How To Remember Everything You Learn
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, the host shares seven effective tips to enhance memory retention for the things we learn. Starting with the importance of understanding the broad concept before diving into specifics, the tips include 'just-in-time learning,' following curiosity, sharing knowledge to reinforce learning, and using tools like Readwise for low-friction resurfacing of information. The host emphasizes active recall as a crucial method for solidifying memories, suggesting that testing oneself is more beneficial than passive rereading or note-taking.
Takeaways
- 😀 Discover the Map: Start by understanding the broad strokes of a new topic before diving into specific areas to avoid missing out on related areas of knowledge.
- 🎮 Just-in-Time Learning: Learn when the knowledge becomes practically applicable to you, rather than learning 'just in case' it might be useful later.
- 🔍 Follow Your Curiosity: Engage with topics that genuinely interest you to improve recall and retention of information.
- 🗣️ Share What You've Learned: Teaching or explaining what you've learned to others can significantly enhance your own memory of the material.
- 💡 Apply the Protege Effect: The act of teaching or sharing knowledge helps deepen your understanding and makes the information more memorable.
- 📚 Utilize Interactive Platforms: Use platforms like Brilliant for engaging and interactive learning experiences in subjects like math, data science, and computer science.
- 📝 Write Regularly: Writing about what you've learned, such as in an email newsletter, can reinforce your memory and provide a record of your learning journey.
- 🔄 Low-Friction Resurfacing: Use tools like Readwise to revisit highlights from your reading in a low-effort way, which aids in memory retention.
- 📉 Active Recall: Actively testing yourself on the material you've learned is more effective for memory retention than passive rereading or note-taking.
- 📈 Test Yourself Regularly: Incorporate self-testing into your learning routine to solidify memory connections and improve long-term retention.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is about learning and remembering new information effectively, with seven simple tips to enhance memory retention.
What is the first tip mentioned in the video for improving memory retention?
-The first tip is to 'discover the map', which means to understand the broad overview of a new topic before diving into specific areas.
Can you explain the concept of 'just in time learning' as mentioned in the video?
-'Just in time learning' is learning something at the moment it becomes useful and necessary, as opposed to 'just in case learning', which is learning something that might be useful in the future.
What does the video suggest about the relationship between curiosity and memory retention?
-The video suggests that curiosity is a natural compass that helps in remembering information. People are more likely to remember things they are genuinely curious about.
How does sharing knowledge with others help in learning according to the video?
-Sharing knowledge with others, also known as the 'Protege effect', helps in reinforcing the learner's own understanding and memory of the information.
What is the benefit of using Brilliant as mentioned in the video?
-Brilliant is an online platform that offers interactive and engaging lessons on various subjects like math, data science, and computer science, which can enhance learning experience.
Why is writing a weekly email newsletter like 'Sunday Snippets' beneficial for the author?
-Writing a weekly email newsletter helps the author to remember what they have learned by sharing it with others and also adds value to the readers by teaching them new things.
What is 'low friction resurfacing' and how does it help in memory retention?
-'Low friction resurfacing' is the process of revisiting information in a low-effort way, such as receiving daily emails with highlights from previously read material, which helps in recalling the information.
What is the significance of 'active recall' in the context of learning and memory?
-'Active recall' is the act of actively trying to remember information without looking at the source material, which strengthens memory connections and aids in better retention.
How does the video suggest using the Readwise app for memory retention?
-The Readwise app is suggested for its ability to store highlights from reading material and send daily emails with random highlights, facilitating low-effort resurfacing of learned information.
What is the final tip given in the video for remembering more of what you learn?
-The final tip is to practice 'active recall' by testing oneself on the information learned, which is more effective for memory retention than passively rereading or summarizing.
Outlines
📚 Discovering the Map for Effective Learning
The video begins with an analogy of learning to a video game map, where the initial step is to uncover the entire map before delving into specific areas. This approach is suggested for learning new topics, where understanding the broad strokes of a subject allows for a more informed decision on which areas to explore further. The speaker uses marketing as an example, highlighting the importance of not just focusing on one aspect like email marketing, but understanding the full spectrum of marketing strategies available. The key takeaway is to maintain a zoomed-out perspective to avoid missing the bigger picture while learning.
