Sometimes, as we get older, we get stuck in our ways. Maybe a more apt thing to say would be that we our thinking gets gunked up and we do not take the time to remove the grime.
Last year I undertook a painting course that focused on painting light. In this course one of the points the teacher made was that you needed to unlearn how you see things, and learn to see things as light reflecting off of objects.
I have thought about this recently, and I agree in more domains than just art. I think admitting that maybe the way I learned something is not working out, and to get my neuroplasticity flowing I should “relearn” the knowledge.
So, might as well put my money where my mouth is:
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I am taking notes on introductory calculus. I am going to do basic example problems and work my way up until I have a deeper understanding than I do now.
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I am going to pretend I forgot most of my chess studies (minus some obvious exceptions) and try to relearn again. Maybe my rating slump is because my brain is all gunked up.