Tag Archives: pushing past

Unlearning

The 21st century has been the time of great discoveries, inventions and learning. With all this learning comes even more new things and concepts that might seem strange to some, but it is absolutely necessary for us to learn these to move forward.

One such concept is “Unlearning”.

But an important question to ask would be

What is unlearning?

When you remove something from your memory, you lose it and never think about it again and eventually it fades away from your mind leaving space for new, important information – that is unlearning.
Living in today’s day and age, it is a necessary skill to have.

Unlearning old activities/skills that once seemed useful and productive and replacing it with skills much more valuable, new skills that can help you get ahead and take your community forward – this is a very important skill, one which might seem really difficult (and even is, if we’re being honest) but is necessary nonetheless.

As it is a fairly new concept, it might be difficult to fully grasp it and more importantly, to understand it’s purpose.

Why is unlearning necessary ?

As said before, people need to develop unlearning to move forward and carry society forward side by side, to have better work ethic and overall have a new, fresh outlook towards all aspects of life.

The concept of unlearning forces the mind to constantly learn, re-learn and discard old learnings ; keeping the mind fresh, agile and sharp.

It isn’t necessarily important that everything you learnt or the skills you developed in the past have to be useful to you in the present or in the foreseeable future.
Unlearning is all about removing the unimportant/useless skills/information from your mind and clearing up space for much more productive and useful things.

There is also a high chance that whatever you re-learn isn’t the complete opposite of what you had previously learnt, instead, it could just be a modification of the old information/skills, morphed to suit you better.
But this requires expanding your mindspace to allow more and new information, which will definitely require you to get rid of the old clutter occupying your mind.

Also, if you’re someone who likes to constantly change things up, especially when it comes to professions and/or hobbies or if you’re simply looking into jobs, unlearning can be a great skill to have as many new, up-and-coming businesses and workspaces prefer having employees who can manage many skills and are easily adaptable to new and sudden changes.

Someone who is constantly unlearning and developing themselves is seen as a risk taker and someone who isn’t afraid to make changes, no matter how sudden or random they seem, which is another great impression to keep of yourself.

Now, to some people, the concept of sudden changes of learning and re-learning and even constant changes in life might seem strange, difficult and even scary.

How to develop unlearning ?

1) When you make the decision to develop unlearning in your skill set, it would mean you have found previous knowledge/skills inadequate to help you hustle through some important tasks and projects or maybe you simply wish to make room in your head for things that align with your present day priorities.
Either way, seeking new knowledge should be the very first step of your unlearning journey.

Only when you gain all that new knowledge will you be able to replace the old information with it or add more to your skill sets. So make it a point to constantly read and surf the net on subjects that you find interesting and constantly update yourself on new changes happening in that field.

2) Another way to gather more information and learning more is by talking to more people .
Build the habit of going outside of your social circle and meet new people and try to start intelligent, insightful conversations.

Try to talk to people having the same interests as you to learn more about your present day interests and priorities, but if you’re trying to learn new skills or trying to find even more skills, talk to people having complete different interests and educate yourself about their field of work and interests.

3) It is very easy to be in our own bubble of comfort and enjoy the safety of everything that we know. But to develop unlearning, one must venture out of this comfort zone and experiment in life.

If you can, travel and experience different places, cultures and people. Or simply make bold choices in life, choices you may not make in the safety and security of your comfort zone.
Go beyond what feels normal and ‘okay’, go for what makes your heart race with excitement.

4) When you experience new people and places, you clear your head of useless clutter in your mind.
Then comes the best and difficult part – relearning.

It’s the best thing because relearning allows you to use those new experiences and process them in your mind to update your existing knowledge about something or learn new things and improve yourself.
At the same time, it’s difficult. You need to be open to new and different perspectives and opinions and learn to accept ideas and concepts that go against your general/old understanding.
It’s also difficult to create an environment, both physically and mentally, that allows easy relearning.

5) When you’re able to reach a place where you’ve discarded information not useful for you and updated it with new and advanced learnings – you reach the finishing point.

You reach a stage where you’re a little more knowledgeable and a little more advanced, but don’t think this to be the end. It is merely another phase of the unlearning journey, because unlearning is a forever cycle.

Even we know all this, but surely there must be something that might just make the process a little easier…

Things to keep in mind

  • Instead of completely flipping your life around and making drastic, dramatic changes, start off slow. Make small changes in your life to replace previous habits/tasks and work your way up to more difficult tasks.
  • To begin unlearning you need to learn that your past tactics won’t be useful forever. It’s about making that realisation that change is the need of the hour.
  • It’s necessary to have a constant look at your life, especially a view from outside, to be self aware. When you have that vision you’ll be able to predict which skills will and will not help you thrive in the future and that allows you to make changes to things that no longer serve a good purpose in your life.

Unlearning is something we all can benefit from, so whatever phase of life you’re in – consider giving unlearning a chance in your life and see how much it changes things.

COMFORT ZONE

Have you ever made a decision that made you uncomfortable? Something for the ‘greater good’ that was out of your comfort zone? If you have, then you would know that pushing past those boundaries of comfort ultimately brings out the best in you.
If you haven’t then I really suggest you do.