🕒 Just-in-Time Learning vs. Just-in-Case Learning
The second paragraph discusses two learning strategies: 'Just-in-Case' and 'Just-in-Time'. The former involves learning something that might be useful in the future, without immediate application, while the latter is learning something immediately useful for current needs. The speaker advocates for 'Just-in-Time' learning, using medical school and marketing as examples to illustrate how practical experience enhances the retention of knowledge. The summary emphasizes the importance of applying theory to real-life situations to make learning more effective and memorable.
🔎 Cultivating Curiosity for Better Retention
In this paragraph, the speaker emphasizes the role of curiosity in learning and memory retention. A study is mentioned that shows a direct correlation between curiosity and the ability to remember information. The speaker shares personal examples, such as learning about nuclear bombs after watching a film, to demonstrate how curiosity can act as a natural compass for learning. The summary underlines the idea that pursuing knowledge out of genuine interest significantly improves the likelihood of remembering what is learned.
🤔 Sharing Knowledge for Enhanced Learning
The fourth paragraph focuses on the concept of sharing knowledge as a method to reinforce learning. The speaker cites studies that show teaching or explaining information to others enhances one's own memory, a phenomenon known as the 'Protege' effect. Personal anecdotes from traveling and learning about historical sites are shared to illustrate this point. Additionally, the speaker discusses a team practice of creating monthly presentations on what each member has learned, highlighting the benefits of this practice for both the individual and the team as a whole.
💡 Sharing Learnings Online for Long-Term Retention
The speaker discusses the benefits of sharing what one has learned online, drawing from their own experience of writing a weekly email newsletter called 'Sunday Snippets'. This practice not only helps the speaker remember the information better but also provides value to the readers. The summary explains how sharing knowledge publicly can solidify one's understanding and recall of the subject matter, as well as contribute to a broader community of learners.
🔄 Low-Friction Resurfacing with Readwise
In this paragraph, the speaker introduces Readwise, an app that helps in the process of low-friction resurfacing of learned material. By linking to various reading platforms, Readwise stores highlighted content and sends daily emails with random highlights, allowing for periodic review of previously read material. The speaker shares their personal experience with Readwise and how it aids in recalling quotes and information from books, emphasizing the app's effectiveness in enhancing memory retention.
✅ Active Recall for Strengthening Memory
The final paragraph concludes with the concept of active recall as a powerful learning technique. The speaker explains that actively testing oneself on learned material strengthens memory connections more effectively than passive rereading or note-taking. Various methods of self-testing are suggested, such as practice tests, online quizzes, and creating content about the learned material. The summary reinforces the idea that remembering is about retrieving information from the brain, which in turn, solidifies the memory.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Memory retention
💡Discovering the map
💡Just-in-time learning
💡Curiosity
💡Protégé effect
💡Active recall
💡Low-friction resurfacing
💡Just-in-case learning
💡Teaching
💡Sharing knowledge
💡Learning strategies
Highlights
Seven simple tips are shared for improving memory retention of learned material.
Tip one emphasizes the importance of understanding the 'map' of a new topic before diving into specifics.
The 'map' analogy compares learning to exploring a video game, unlocking areas as you learn.
Marketing is used as an example to illustrate the concept of a broad learning 'map'.
Tip two introduces 'just-in-time learning' as opposed to 'just-in-case learning'.
Medical school is cited as an example where 'just-in-time learning' can be particularly effective.
Tip three encourages following curiosity as a natural compass for remembering information.
A study is mentioned that links curiosity with the ability to recall learned information.
The 'Protege effect' is introduced in tip four, where teaching others reinforces personal memory.
Sharing knowledge through presentations, like 'level up Looms', is suggested for team learning.
Tip five recommends sharing learned information online to solidify one's own understanding.
The host shares his practice of writing a weekly newsletter, 'Sunday Snippets', to reinforce learning.
Tip six discusses 'low-friction resurfacing' using an app like Readwise for daily review of highlights.
Readwise is praised for its ability to send daily emails with random past highlights, aiding memory recall.
Tip seven focuses on 'active recall' as a study technique, supported by numerous educational studies.
Active recall involves testing oneself to strengthen memory connections, rather than passive rereading.
The host provides a link to a video for students on how to apply active recall to exam preparation.
The video concludes by emphasizing that remembering is about retrieval, not cramming more into the brain.
