---
title: "Most of you don’t need \"unlearning\" you need like 1-2 years of financial runway"
subtitle: "Your primary bottlenecks may be external, not internal."
slug: most-of-you-dont-need-unlearning-you-need-like-1-2-years-of-financial-runway
url: https://listedarticles.com/articles/most-of-you-dont-need-unlearning-you-need-like-1-2-years-of-financial-runway
canonical_url: https://chrislakin.blog/p/external
content_type: essay
language: en
published_at: 2026-10-04T00:00:00.000Z
updated_at: 2026-10-04T23:17:01.034Z
author: "Chris Lakin"
author_url: https://chrislakin.blog/
authored_by: human
publisher: "Locally Optimal"
publisher_url: https://chrislakin.blog/
topics: ["Productivity", "Career", "Opinion", "Culture"]
license: all-rights-reserved
word_count: 202
reading_minutes: 1
citation: "Chris Lakin, Locally Optimal. \"Most of you don’t need \"unlearning\" you need like 1-2 years of financial runway.\" 4 Oct 2026. https://chrislakin.blog/p/external (all-rights-reserved)"
---

# Most of you don’t need "unlearning" you need like 1-2 years of financial runway

*Your primary bottlenecks may be external, not internal.*

> Chris Lakin argues that many people seeking emotional "unlearning" are really constrained by external bottlenecks like money and stability, and that resolving those first often makes the supposed internal blocks disappear.

If I had to criticize my subscribers it’d be that too many of you think you need “unlearning” when really you need like 1–2 years of financial runway.

I get a lot of dms from people making this error:

But if you have anxiety while you’re broke and living with your parents, yea it’s probably [protecting you](https://chrislakin.blog/locally-optimal) and tbh somewhat risky to attempt to remove.

Honestly I’m not sure I’ve seen “unlearning” be (lastingly) useful when someone’s life situation is ~objectively ~bad.

Financial runway can ofc be substituted with community you trust—eg friends, family, monasteries.

Mentorship is probably still useful too, but that’s [*learning* not *unlearning*](https://chrislakin.blog/p/unlearning); not something I do or have experience with.

It’s a tough situation, i’m sorry. I hope you can find guidance from support that has successfully helped with this, because I have only failed.

For this reason, I’ve learned not to work with anyone 1:1 if they have **external bottlenecks:**

I’m not sure there’s much point in attempting to remove *internal* bottlenecks when big external bottlenecks are present.

Resolving your external bottlenecks either immediately makes your allegedly “internal” bottlenecks disappear, or at least much easier to remove:

## Your primary bottlenecks may external, not internal.