You learned to introduce yourself in a certain way. You learned how to write a CV. You learned which behaviours create professional success. Then you moved to Finland. Suddenly, everything that worked before fails completely. The problem lies deeper than a lack of knowledge. You need to unlearn before you can learn again.

This cycle operates constantly in life. Career transitions demand it. Cultural moves require it. Personal growth depends on it. Yet most people resist unlearning because the brain finds it harder than learning itself.

Understanding why unlearning challenges us and how to navigate the process effectively transforms our approach to handling life's necessary changes.

What Neuroscience Reveals About Unlearning

When you first learn something new, your brain builds neural pathways. Imagine hiking through woods where one path becomes well-travelled. The more you use this path, the deeper and wider it becomes. Your brain operates the same way, prioritising frequently used pathways to save mental energy through something called neural efficiency.

The challenge of unlearning requires you to forge new neural pathways whilst simultaneously inhibiting dominant neural networks (WDHB, 2025). You must travel a new path through the woods, whilst the old, easier route still exists.

Research into neuroplasticity shows this process involves more than simple forgetting. When we shift our thinking about something, the new way becomes dominant whilst the old pattern decays over time. The brain retains old connections because they might prove useful later, but gradually depotentialises them whilst prioritising access to new patterns (Learnlife, 2022).

Creating lasting change requires both neural inhibition and replacement. Research examining habit formation found that, on average, participants took 66 days to reach automaticity for simple daily behaviours, with a range spanning from 18 to 254 days depending on behaviour complexity (Lally et al., 2010). Simple actions reached automaticity faster than complex routines.

Three Barriers That Make Unlearning Difficult

Cognitive resistance operates first. Your brain established those old patterns because they worked in some context. Abandoning them feels like losing hard-won knowledge. The more deeply ingrained the pattern, the stronger your brain's resistance to change. Medical educators acknowledge that half of what students learn will eventually prove false, yet professionals across all industries face this reality as knowledge must constantly update and replace itself (WDHB, 2025).

Emotional attachment follows. What you learned often connects to your identity, your successes, and your sense of competence. Unlearning can feel like admitting you were wrong. It threatens self-perception. Psychological safety becomes essential because without it, learners struggle to challenge deeply held beliefs or step into the discomfort of change (WDHB, 2025).

Social pressure compounds both. Your professional community might still operate under old assumptions. Colleagues might question why you are changing approaches. Cultural expectations might demand consistency. Moving to Finland highlights this acutely when your professional behaviours from home suddenly mark you as culturally tone-deaf.

Why Finland Demands Exceptional Unlearning

Internationals moving to Finland face compressed unlearning challenges. Your job search strategies must change completely. Your networking approaches need recalibration. Your communication style requires adjustment. Your professional self-presentation will demand rethinking.

The CV that secured interviews elsewhere now gets dismissed for being too long. The confident self-promotion that demonstrated competence elsewhere signals arrogance here. The extensive networking that built careers elsewhere feels inappropriate in Finnish professional culture.

Each requires genuine unlearning before new learning can occur. You cannot simply add Finnish approaches on top of existing patterns. The old ways actively block the new ones. Your brain defaults to familiar patterns under pressure, sabotaging your progress unless you actively unlearn.

The Unlearning Process That Actually Works

Recognise what needs unlearning. Begin with an honest assessment. Which behaviours served you previously that now create problems? Which beliefs about professional success no longer apply? Which communication patterns generate confusion instead of connection?

Write them down specifically. Instead of "my networking approach," identify "sending connection requests to 50 people weekly without personalisation." Specificity enables targeted change.

Understand the context where old patterns worked. Your previous approaches succeeded in their original environment. Acknowledging this prevents defensiveness. You learned good strategies for one context. Now you need different strategies for a new context. Neither right nor wrong, simply appropriate or inappropriate for circumstances.

Create environmental cues for new patterns. Research shows that pairing physical movement with cognitive restructuring creates 68% faster unlearning compared to traditional methods (WDHB, 2025). The brain stores information in the body, impacting thoughts and actions through embodied cognition.

When adopting Finnish communication patterns, change your physical environment. Different seating arrangements for conversations. New locations for networking. Altered daily routines. Environmental shifts signal your brain that different behaviours apply.