Transcripts
hey friends welcome back to the channel
so if you ever have that feeling where
you read or watch or listen to something
and you think you've learned something
new but then a few days or weeks later
you try and recall or remember it and
you find that you've forgotten
everything that you thought you learned
the only problem is
I can't remember what I've forgotten so
in this video I want to share seven
simple tips for how you can remember
more of the things that you learn and
we'll go over some common mistakes that
people make along the way as well let's
get into it okay so tip number one is to
discover the map so if you play a video
game you start off in a very very small
portion of the map and the whole map is
yet to be uncovered and as you explore
different areas you're slowly unlocking
and uncovering different areas of the
map and so relating this back to
learning new stuff the way I think of it
is that a new topic or a new area that I
want to learn it's like this whole map
in a video game and before I dive into
any one specific area what I want to do
is just understand where are the blocks
on the map where are the different areas
of the map that I could potentially
explore if we take something like
marketing for example which is a skill
that you have to learn as an
entrepreneur again there are multiple
different areas on the map and if you
just dive fully into just deep into
email marketing for example you miss
other things like paid ads and organic
and referrals and Affiliates and these
other things and you might not even know
that these other things exist whereas if
you start off Broad and you think okay I
want to learn about marketing I want to
get more leads or sales or whatever for
my business whatever the thing is let me
just understand the very broad brush
Strokes of what marketing actually is
and then once I know what's in the map I
can then choose which area to dive into
based on what my own needs are if you go
full into the detail initially you sort
of Miss the forest from the trees
whereas if you keep a zoomed out
perspective and understand where the
forest broadly is it means that when
you're diving into a specific tree to
mix metaphors it's way easier to
understand and to retain the information
that you're trying to study all right
tip number two is about just in time
learning now this is in contrast with
just in case learning so just in case
learning is when you're learning
something in case it becomes useful
further down the line it's not
necessarily practically applicable to
you right now but you are learning it
just in case whereas just in time
learning is where you learn a thing at
the moment that it becomes useful and
necessary for you to learn the thing in
medical school for example one way of
learning is by trying to memorize a
textbook you are learning just in case
and then you go to the wards and you see
some patience and you see some stuff and
then you like try and correlate the
thing that you've read to the thing that
you've seen and that's one way of doing
it but actually what I would suggest a
better way of doing it is to flip it the
other way around encounter the things
first and then learn about the thing
later yes of course it's important to
have the map it's important to have the
very broad foundations but when you've
encountered something in real life like
if you've seen someone having a heart
attack right in front of you then all of
the stuff that you read about the
advanced life support algorithm and how
to manage myocardial infarction and all
the drugs to give and how a crash
trolley works and how the crash Team
Works reading all that stuff becomes 10
100 times more useful when you've
actually seen the thing happen in real
life whereas you could read so much
stuff and when you see the thing happen
in real life you'll realize oh my God
it's completely different and it's it's
hard to correlate those things similarly
to use a marketing example let's say
you're thinking of starting a business
but you've never sold anything and so
you could read a bunch of books about
sales and marketing but if you've never
actually tried to sell anything a lot of
that stuff is not going to be that
applicable and you're going to fall into
that trap of being like oh I've read all
these books about sales and marketing
but I don't remember any of it and the
reason you don't remember any of it is
because you have no practical experience
upon which to hang the knowledge or the
information whereas instead if you swap
theory in action you start off with
action first and then do Theory second
what that would look like is that you'd
make a random product and you would just
try and sell it try and sell it to your
friends your family whatever and in the
process of attempting to create and sell
something you'll be like ah okay and now
when you read all the information about
sales and marketing it will become way
more applicable it'll be way more
practical because you're applying it
just in time and it means that you're
much more likely to remember the thing
all right tip number three is to follow
your curiosity now there's a really fun
study that they did which I actually
mentioned in my book if you're a
productivity link down below um but
there's a fun study that they did where
they tried to measure the impact of
curiosity on participants ability to
recall information that they'd learned
so essentially they gave people a list
of questions with answers but then they
also asked them how curious are you
about that piece of information and
perhaps unsurprisingly they found that
the people who were more curious about
things were way more likely to remember
the things rather than being able to
remember facts and stuff that they
weren't actually curious about and so
curiosity becomes this natural compass
that you can use to remember more of the
things that you learn I.E if you learn
about things that you have a genuine
curiosity for your way more likely to
remember the thing so practically
speaking the way I apply this to my life
is whenever I find myself with a
question of like huh I wonder how that
thing works I'll recognize oh I'm
