Learning and Unlearning
I was listening to a CD distributed by the National Speakers Association that contained a short interview with Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. Charlie has been a speaker and author in the area of personal and professional development for more than 50 years. He has touched millions of people with his inspirational messages and his abundant kindness.
Charlie is also the founder of Executive Books. You can learn more about Charlie at www.executivebooks.com/cjones .
The interviewer asked Charlie what he had learned over the years. Instead of detailing what he had learned, Charlie spoke about the importance of unlearning. He said that after many years of learning, we come to a place of unlearning.
Charlie pointed out that during our learning phase, we learn to be bigger, to get more, and to be more popular. At some point, he said, that gets “old” – and then we start unlearning, so we can become simple and real. The mark of greatness, he said, is a childlike spirit.
Charlie’s words spoke directly to my heart. About a year ago, I came to a point where I knew that I needed to start unlearning. Learning had produced many wonderful things in my life, and for them I am grateful. Yet my spirit was not at rest, and an inner voice prodded me to start the process of unlearning.
That’s why I question so many things now. I know that much of what I previously learned is not true. I know that some of the priorities I established were not feeding my spirit. They fed my ego and helped me to gain the approval of others. But I wasn’t able to convince myself that all was well.
Where are you right now? Are you in the learning phase or the unlearning phase? In my experience, unlearning can open some interesting new doors and reveal precious new insights.
Charlie summed it up this way: “Learning makes you big and smart. Unlearning makes you simple and real.”
I’m with Charlie. I’ll take simple and real. Simple and real might not seem exciting to some. It might seem to be a passive way to live your life. You might even feel it would hinder your success. In fact, it’s just the opposite.
We yearn to be simple and real – to get rid of the heavy burden of the masks we all wear and the games we play to obtain the acceptance of others. If anything, the “simple and real” approach will bring us more success, although in the unlearning phase our definition of success is likely to be different than it was in the learning phase.
When you embrace unlearning, you’re going to learn some new things – and those things are likely to make your spirit sing.
– Jeff Keller
© 2008