Learning to Unlearn

Table of Contents

After 2,776 days, I left Amazon/AWS on January 17th to begin a new professional chapter. Leaving Amazon wasn’t an easy decision: I worked with a great team, supported wonderful customers, and had infinite growth and learning opportunities. I’ll always be grateful for Amazon, my colleagues, managers, mentors, mentees, and customers.

This post synthesizes what I consider the most important skill Amazon equipped me with over those years –– one that can make a needle-moving difference in any professional’s career, particularly for tech professionals: unlearning old things to make room for learning new stuff.

As I embarked on a new professional journey a month ago, I needed to leverage this skill ferociously 🌪️.

Don’t get me wrong, you need this not only when changing jobs (though it’s crucial then) but also continuously. It applies to hard-skills like new programming languages, tools, methodologies, and industry knowledge, as well as soft-skills like presentation/communication and being better at people management. The more you learn to unlearn, the more opportunities to do so will arise.

Pre-requisites

  • Genuine intention to unlearn first –– then to learn
  • Reasonable time management skills

The first item is self-explanatory and intrinsic: if you’re not truly open to unlearning, forget about it. It’s challenging to accept that what brought you here won’t automatically take you where you need to go, but it’s mandatory. Be humble and vocally self-critical. Just don’t be too hard on yourself.

The second is an evolving skill that each person must develop in their own way.

How I currently do time management

After struggling during my first 18 months at Amazon, I took decisive steps to enhance my time management skills in a way that worked for me and my family. This assumes you have flexible working hours and your employer treats you as an adult. It also assumes you’re responsible.

I try to follow simple rules/techniques:

  • Everything goes on the calendar: You don’t need to include all details (for privacy reasons), but block time for everything you want/need to do –– including personal time for things like gym/sports/meditation, breaks/naps, doctor appointments, etc.

  • Color-coded calendar: Initially, it might seem pointless, but stick to the process. Color-coded calendar is a proven technique that helps with prioritization and self-reflection. It helps you course-correct when you’re not investing enough time in important categories or when you’re overcommitted.

For example, I categorize my calendar with these colors:

  • Red: internal meetings/activities, including preparation
  • Orange: customer meetings/activities, including preparation
  • Green: training/skills time
  • Blue: self-growth activities, including helping others grow (coaching, mentoring)
  • Purple: “pause” activities, mainly sports and mental health related

How I unlearn

Listen

Before speaking, listen carefully. Be a sponge –– and take notes. Your notes might not matter a week from now, but listen and observe anyway.

Talk with people

The first active step to unlearn is talking with people that are great in what you need to learn next. If you have customers, talk to them after consulting with skilled colleagues. In my case, this phase involves many red-coded calendar entries each week.

After a few weeks, started talking with customers/partners. My calendar turned orange 🧡

Identify key skills to develop

After diverse conversations, you’ll spot skill gaps to address. Find your preferred learning sources: social media, books, RSS feeds, podcasts, analysts/benchmarks, events. The medium matters less than finding what effectively works for you. Nerdy stats: I’ve added 43 new RSS feeds to NewsBlur in the past five weeks and bought four books. I’m also luck to have access to an infinite library of Google Cloud-related knowledge to dig deeper.

Take care of yourself (and your loved ones)

The biggest risk during this unlearn-to-learn phase, especially during job/team/country changes, is excessive anxiety. Don’t pressure yourself to unlearn (and learn) too quickly. Fight impostor syndrome (we’re all impostors until we’re not). Everyone has their own pace –– and non-work activities sustain us long-term: schedule time (purple in my case) for sports/outdoor activities, walks, sunlight (weather permitting), and rest. These keep you energized to unlearn more –– and then learn.