First, impose new constraints to combat old habits. When you’ve habitually performed a skill one way for years, it becomes cognitively ingrained – your brain won’t let you try it a new way. Placing constraints on how you do something – for example, challenging yourself to write an essay without any adverbs, or paint a picture without using the color red – helps you force your brain to approach things differently.
Second, find a coach. Unlearning requires you to perform a skill and monitor your performance simultaneously. That takes up a lot of mental bandwidth. Finding a coach who can monitor your performance and suggest adjustments based on real-time feedback allows you to focus solely on your performance.
Third, don’t rebuild, or renovate. Unlearning skills don’t always require you to start from scratch. If your skills are built on a solid foundation, aim to augment your performance rather than overhaul it completely.