How to unlearn wrong thinking?

[revenant]

The first time a difficult problem is served up, I often wind up going something like "Re1+ looks like it should mate..."  (glance around board)  "Don't see anything better so I'll play it..."  (red flag appears)  "Oops, it's wrong!  What's the right answer?"  (click on arrows below board)  "Eh?  What's the point?  Oh... of course!  Bc5 first is *much* stronger."  (study technicalities of position, play through correct sequence a few times to try to imprint it on memory).

Then a couple weeks later the problem is served up again and I'm going "Hmm...  I know I've seen this before...  Did I get it right or wrong?  Not sure...  Re1+ seems obvious..."  (calculate huge tree of variations stemming from Re1+ and the minutes go painfully by)  "Yup, it's sound, I'm winning a piece.  Well, there's Bc5 but it just looks muddy.  I'll play Re1+..." (red flag appears).

Of course, this is more of a problem in Blitz than in Standard where I'm more likely to take the time to examine obscure-looking possibilities.  All the same, I'd like to not be wasting so much time in blitz.  Does anyone have some suggestions on how to teach one's mind *not* to be so fascinated by Re1+?  In other words, once you know a certain procedure is wrong, how do you not only learn the correct one but unlearn the wrong one?

[andreacoda]

I guess the worst thing you can do is try *not to* do something – try “not to think of a red apple” – what is the first thing that came to mind? Let me guess – a red apple?
That’s because the human brain does not reason in negative logic…