Master Your Reading by Recalling 10x More Than You Are Right Now
How many books currently sit on your shelf that you thought, “That was valuable information, I might need to reference it later?”
Most people read hundreds of books in their lifetime and yet recall very little.
All of the knowledge from those self-help, business, and biographies of great men and women sits somewhere in the dark recesses of your mind. You know that you read and liked them, but their messages didn’t quite stick as much as you’d like.
Imagine how much wisdom lies nestled in your brain. What if you could access it?
Use this four-step technique to unlock everything you read from now on.
Step 1
Before you crack open a new book, grab a pen and clean sheet of paper. Take a few moments to create a mental map of what you’re about to read.
What do you think you know about this book and its subject? Write it down.
Pro tip: Using a pen and paper activates both hemispheres of your brain to create better memory pathways than taking notes on a device.
Step 2
After reading a chapter or two, take a minute to pause and add what you learned to your map. Jot down any insights or quotes that you found intriguing. Keep up that practice until you’ve completed your reading session.
For this step, use a different color pen to visually separate what you thought you knew from what you learned.
Step 3
Before diving into where you left off, review your notes from the previous session. This practice is called spaced repetition.
Reviewing your notes primes your brain to recall everything you read in the last session and prepares it for new information.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the book is finished. This review also allows time to consider whether this particular reading is worthy of your time and attention.
Step 4
Gather your collection of notes and place them in a binder for future review.
What you’ve created is a personal Cliff’s Notes version of the book. Any time you need to reference that information, it’s readily available without rereading the book.
Why it works
A blank page works as a mental reset as it primes the brain for what you’re about to read.
At the beginning, it forces you to access stored information regarding what you think you already know about the subject.
The repeated review process helps you connect ideas and reinforce what you learned in previous chapters. Think of it like memorizing a phone number when you were young. You repeated the numbers, built a pattern, and connected them in your mind.
What if you don’t have any notion of what the book is about or it’s an unfamiliar subject?
No problem. That’s why every book comes with a table of contents. Use the table of contents to build your map like you would major highways on a road map (remember those?).
As you read more using this technique, your foundation of knowledge strengthens and allows you to build structures upon it. These structures enable you to connect thoughts and ideas across other books, subjects, and disciplines.
Soon, instead of a stack of old books gathering dust, you’ll have a set of binders available as quick reference guides or for regular review.
Reading is a fundamental habit of highly successful people. It strengthens your mind and relieves stress.
Reading keeps your mind fit and delays cognitive decline.
Revactin. Take care, even down there.
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