Expect discomfort and slow progress. Automaticity develops gradually. Early stages require conscious effort and heavy engagement of your prefrontal cortex responsible for planning and self-control. The transition phase, where action no longer requires iron willpower yet remains far from reflexive, can extend many weeks (Mentalzon, 2025).

Missing one opportunity to perform a new behaviour reduces automaticity less than you might fear. Research found that one missed performance dropped automaticity scores minimally, with recovery following quickly (Gardner et al., 2012). Perfectionism kills habits. Consistency matters far more than perfection.

Celebrate small automaticity milestones. When you notice yourself naturally adopting new patterns without conscious thought, acknowledge it. This positive reinforcement teaches your brain that new behaviour leads to pleasure, strengthening neural pathways.

Practical Action Steps

This week, implement these changes:

Identify one specific pattern requiring unlearning. Choose something concrete affecting your current situation. Perhaps your CV length, your networking frequency, your communication directness, or your professional self-presentation style. Write down exactly what the old pattern looks like.

Articulate why the old pattern worked previously. Write three sentences explaining its original value. This acknowledges its legitimacy in the prior context whilst recognising the current inappropriateness. Reduces emotional resistance to change.

Design one environmental cue supporting new behaviour. Physical changes work better than willpower alone. If unlearning verbose communication patterns, change where you write. If unlearning aggressive networking, alter when and how you access LinkedIn. Small environmental shifts support neural pathway development.

Practice the new behaviour daily for ten days. Research shows habit formation follows an asymptotic curve where initial repetitions create larger automaticity increases than later stages (Lally et al., 2010). The first ten days build crucial foundations. Track daily without obsession. Simple tick marks proving consistency matter more than elaborate systems.

Find one person who successfully made similar transitions. Learning occurs faster when we observe others navigating the same unlearning journey. Their experience normalises discomfort whilst providing practical insights into timelines and strategies.

The Larger Pattern

Unlearning enables growth throughout life. Career transitions demand it. Technological changes require it. Personal development depends on it. Cultural moves accelerate it. The capacity to unlearn determines your adaptability more than the capacity to learn.

Your brain remains plastic throughout life. Neural pathways can restructure themselves through learning experiences regardless of age, though the process requires more conscious effort after 25 years (Learnlife, 2022). This neuroplasticity means change stays possible even when patterns feel deeply ingrained.

The question facing you centres on willingness rather than capability. Will you acknowledge that some learned patterns no longer serve you? Will you accept the discomfort of forging new neural pathways? Will you persist through the awkward transition phase where nothing feels automatic?

Your success in Finland, your career development, your personal growth all hinge on these answers. Learning brings valuable skills and knowledge. Unlearning creates space for them. Learning to unlearn to learn becomes the meta-skill enabling all others.

Start today. Identify one pattern. Acknowledge its previous value. Create environmental cues for change. Practice daily. Accept imperfection. Celebrate small automaticity gains.

Your brain will catch up. The neural pathways will form. The new patterns will become automatic. You simply need to believe enough to begin.

References

Gardner, B., Lally, P., & Wardle, J. (2012). Making health habitual: The psychology of 'habit-formation' and general practice. British Journal of General Practice, 62(605), 664–666. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp12X659466

Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674

Learnlife. (2022, October 28). The neuroscience of unlearning. Learnlife Blog. https://blog.learnlife.com/the-neuroscience-of-unlearning

Mentalzon. (2025, November 2). 66 days to build a new habit: Why it's not a myth, but real habit psychology. Mentalzon. https://mentalzon.com/en/post/7770/66-days-to-build-a-new-habit-why-it%E2%80%99s-not-a-myth-but-real-habit-psychology

WDHB. (2025, March 25). The neuroscience of unlearning: Why the best learners are experts at forgetting. WDHB Blog. https://wdhb.com/blog/the-neuroscience-of-unlearning-why-the-best-learners-are-experts-at-forgetting/

About the Author

Francis Oyeyiola, MA Edu., AmO, MSc. Econ. (Industrial Management), BEng. IT, founder of CoachMe2.fi, specialises in helping professionals navigate career transitions in the Finnish market and across continents. With more than 10 years of experience in career coaching and a deep understanding of workplace cultures, Coach Oye has guided hundreds of international professionals towards meaningful work aligned with their authentic capabilities.