Learn to Unlearn

Learning is a continuous process and we learn from our life which consists of ups and downs. We learn from our experience and our mistakes which plays drastic role in shaping our personality and our future. Life is full of startling moments and frankly speaking, this moment teaches us a lot. Be it good or bad, meets our expectations or not, those moments plays a significant role in life. What we read in our academics and what we learn from our work experience are crucial indeed but one should be ready to unlearn few things. Confused? What it means is, one should also try not to learn what he is willing to learn and on the other side, one should also unlearn which he had already learnt. Unlearning means, to discard something from your memory which you learnt previously. Let us see few things which one should try to unlearn:

• Bad Habits: We learn many habits in our life easily and whether to continue with those habits is a choice. Habits can be good and bad and it’s better to unlearn the bad habits and keep the good habits. Again, one should also unlearn the habit of willing to learn the bad things. Put it simply, if one is willing to learnt some bad habits, he should unlearn his habit of learning bad habits.
• Overconfidence: Confidence is required and necessary in our life but overconfidence can be dangerous. Being confident enough is good but one should not be overconfident as it leads to opposite results sometimes. Hence, it’s better to unlearn being overconfident.
• Unrealistic: Be realistic in nature and set your standards as per your convenience. Simply stated, be pragmatic and unlearn being unrealistic.
• Pretending; This is one of the most important things many possess which should be unlearned. Many people have the habit of pretending themselves to be smart in many aspects, be it academics or in day to life. In fact, many will indulge unnecessarily and start their knowledge sharing without being requested. Also, many people have the habit of late sitting in office pretending themselves to be very occupied with work. Many also do late sitting in order to get attention from their superiors. What they do by late sitting is a question mark. No doubt, if it is required sometimes late sitting should be done depending on the nature and complexity and emergency of work. But doing late sitting just to show-case is not correct. “Late sitting should not be considered as virtue.” There are several other aspects of pretending or show-casing which should be unlearned. Be natural in your work and behavior.
• Claiming to be Omniscient: Here comes one more interesting thing which requires attention. Many people have the habit of claiming themselves to be omniscient, meaning they know everything. These people are so well self-motivated and self-proclaimed that they think what they are saying is always correct and no one knows more than what he knows. This is where ego and attitude starts growing and ultimately it reaches a stage where self-proclaimed omniscient person doesn’t considers and listens to others as what he thinks is only right. These people find difficult to get respected.  Nobody is perfect  in this world and hence, unlearn claiming to be omniscient.
• Critic: It’s better not to criticize on everything and every time. Criticize only if it is requires and that too in a constructive manner. Criticism should never be made a habit and hence, unlearn being a critic. I have already discussed in my previous article titled, Unnecessary Criticism and hence will keep it short.

Learning is very important and in my opinion learning to unlearn few things is also important. There can be many other aspects of unlearning apart from what I have shared as the above list is not exhaustive. There might be one question in your mind and that is, which one is difficult; learn or learn to unlearn? The answer to this question is difficult and it is subjective. However, with my little experience, I think unlearning is difficult than learning or learning to unlearn is difficult. What is your take on unlearning and which one  is more difficult? Do share your views. 🙂 🙂

– Ashish Kumar