One way to unlearn is to begin A Notebook of Things I Don’t Know About. Another way is to document “the roads not taken.” According to this article one way to change your behavior is to document actions you didn’t take. For example, if you wish to save money and protect the environment by driving…
Posted in Creativity, Education, Games, General, Innovation, Lessons Unlearned, New Cards, Paradox, Sports, The Way We See the Problem
Learning to juggle isn't about catching the balls, it's about throwing them. One reason many people have difficulty learning to juggle is because they can't unlearn the "catching" part. Letting go of old habits is difficult but if you can master the trick of unlearning you just might be able to better handle the new…
Posted in Creativity, Curiosity, Games, Illusion, Innovation, Lessons Unlearned, New Cards
What do you see in the image to the right? If you are like most people you see a square made out of alternating rows of squares and circles. It is slightly more difficult to see the square as columns of alternating squares and circles. It is, of course, just a matter of perspective but…
Posted in Creativity, Curiosity, Games, Innovation, New Cards, One minute unlearning, Parenting, Quiz, Unlearn Strategy
A while back, I posed the question above. The most common answer is the one posted below. But if you really want to unlearn, I encourage you to keep searching for answers. The problem can actually be solved using only three lines. In fact, there is even a way to do it using only one…
Posted in Change, Creativity, Culture, Curiosity, Education, Future, Games, Innovation, Music, Parenting, TED, Unlearn Strategy, Visual unlearning
Lately, I have been noticing an interesting trend: More people are paying attention to how physical movement affects learning. For example, the other day, the Wall Street Journal had a fascinating article about how handwriting can help improve idea composition and expression. Clive Thompson at Wired had a great piece on how drawing–and not writing–may…
Posted in Behavior, Change, Games, Human Resources, Parenting, Stories, Unlearn Strategy, Wisdom
I have two children — ages 9 and 11. I love them dearly but they have been known to not play so nicely with one another on occasion. What I find really fascinating is how they can be at each other's throat one minute and then playing peacefully together the next minute. They have mastered…
Posted in Black Swans, Business, Future, Games, General, Quiz, Unlearn Strategy
Take a look at the familiar tic-tac-toe grid to the right. In how many different ways could you make the journey? It is not common for people to guess 27, 81 or even 243. The answer, however, is 362,800. This is because the number of permutations is 362,800. (The actual number of winning or draw…
Posted in Behavior, Creativity, Culture, Games, Human Resources, Listen, Psychology, Quiz, Unlearn Strategy
Imagine the year is 1980 and this motley crew (see the picture to the right) walks into your office to sell you on some great big scheme that will make everyone a lot of money. Would you listen to them? You might but, even if you did, you probably wouldn't really hear what they said because…
Posted in Games, General, Statistics, Unlearning 101 Episodes
Question: If you flip a coin 14 times which is more likely to occur: 1) The coin land on "heads" 14 straight times (HHHHHHHHHHHHHH); or 2) this random outcome: TTHTHHHTTHTHTT? The answer is that the odds of each occurring are precisely same — 1 in 16,384. And, yet, to most people the first outcome is viewed…
“It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you; it’s what you know that just ain’t so.”–Satchel Paige Question #86: In both 1995 and 1996, David Justice of the Atlanta Braves had a higher batting average than the New York Yankees Derek Jeter. Who had the higher two-year average over the same two-year…
