselves and the world. This can be a scary proposition at least to some extent. Resistance emerges when we want to hold on to outdated beliefs, assumptions, and traditions which may have served us well in the past by helping us to get by and survive on a day-to-day basis.
Just like Linus and his blanket in the cartoon Charlie Brown, we are not eager to give up our security items. We get reminded and re-triggered all the time by stuff in our environment, which then kicks in our old ways of thinking and doing things. This results in a good amount of stress and resistance to change. There are many ways we can use to block ourselves from unlearning and changing habits.
We best accept and embrace the challenge of unlearning, when we recognize the benefits of developing a flexible mindset, which empowers us to meet the issues we encounter in our changing world head-on, and develops the needed solutions. Developing this type of adaptive mindset allows us to be effective in all areas of our lives.
Students benefit most from developing this type of flexibility in thinking at an early age, which not only makes the transition into the workplace easier, but teaches them that there is more than one way to generate answers, and mistakes are welcome as part of the process of problem-solving. This will serve them well their entire lives as creative problem solvers.
How To Unlearn — A Few Final Thoughts
Being able to unlearn what we didn’t need to know is a valuable skill that is not only being used by individuals but is currently being embraced by education and industry. For example, the Learning Innovations Laboratory at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education is studying the advantages of unlearning in the private sector as well as in schools.
When we unlearn the stuff which is not serving us and our goals, we are then better able to move forward as creative thinkers and discover new ways to solve problems both at work and in our personal lives. Solutions appear more effortlessly as a result.
Many companies and organizations now realize that new processes and ideas will not be successful without first providing ways to unlearn what is not working. This involves unlearning habits that are most likely deeply embedded within those organizations.
When we truly realize and understand how our previous experiences and old habits of thought affect our choices and subsequent actions, we are then inspired to do what is necessary to make any changes. When we truly see the benefit involved, we will then be willing to embrace the discomfort of change.
>>>>Click Here<<<When you are ready to embrace a New Viewpoint of how to Learn & Earn.
May you enjoy the Process of Unlearning,
Joseph William
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Thank you very much for this helpful information. Having a new viewpoint in life is definitely a good start most especially if you want changes in your way of life. I agree with you that we should definitely never stop asking questions. Most people think that learning should stop after you go to school. But we should remember that life is a continuous learning journey. I hope that more people will be able to read this article.
Thanks John. Yes learning never stops as we continue to progress and expand. There is always ways to improve ourselves. As we learn to access knowledge from within on a more consistent basis, we will question more quickly information from without as to accurancy and intent. I wish you mich success.
As I grew older, my love for learning only grew stronger. You can never ask too many questions is what I believe. Unless i can personally understand to the point where I’m able to explain it to someone else, I’ll keep searching for answers. Some things I pick up quickly and others need more time. I believe it’s absolutely critical that we keep our minds engaged and our bodies active as we grow older. More, not less! FYI I had some trouble reading your blog because of the social media buttons on the side that were cutting off the left edge.
Thanks Annette. Appreciate your insights. All the Best.
With the invention of the internet, there is so much information that is at our fingertips that it is amazing. But as you have said there may be somethings that we don’t need although this may be good information it is not serving us. Thanks so much for helping us to realize this so we can clean up and added it to our junk pile.
Thanks Norman. It is just a matter of not accepting all information as true until we prove it true ourselves by proper examination and due diligence. What sounds good initially may not have the substance it seems. All the Best to You.
Embracing the unlearning, this is such a deep and interesting point of view. My son has spent the last couple of months of his school life telling me how useless half of what he is learning will actually be for real life. We are taught to think in boxes, and I often wonder why. It is so true what you say about cleaning the mess of our mind and leave what truly matters only. I should give this post to the school teacher and maybe have a discussion about it I wonder what she would say
Hi Barbara,
Thanks so much for your thoughts and insights. Kids intuitively grasp what makes sense or not much more easily than adults; at least until we condition it out of them. They are sourcing data from within, while we are feeding them “borrowed knowledge” from without.
One of my mentors had a mantra of just “leave the kids alone and they will do just fine”.
Some teachers see beyond the rote memory educational process but are still caught up within the current educational framework. Their hands are tied so to speak. That’s why many parents are homeschooling or exploring alternatives such as charter schools, Montessori, and Waldorf education.
Several years ago I worked on a grant within a county education system to assist kids on probation and kids in gangs get more engaged in learning. In order to do this we needed to discover what really mattered to the kids. We set up programs in music and art with progessionals in the area. We had the kids record their own music at a professional musician’s sound studio, learn basket weaving and drumming from Native Americans, and create a mural for the school with a professional artist. It was a very rewarding experience for all involved.
It never hurts to share your thoughts with others, such as those in the eduational system, as you may just plant a seed which will blossom.
All the Best,
Joseph
Joseph, I have a whole brain full of stuff I could unlearn. There are beliefs on every level, personal, relational, you name it. What I have learned, above all, is to be a critical thinker, which I believe is severely lacking in today’s education system. We not only hinder the critical thinking process, but we then teach ideas that really need to be dissected critically. How would you change the education system to allow the critical thinking that we as adults on the planet Earth need, in order to lead a full and satisfying life?
Steve
Thanks for your comments Steve. I would make it an emphasis in the educational system on learning “how” to think rather being taught “what” to thin with tons of “borrowed knowledge” passed down through the ages, much of which has already been lacking in many ways or already been proved incorrect.