Chapter 14
Undoing Our Resistance to Learning
There is a radical transformation under way in how our schools and classes are structured—increasingly focused on the premise of learning new ideas, big picture thinking and decision making, instead of on memorization or rote tasks, and recognizing that people's aptitudes cannot be classified based on a single mode of learning.
Part of understanding why we resist change is in understanding and therefore unlearning our bad learning habits. The hackneyed expression of being a lifelong learner will really take on new meaning in this century of constant change and the corresponding challenge to adapt.
Fundamental to overcoming a resistance to change is the ability to open yourself up to learning new things and in turn using your enhanced ideas, senses, and memory to facilitate that learning. Fear can be insistent, however, because we have been taught that there are right and wrong answers and that these answers are settled matters, not open to questioning. And to question a right answer is to open yourself to ridicule or worse. So fear tells you: Don't question. Don't challenge. Don't go against the grain.
But it is important to understand why that fear constantly steps in when you're about to embark on learning something new. Figuring out why we resist change, and in turn altering our operating premise when we are faced with the need to make changes, is the key to our personal success.
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There are four major reasons we resist change, ...
