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- How To Remember Everything You Read | Volume 10
How To Remember Everything You Read | Volume 10
Introducing spaced repetition and reflecting on the first nine newsletters...
Well, we’ve reached double digits. Volume 10 coming in hot...
What have we learned so far? Well, you've probably forgotten about almost everything I've written (and that’s ok).
In this edition, I’m going to uncover some secrets on how to remember (almost) everything you read.
Here's what I've been thinking about lately:*
*In addition to "why did I name each newsletter a volume? This isn't an encyclopedia"
Haven't subscribed? New here? This newsletter, Makes Ya Think, poses questions about human behavior, and hopefully, provides insights that challenge your beliefs, offer a unique perspective and if nothing else...make you think.
Why do I read something, but then completely forget what I learned days later?
I totally get it. This happens to me all the time – I’ll read an awesome book or maybe even a great newsletter – that’s packed with so much wisdom I’m convinced it’ll change my life forever.
But then…it never does, does it?
Why? Because by the time it’s finally time to use these great insights, we’ve completely forgotten them.
People tend to think the more information they consume, the more they’ll learn.
Not quite.
Consuming information isn’t the same as acquiring knowledge.
You’re not in school anymore – memorizing the quadratic formula served you well for that first-period math test. But now, thinking you know something because you can memorize it is silly.
Learning means applying new information. It involves a process of reflection and feedback. If you don’t take time to think about what you’ve read, you’re not really going to be able to use anything you’ve learned.
If you want to really learn something – to have a deep understanding of the topic – you have to do something different.
Ok dude, we get it. What should we do?
Rant over. The secret sauce is this: spaced repetition.
Spaced repetition works because it plays on the way our brains work to convert information from short-term to long-term memory.
It’s a method in which information is increased at increasing intervals until it’s fully stored into your long-term memory.
A German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus, was the first to discover the effect spaced repetition had on retention. He first discovered that memory loss of newly-learned information is exponential.
However, Ebbinghaus also discovered that each time newly-learned information is reviewed, this “forgetting curve” essentially flattens and resets!
In short, your ability to remember something improves each time you review it (see chart below).
How can you use the spaced repetition method? Let’s say you just read the most amazing book with so many great insights you’re convinced it will change your life forever.
First, I’d recommend highlighting or making notes about key passages or phrases in the book as you’re reading.
Next, continually review the notes you’ve made with the goal of eventually committing the knowledge to your long-term memory. It could look like this:
Repetition 1: review one day after reading
Repetition 2: review three days after reading
Repetition 3: review six days after reading
Repetition 4: review 12 days after reading
And so on…
Why does this work? Think of your brain as a muscle. Every repetition is a “flex” of the muscle and by gradually increasing the intervals of repetition, you’re forcing that retention muscle to grow.
Give it a try.
What did you talk about in the first nine newsletters? I forgot
No worries, I have you covered. I’ve decided that I’m going to review and reflect on what we’ve learned every 10 newsletters.
You know, to help with retention and all that fun stuff. I swear it’s not because I’m running out of ideas.
Ok, here we go…
Volume 1: Introducing Makes Ya Think (the most-read newsletter)
Yes, the first newsletter was the most read – you can literally say it’s been all downhill from there. But let’s stay positive, here’s a link and a key takeaway:
Key Takeaway: (Regarding Hurricane Katrina) correspondence bias: the assumption that those who stayed chose to stay and purposely ignored evacuation orders.
People tend to assume that a person's desires correspond directly to his or her actions. This isn't always the case. Why? Context matters.
Volume 2: Why We Dehumanize
Key Takeaway: the more distance we feel between ourselves and another person, the less likely we are to view them as human.
Conversely, the less distance we feel between ourselves and another person, the more likely we are to view them as human.
Volume 3: How To Give The Perfect Gift
Key Takeaway: instead of trying to see things from another person's point of view, it's much more effective to go get their perspective. Carefully considering another person's perspective doesn't guarantee you'll be able to do so accurately.
Volume 4: 22 Things That Made Me Think in 2022
Key Takeaway: "Rejection is a sharp pain that dulls over time. Regret is a dull pain that sharpens over time."
Volume 5: Thoughts From The Clouds
Key Takeaway: Humans warp their perceptions to fit their expectations. The first hour of the four-hour flight went by faster because I came in expecting to fly for four hours.
Volume 6: Why The Happy Can’t Understand The Depressed
Key Takeaway: It turns out, to truly understand another person's perspective, you don't just try harder to imagine it. You actually have to actually be in that perspective - you have to experience it.
Volume 7: Why My Twin Brother Gets More Tinder Matches Than Me (the second most-read newsletter)
Key Takeaway: The human mind tends to look at our decisions in a relative way and compare them to what’s available. We constantly look at things in relation to others.
Volume 8: Dance Like No One’s Watching
Key Takeaway: This is called the spotlight effect: the tendency to overestimate the degree to which other people are noticing or observing our appearance or actions.
This is why you feel weird about going to a concert alone. You think everyone is looking at YOU because YOU feel out of place.
Volume 9: My Plans Got Cancelled And It Feels So Good (the least read newsletter – give it some love)
Key Takeaway: When we think of events in the distant future we tend to think abstractly - in more high-level terms - about why they will happen, but when we think of events in the near future we tend to think concretely - in more detailed terms - about how they will happen.
Bonus: Depth is Where the Gold is Buried
This was the most popular link, and in a way, where this newsletter grew from. If you haven't read it yet, the link is below.
Parting Thoughts
I usually like to write each newsletter the day before, edit it the next day and then send it. This week, I skipped the whole "day before" thing.
Depending on when you're reading this, I may or may not have woken up and done some hardcore revisions.
Well, unless you're a subscriber, then you're getting the 100% real thing.
YOLO (signing off like a 2012 highschooler),
Kevin
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