Unlearning, mastery and waviness
Lifelong learning = learning and unlearning in waves
[Read time: 9 minutes]
I’ve been brushing up on some learning theory recently for a piece of client work and, in doing so, I accidentally came up with my own wavy take on skills development, mastery and cycles of learning.
Here’s the headline:
Unlearning is integral to mastery.
In the world of learning, we think a lot about mastery: how can we help people to really nail a skill? Whether it be giving a speech like Obama, kicking ass in karate or cooking a truly banging roast chicken, learning involves knowledge gathering plus experimentation through practice and reflection until you reach a great outcome. There’s a load of theory and behavioural science that goes into designing learning experiences that serve mastery (shoutout to Bloom and his famous taxonomy, posters of which probably deck the walls in every classroom across the UK). This is particularly true of learning for behaviour change, which is having a bit of a moment in L&D. This is partly down to popular work in areas such as habit formation becoming pretty mainstream, with gurus like James Clear wielding great influence. But a framework that I return to time and time again as a learning designer and consultant is the Four Stages of Consciousness & Competence. Listen to me unpack it further below.
On a leadership programme for educators that I did with Big Education a few years ago, leader Liz Robinson shared her theory that there was an optional fifth stage of competence which she called ‘meta-conscious competence’ (i.e. becoming so proficient in a skill that you can teach it). I loved this, as did the room full of teachers - talk about knowing your audience! Teaching something requires making the unconscious conscious again so that you can explain it clearly and bring it to life in the consciousness of others. Teaching is epic.
But from where I sit, there might be one truer sign of having learned something to the point of mastery: unlearning it. There comes a point where our understanding of a skill or topic becomes so deep, so automatic, so intuitive, we are able to be truly creative with it. We are so close to what we’ve learned that we can start to critique it, disrupt it and selectively unlearn the less resonant parts. We can simultaneously accept and reject what we’ve learned, taking the best bits and innovating from them to create a new wave of learning based on partial unlearning. Like a wave pulling back from the shore before it strikes again with more power, more beauty. Innovation comes from a place of deep knowledge of what has been combined with the impetus to explore what could be. Often, this imaginary new way challenges the old. It deconstructs and reconstructs it in a way that affords more authenticity, spontaneity and growth. This wave of unlearning makes way for new waves of learning - more turns in the tide. And so the cycle of learning and unlearning continues, pushing us forwards incrementally over time.
Let this wavy metaphor marinate in your mind as we consider some examples.
Take Einstein. He mastered classical physics but then pushed its limits to come up with his mind-bending theory of relativity. By knowing the old concepts so deeply he was able to break free from their constraints and re-imagine space and time, leading to revolutionary discoveries about our whole cosmos. This is true mastery.
Bestselling author Glennon Doyle talks about how, with her bestseller Untamed, she could not write a book about breaking rules in a way that followed literary conventions. She had to use her existing skills as an accomplished writer to transcend these rules and write something truly original about how women experience the world (which she did). This is true mastery.
Look at jazz! Jazz musicians don’t just play notes - they embody the music and improvise with it. They've learned scales and rhythms inside out to the point that they can toss the rule book aside and create new melodies on the fly. This lets them bring forth stunning, original music straight from the soul. This is true mastery.
My ‘unlearning as integral to mastery’ theory may also apply to personal development. Often there comes a moment when people realize that the structured ‘self-work’ they do - maybe it’s learning to communicate effectively, or to regulate their emotions, or stick to polished habits or goals or practices - can actually be restrictive and counter-productive. Or exhausting. Or boring (you like ice baths - we get it!!!). The real growth seems to come when we allow ourselves to go beyond the lessons we’ve internalized, instead loosening the grip on doing things perfectly and embracing the messy, wrinkly, human bits of living and learning. It's not about throwing away what we’ve learned, but about trusting that we can return to those skills when needed, while also letting our intuition, authenticity and humanity lead the way. In unlearning the urge to analyse or optimise, we relearn to more naturally discern when to lean into the desire to improve and when to let go, accept and just be. Maybe this is true self-mastery (hate this phrase though honestly).
When I’m designing learning experiences, I often try to include something that speaks to this layer of unlearning - usually some kind of weird, wacky activity that necessitates creativity with the skills in question. It becomes an opportunity to play with the learning and make it your own. For example, I recently delivered a workshop on courage for a school here in Lisbon where the final activity was essentially a huge game of truth and dare. The kids had to use their personalised ‘courage kit’ to take on a wide range of scary and silly tasks. It wasn't just about building bravery; it was about unlearning fixed ideas around fear and courage. It may have looked like just a ridiculous game, but through it they broke down old perceptions and redefined what courage looked and felt like to them in a crazy, fun way! These moments are powerful - they not only build confidence but also invite creative chaos, allowing for the work of unlearning to happen playfully.
If I’m to locate this unlearning piece within the existing framework of conscious competence, I’ll call my new sixth stage of learning ‘trans-conscious competence’ (‘trans’ meaning something like ‘beyond’ here). Ultimately, it signifies mastery to the point of disruption. Innovation. Authenticity. It involves igniting a new cycle of learning all over again through unlearning and relearning in waves. The visuals used to depict the stages of skills mastery usually present it as some kind of ladder or pyramid or spiral (such as Bruner’s famous spiral curriculum model), but in my mind it literally does looks more like a wave. See and hear my vision further below!
Ultimately, learning is not always orderly or organised. Learning for mastery involves unlearning and relearning in haphazard, continuous ways. As such, it is inherently non-linear, cyclical and surprising, like a wavy ocean doing its natural thing. This is a sign we’re doing it right! Because learning is lifelong - sometimes we have to burn as we build, dancing in the ashes and playing in the waves as we go.