You, like everyone else you know, are a product of conditioning.
Just like in the movie, Matrix, while growing up you unconsciously took either the blue or the red pill. Unconsciously, you have been acting out the conditioning set by the pill you took.
Without a doubt, you are a product of an intricately interconnected system managed by our society – Yet, even our society is conditioned to function the way that it does.
The world we live in now works on principles adopted decades ago, mostly during the industrial revolution era, when we were conditioned and taught to learn skills and get jobs to earn a living wage.
The problem, however, is that the world we would live in the future, would not function with the dictates of the world of the present, nor that of the past.
Unfortunately, in spite of the constant change experienced in the world today, a majority of us, especially in Africa has refused to keep up with the change.
Why must our education remain stagnant if the world is changing? In Nigeria for example, though minutely developed the system of education has remained unchanged for over three decades.
What we learned from our parents, from school, from society, etc would all be obsolete in the very near future, they could all be totally irrelevant. The first step in finding a way out of the impending mess is to consciously accept this as a fact and do something about it.
You may have been told constantly of the need to learn something new; a skill, a new dress sense, a new diet, something new. Something to make you function effectively now. Learning new skills is fine, the issue is that to effectively learn what would make you relevant in about ten years from today, there is the need to first unlearn the negative bias that you have been conditioned with.
Contents
Here are five ways to effectively unlearn:
- Acknowledge and accept your fears
- Challenge what you’ve been taught
- Break the habit of thinking that you know
- Always look for evidence that what you know is true now and would be true in the future
- Have Faith In Yourself To Achieve Your Goals
Acknowledge your fears and accept the challenge
One of the things that I find very gratifying is the fact that I work best with a deadline in view especially when there is an imminent loss if I do not perform to expectations. I do this by acknowledging and embracing my fear of loss.
My senses go to hyperdrive and my need to learn comes to the fore. It happens simply because I do not want to associate with the loss that would come if I do not achieve my set goal.
Unfortunately, most people acknowledge their fears but do not learn to embrace them. They rather give up and give in to their initial conditioning of weakness.
Studies suggest that It takes three and a half months to wipe away a lot of bad conditioning and recondition anyone with the attitudes and behaviours that lead to entrepreneurial success.
If you embrace your fears and decide on success, you can learn with structured repetition, any skill needed to get you from where you are now, to where you need to be.
Challenge what you’ve been taught
Being able to admit that you’re wrong or need to unlearn and relearn what you have been taught, what you had always seen to be true, takes some self-awareness and the ability to put your ego aside.
In this ever-changing world, one of the problems I’ve seen commonly in the education sector is that professors find it hard to accept that they are wrong. They are mostly stuck in their past and not wanting to acknowledge that the norms of the past may not be right in the present.
Typically, what stands true today may not necessarily stand true in a decade from now. Look at it this way – imagine the embarrassment of thinking that you know something and being totally wrong. It is always safer to question everything, and even when you think that you are right, it is safer to constantly ask yourself the question – what if I’m wrong?
Your ability to question what you are being fed with will really help you to unlearn and learn new things.
Break the habit of thinking that you know
Our education system rewards the smartest and shames those that do not know. That is what we all have been conditioned with. We, therefore, go about our businesses and putting up the front of knowing everything.
We often act based on what we think we know first. Unfortunately, such a stance robs us of information. Taking the stance of not knowing will force you to look at things differently; to seek new information and speak with other people with the intent of learning from them.
You are never the smartest person in the room.
Always look for evidence that what you know is true now and would be true in the future
It is human nature to take in information, and we do just that naturally through everything around us. What is not common, however, is to question the authenticity of the information we take in.
As humans, we find it easier to base our judgment on emotions instead of evidence. To effectively unlearn anything therefore, it is better when you have and rely on sound evidence that an old way of thinking is false and replace that thinking with something new.
Have Faith In Yourself To Achieve Your Goals
You won’t get this anywhere else – My definition of the word skill.
“A skill is the product of your resolve to unlearn” – Akinyemi Olufemi
If you have ever read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert Kiyosaki or listened to any of his interviews, you would easily find out that financial status and social class are passed down through generations – You unconsciously inherit your class-bias and mindset.
One of the mindsets most people inherit from their parents, society and school is self-doubt – they are conditioned to believe that certain things are outside their intellectual or social class. You must, therefore, unlearn what you’ve been conditioned with and believe in yourself and your ability to achieve set goals.
Don’t give up too soon, always have faith in your own abilities.
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