curious about this thing therefore if I
learn it right now I am way more likely
to remember that thing for example I
watched Oppenheimer the other day great
film by the way and afterwards I was
like huh I wonder how a nuclear bomb
actually works because I didn't quite
understand it and so I went on YouTube
and watched a veritasium video about how
nuclear bomb works and because I sought
out the information in that moment of
curiosity after seeing the film I'm now
way more likely to remember how a
nuclear bomb Works whereas if I try to
seek out information about how a nuclear
bomb Works before without actually being
curious about it or I'd learned it in a
history class where when I didn't
actually care about the topic it would
have been a lot harder to remember that
information because generally when we
tie learning to an experience in real
life or to Something That We're
genuinely curious about in the moment
again that makes us way more likely to
be able to remember the thing now an
easy way to learn stuff and test
yourself in an engaging and interactive
fashion happens to be by using brilliant
who are very kindly sponsoring this
video brilliant is a fantastic online
platform that's the absolute best way to
learn maths or data science or compute
data science in an interactive and
engaging fashion they've got thousands
of lessons on all these different topics
organized into different courses which
you can take at your own pace and
whatever your skill level brilliant
customizes the content to fit your needs
so you can work at your own level my
personal favorite courses on brilliant
are the computer science ones when I
applied to med school I was kind of torn
between medicine and computer science
and I went with medicine in the end but
I always harbored a little bit of a
crush on computer science and actually
thanks to the courses on brilliant over
the last few years I've managed to brush
up my knowledge of the fundamentals of
computer science and in particular their
new thinking in code course is really
nice it helps you learn the principles
of coding but applied to real-world
practical problems immediately I'm also
personally starting to get into linear
algebra I watched a bunch of YouTube
videos about linear algebra after
watching Oppenheimer and becoming
interested in like physics and maths and
stuff and so I'm starting to now work
through the maths courses and Brilliant
because my brother did math at
University and he said it really levels
up your thinking and I've never really
studied maths beyond the basic level so
I'm really excited to dive into those
courses as well if any of this sounds up
your street and you would like to join
me on this interactive engaging Learning
Journey and you can head over to
brilliant.org forward slash Ali abdull
or you can click on the link in the
video description and that will give you
a complete completely free 30-day trial
to brilliant where you can try out all
of the features and see if you Vibe with
it and if you're one of the first 200
people to hit that link then you'll also
get 20 off the annual premium
subscription for brilliant so thank you
so much brilliant for sponsoring this
video alright tip number four is to try
your best to share what you've learned
with the people around you and there's a
bunch of studies that show that when we
try and teach a particular thing or try
and explain a particular thing or share
it with someone else again we're way
more likely to remember it ourselves and
this is something called the Protege
effect which I also talk about in the
book link down below it's a good method
for field of productivity for how to do
more of the things that matter to you
but it also really helps when it comes
to learning and remembering stuff for
example a couple of weeks ago I was in
turkey with my family and we went to a
bunch of mosques and a bunch of museums
and stuff and in those museums I was
like on my phone like I was learning
stuff and then on the walk to the next
place I would be like hey guys I've just
learned something cool about the Blue
Mosque do you want to hear it and I'd be
like yeah sure and then I'll explain the
thing about like where the word
turquoise came from and it kind of comes
from the word Turkish because that was
like what the French people who saw the
Blue Mosque and I went back to France
and they were like turquoise it's like
the Turkish blue and now that's that's
the thing that I'm going to remember for
a very long time because I've shared it
with someone else now I found this was
so true back when I was in medical
school as well in that whenever I was
learning something I was keeping in mind
the fact that I would want to teach the
thing to younger medical students and
that's why there's that classic thing of
like if you really want to learn
something well find a way to teach it I
think teachers can be a bit of a
grandiose word it can be quite high
pressure but the way I think of it is
literally just sharing the thing with
other people now we actually do this
within our team which is that every
month every person in the team creates
what we call a level up Loom so Loom is
a software that lets you record your
screen and every month for the last few
months we've been encouraging our team
to spend their Wednesday afternoons
doing some level of professional
development where they learn something
interesting that's relevant to their job
and at the end of every month everyone
in the team has to create a mini
presentation about what they've learned
that month now this has a bunch of
benefits so firstly when you know you
have to create a presentation on
something it makes you way more likely
to actually do the work because you know
you're going to have to present it in a
bit secondly it's great for the whole
team because now we can learn from
everyone else's experience but thirdly
it's great for the person actually doing
the learning or the leveling up as we
call it because as soon as you have to
teach them something it means you start
to engage with it in a much deeper level
and it means you're personally way more
likely to remember the thing on a