Anyone that is unfamiliar with the concept of comfort zone might ask ‘What is comfort zone?’
A comfort zone isn’t necessarily a place, it’s a habit, a habit of avoiding uncomfortable situations or new things and risks. It’s a safe mental space where your work, behavior, thoughts and actions fit a routine and pattern, which minimises stress and anxiety. This safe space gives a sense of mental security.


Comfort zone doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. It’s a state that people generally tend to move towards. Leaning away from it brings increased risks and chances of failure, not to mention stress and anxiety, but depending upon how you react to it, it can have positive or negative effect.

Behind the walls of comfort lies the unknown that brings out the most valuable lessons.

Let’s dig deeper, and as some of you might be thinking, Why should you step out of your comfort zone?
Stepping out of your comfort zone makes you feel vulnerable, it gives you anxiety and stress. But this can work in your favour if you let it. It improves your performance and can push you towards success.

Moving out of the comfort zone is necessary to rise above and reach greatness, the comfort may make you feel safe and pleasant, but that doesn’t make it good for you. Infact, if you don’t push past this comfort zone, it’s going to get smaller.
Remember that the more we stick with what is familiar, the more we’re going to be afraid of moving to the unfamiliar.
You need to let go of the thoughts in your head that tell you to stick to the comfort zone, because it blocks your view of the bigger picture and the growth you can achieve by stepping out of this comfort zone.

The comfort zone is the wall between you and greatness and success, and the only way to tear down this wall is by pushing yourself into uncomfortable situations.
If you’re someone who is confused with what you’re meant to do in life, take that first step and step into the uncomfortable zone, that’s the only way you’ll realise your true calling.

Without having the uncomfortable feeling of deadlines and targets, we cannot push ourselves to do the best of our abilities. We tend to go the bare minimum of what is required of us and often fall into the ‘work trap’ which is basically just telling yourself you’re ‘busy’ to avoid stepping out of the comfort zone and trying new things.

Before we move on to ‘how’, let’s first learn about 2 more zones that you’re going to have to face on your journey from comfort to success.

The first is, Learning Zone.
It’s the period of time we spend learning – it doesn’t need to be academic knowledge, ot could even be the time you teach yourself a certain skill or even absorbing the things that you learn on an everyday basis that helps you improve. This is a zone that you should be in all the time, not just on the path to success but even after getting to success.

The second zone is, Performance Zone.
It’s the point of time where you apply what you have learnt and work towards success.

Now that we’ve covered that part, let’s move on to How can you step out of the comfort zone?

The first thing to keep in mind is that getting out of your comfort zone is not an overnight process. It will only come true by taking small steps and working towards that goal every single day.
Try expanding your comfort zone one step at a time.

Step 1) Identify the thing that is most important to you, the thing that you want to move ahead with.
The best way to know what your true calling is, is by moving towards things that are unfamiliar and new to you. You don’t need to expose yourself to it all of a sudden, again, go one day at a time. This will be the first step out of the comfort zone.

Step 2) Take the decision to start working on it.
Once you figure out what you want to do, start pursuing it. If you have to, set a date, place and time. This will be the entry to unfamiliar territory.

Step 3) Build your courage.
Once you start working on this goal, you will get even farther away from the comfort zone, and when you do that, you’ll be scared, and it’s okay. It takes a lot of courage just to identify these fears and then working on them.
You need to remember that when you build this courage, you will be able to face your fears and not only that, but you’ll also be able to take risks and make bold moves, that sometimes might give a great outcome, but sometimes might make you look like a fool, and you need to have courage for that.

Step 4) Follow this consistently with a positive mindset.
The most important step in this process. You need to have the mindset to push through all the difficult times and consistently work on yourself. You need to have the willingness to make mistakes and learn from them to work on your weaknesses. You need to be able to consistently put yourself in uncomfortable situations to develop and grow.

Now that we know the what, why and how, let’s go over some things to remember.

  • Choose to step out of the comfort zone, because if you don’t step out of it and put yourself in uncomfortable situations, you will not grow and ultimately, you will not get to success
  • Everytime you feel overwhelmed by something, walk away from it for a few minutes, clear your head, meditate, drink a glass of water, walk or even take a power nap. This will help you relax and even find a solution to problems or look at things from a fresh perspective.
  • Outside your comfort zone you will find people and situations that inspire you, push you to work harder and even irritate and annoy you. When you deal with these people and these situations, you grow and reach your full potential.
  • Think big and set targets and goals out of your comfort zone. Remember, the bigger the challenge, the harder you push yourself to work harder. Keep in mind that setting unattainable goals for yourself will only lead to more stress, fear, worry and anxiety which will lead to procrastination, which is only going to be counter-productive.

We’re all afraid of new experiences and situations, especially uncomfortable situations that are out of our comfort zone and it’s completely normal. The way we react to these situations and experiences reflects on how we will live our life.
Try to live out these experiences with confidence and belief in yourself instead of stress and anxiety.