Use "Double Loop Learning" to Increase Your Chances of Goal Success

When you're trying to learn something new, achieve a particular goal, or just get through your everyday routine, it's easy to just put your head down and focus on getting things done. But if you want to really get better at something and think outside the box, The New York Times suggests a learning process called "double loop learning."

Double loop learning is essentially a form of forced self-examination where you look critically at what you've done and your plan for achieving goals:

During the 1970s, Chris Argyris, a business theorist at Harvard Business School (and now, at 89, a professor emeritus) began to research what happens to organizations and people, like Mr. Chang, when they find obstacles in their paths.

Professor Argyris called the most common response single loop learning - an insular mental process in which we consider possible external or technical reasons for obstacles.