somewhat similar vein tip number five is
to share what you have learned online
and this is basically why I've been
writing a weekly email newsletter since
2018 it's been five years now and it's
called Sunday Snippets you can subscribe
down below it's free but basically every
Sunday I just write some stuff share
some thoughts about what I've been
learning recently for example the one I
wrote this week was about emotional
blockers when it comes to
procrastination and something I've
learned in that the one I wrote last
week was about 10 things that I learned
from the Journey of writing and
Publishing this book and it's really
nice because now over the last like five
and a half years I can literally look
through my email newsletter every single
week and I can see what was happening in
my life and what what's something
interesting that I was learning at the
time and the fact that I write this
every week and share it with my audience
even at the start where I didn't have
very much of an audience means that I am
personally way more likely to remember
the stuff and this is great because
they're great for you because you learn
the thing and then you're more likely to
remember it which is the point of this
video but it's also great for the world
because now you're adding value to the
World by explaining or teaching
something that you have just learned to
yourself and you don't need to be an
expert in this you're not trying to say
I'm a world expert therefore listen to
me you're just saying hey I'm a fellow
traveler along the same path I've just
learned something and I'm going to share
it with people who are on a similar
Journey now tip number six is low
friction resurfacing and the thing that
I use for that is an app called read
wise I'll put a link down below if you
want to check it out I think we have an
affiliate deal but they're not
sponsoring this video or anything and if
you haven't come across it read wise is
a great app that links to your Kindle
account but also your account on pocket
or insta paper or they've got to read it
later app called reader as well so
whenever I read something on Kindle or I
read an article on the internet on the
reader app I can highlight anything and
everything that I highlight gets stored
into read-wise and So within read wise
there's sort of two main features the
first one is that every single day read
why sends an email to me that just
contains five random highlights now I've
been reading and highlighting stuff on
the internet for over 10 years and read
wise has all of these highlights within
it and that means every single day I'll
just read five of these different
highlights and this is a great low
friction way for me to resurface the
stuff that I've read and the reason I
highlighted it in the first place was
because something about that thing
resonated with me and therefore three
years later I might come across an email
where I was like oh yeah I read that
thing in that book and I highlighted it
and that's going to make it way easier
for me to remember those things and
people always ask you know like whenever
I'm interviewed on podcasts and stuff I
have a pretty good recall for quotes and
stuff that I've read in books and the
reason I do is firstly because of all
the stuff in this video because
generally I read stuff that I'm curious
about and apply it to something I'm
encountering at the moment and try and
explain it or share it with someone else
but also the reason I'm able to recall a
lot of quotes and stuff from books I've
read is because I get this daily email
from read wise and it's very easy and it
just reminds me of a lot of these things
so if you read stuff on Kindle if you
read stuff on the internet if you save a
lot of tweet threads check out read Wise
It's really good affiliate link down
below with a free trial if you wanted
but again they're not sponsoring this
video I just really really really love
the product and finally tip number seven
is about active Recall now if you've
seen my videos over the last six years
talking about how to study for exams you
will be familiar with this basically
almost every study that has ever been
done on how to learn stuff on how to
study for exams anything like that has
found that when you test yourself and
you try and actually actively dredge up
information from your memory that act
solidifies the connection with that
memory way more than for example
rereading the thing or trying to take
notes on the thing and so many students
waste so much time when it comes to
learning new things and studying for
their exams because they're just
rereading or summarizing stuff that
they've got in front of them and there
are so many studies that show that if
you just read something once and then
you try and test yourself on the thing
you're way more likely to remember the
thing then for example if you read it
four times or if you read it and then
take notes on it so if you want to
remember more of the things you read
wherever possible ask yourself how can I
test myself on this information you can
do it by practice testing you can do it
by doing online quizzes you can do it by
again sharing it with your friends and
family which is something we've already
talked about you can do it by sharing it
online you can do it by making a video
talking about the thing for example but
the main thing here is that remembering
stuff isn't about trying to cram more
things into your brain it's instead
somewhat counterintuitively about trying
to get stuff out of your brain and the
act of getting stuff out of your brain
is what strengthens that connection with
the memory and what helps you remember
more of the things that you learn now if
you're interested in how this
specifically applies to exams and you're
a student for example then check out
this video over here which is like my
ultimate guide on how to study for exams
it's completely free and so many
students have said that that has
completely changed their lives so check
that out over there thank you so much
for watching and I'll hopefully see you
in the next video bye
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