What habits do you need to unlearn?
I’ve been re-learning how to drive. Almost 30 years after obtaining my driver’s licence.
Yep. I’ve bought a Tesla.
I’ve had it for about six weeks now, and there has been a surprising amount of unlearning and re-learning that has had to happen.
Unlearning is the process of letting go of previous beliefs or behaviours that are no longer serving us.
One of the earliest mentions of unlearning can be traced back to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who wrote in the Tao Te Ching, "To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day."
More recently, Peter Senge, wrote extensively about the need for unlearning in his book "The Fifth Discipline."
I knew there would be some behaviours I needed to consider unlearning when buying an electric vehicle.
I’m happy to unlearn the habit of going to a service station to put petrol in my car – no more splashing, no more playing the price cycle game, no more paying over $2/litre. Instead, I can plug the car into my home wall charger a couple of times a week and top up the battery.
#winning
Other Tesla owners have warned me about the phenomenon of ‘range anxiety’.
I can only recall one experience of this while driving a petrol car. I was on holiday in a remote part of New Zealand and we got down to about 10km of fuel left before finding a servo. Although, as I recall, my mother was a lot more freaked out about this than I was.
Range anxiety in an electric vehicle is real. Mainly I suspect because there are a lot fewer public charging stations than there are petrol service stations. Thankfully, this is improving.
On a recent work trip to Northern NSW, had we not recharged, we would have arrived home with 13% battery charge left. Or around 50km. It was a risk I was prepared to take. My beloved was not. Let’s just say there were some interesting conversations before I agreed to stop at a supercharger.
Unlike a petrol car where you can refuel in a few minutes, this recharge took about 30 minutes. Enough time for a toilet visit and a coffee. Not enough time for a shop. Which was probably not a bad thing given we were at a huge shopping centre on the Gold Coast…
I can easily unlearn the habit of quickly refuelling at a service station whenever I need to and replace this habit with one of regularly charging the car at home and, when necessary, planning longer trips around coffee, lunch and shopping.
The habit I’m still not getting used to unlearning is how the car actually drives. My Tesla goes very fast, very quickly! I used to drive a very fast sports car, and the Tesla would leave it in its dust. I really need to stop flooring the accelerator! Especially as I don’t want any speeding tickets.
So often in life, we focus on learning new things.
We forget that it’s often more important to unlearn ideas, skills and behaviours that have become outdated or obsolete.
Unlearning isn’t about forgetting.
Unlearning is about making the deliberate decision to choose to do something differently.
There are six steps involved in unlearning:
Acknowledge the need to unlearn: The first time I drove my new Tesla I realised there would be things I needed to unlearn when it came to driving.
Identify the belief or behaviour: This could be a habit, an attitude, a way of thinking, or a pattern of behaviour – such as my habit of flooring the accelerator to start driving.
Understand the origin: I learnt my “flooring the accelerator” behaviour when I used to drive my mum’s Triumph when I first had my licence. It needed some encouragement to get going, especially if I needed to get up a hill.
Challenge the belief or behaviour: Once you understand the origin of the belief or behaviour, challenge it. Ask yourself why you believe it, whether it is still relevant, and what would happen if you let it go.
Replace it with a new belief or behaviour: Identify a new belief or behaviour that you want to adopt. This could be a new habit, a different attitude, or a new way of thinking. Practice this until it becomes second nature. I’m a lot less speedy when I take off now.
Repeat the process: Remember that unlearning is a continuous process. Keep an open mind, be willing to challenge your beliefs, and be patient with yourself as you work towards making changes.
Unlearning is an important part of personal growth and development. By identifying and letting go of habits and behaviours that no longer serve us, we can create space for new behaviours and experiences that can lead to greater health, happiness, and success.
What habit or behaviour could you unlearn?
