The Key to Remembering Things Faster

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The Key to Remembering Things Faster

A lot of people often practice the conventional way of learning that we acquired from school. Many people begin and end learning simply by flipping through pages. There is nothing wrong with that. It works in a way. But it's not really as effective as many people desire it to be. When an average person reads a book, that person is most likely to remember about 10% of what he read.

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Reading is not really a lot of people's thing. This is why many students in school often produce terrible results at the end of a term or semester because all they had were notes in a book to study with, which is not really convenient for them. When you hear a couple of things, you are likely to remember 20%.

That is why sometimes we even find it difficult to remember someone's name, even if they told us severally. This is because hearing is a subconscious act. If you take a look at pictures, you are most likely to have memory of about 30% of what you see. We can remember to a certain extent, but when it comes to specific details, it may be quite difficult.

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If we see a demonstration, like a movie, we may be able to recall about 50%. This is quite helpful; however, there's still a better way. And this is by participating in discussions and sharing our ideas. This method can help you remember by a much larger percentage. You are most likely to remember about 70% of that discussion.

Learning should not be a monologue activity; it should be more of a dialogue thing. This is why we never fully comprehend what we are being taught in class because of the large number of students in the class, which limits the ability of the teacher or lecturer to open the floor for everyone to begin to share their ideas.

Another problem is the time factor. Oftentimes, the time allocated to the lecturer to cover a course is not really enough. This leaves the lecturer no choice but to rush things in order to cover up all the topics. Interacting with like-minded people helps you retain memory of your discussions.

It also helps you see other people's perspective towards a particular thing. We may think our ideas and methods are the best until we hear someone else's.

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I remember a song that says, "In teaching you will learn, and in learning you will teach." Teaching and learning is like a cycle. You may never fully understand something until you teach it to someone. When you share ideas with people around you, you are in a way teaching them.

One of the best ways to apprehend what we are being thought is by breaking ourselves into smaller groups. Every member of a group should always make contributions and share ideas. This method helped me a lot when I was in college. We should not fail to share our ideas with people—be it in a reading group or even in a seminar. Implementing this pattern can guarantee you much better results.