4 Effective
Strategies To Remember Everything You Read
Have you ever encountered the
following scenario:
You: I just read a great
book!
Friend: What’s it about?
You: (paused and tried so
hard to recall what you’ve read)
Or have you forced yourself
to finish a book in a day or so, because you worried you would forget the
previous chapters after a reading hiatus?
When it comes to widening our
knowledge base, unfortunately, we usually prioritize quantity over
quality. Yes, the more you read, the more information you get, but we tend
to forget the things we read after a short period of time. Our inability
to retain information from what we have previously read is dauntingly common.
We sometimes skim through the passages; or read word by word, letter by letter,
without understanding the content; or even scan the book and get to the next —
to bombard ourselves with piles of knowledge. But how often does loading and
stacking help us retain what we read?
If we can’t remember anything
from the books we read, what’s the point of reading? To make your reading
effective and meaningful, here are 4 strategies to help you retain what you
read:
1. Generate questions and
look for answers
One reading habit we have is
to completely immerse ourselves in the text and drill into the details when we
read. We think the best way to get the most out of a book is to complete all of
the chapters, but we don’t always remember the walls of text upon closing the
book. One method to retain our memory is to first go
through the table of content (the
table of content is here for a reason!) and generate a list of questions,
then actively search for answers in the book. When we have a purpose to read a
book, it is easier to find and remember what we read.
2.
Scribble in the margins while reading
Jotting notes is definitely a great strategy to better
knowledge retention. When a certain paragraph stands out to us, we will usually
highlight or copy the text, but instead, we should use our own words to
summarize key ideas to make a stronger impression. Through this process, you
are teaching and explaining to yourself on the points. If you are able to
give an outline of the passage without hesitating, you can ensure you have
really comprehended and digested the content.
3.
Research on points that you don’t understand
When you try to rewrite the summary with your own words, you may
encounter points that you find ambiguous or vague. Take the extra 10 minutes
to research deeper to get a fuller understanding. This doesn’t
mean to throw yourself in at the deep end. Taking the extra step to
research can help you understand the subject matter with more details, because
most authors assume their readers have some sort of background knowledge
of the topics prior to reading the books. For example, for a philosophical
book, the writer automatically assumes the readers have a certain level of
knowledge on different ideologies in the era that the book is written.
4.
Apply the knowledge to your real life
As mentioned above, jotting notes leads to a better
retention of information. Many people hold the misconception that the more
detailed our notes are, the better we will retain what we have read from a
book. While we are so focused on cramping every single bit of a book into our
notes, we often forget that we are simply copying paragraphs from the book to
our notes. Also, how often do you revisit your notes? Most people’s answer is
never. So your hard work in jotting notes have completely gone down the drain.
To make your reading and note-taking session more effective, try
to incorporate your own life into whatever you are reading. What this means is
when you are taking notes, also think about how the knowledge you
read could benefit your life and solve real-life problems. When you
do this, your notes will become more insightful and useful, helping you
remember what you read from the book.
Reading
requires devotion of time and effort
It may sound unnerving and stressful to spend much more time
just to retain what you have read. It could be quite heavy at first, but as you
follow the strategies more and more, your efforts will pay off and you will
definitely have a better retention after reading each book.
http://www.lifehack.org/557465/4-effective-strategies-remember-everything-you-read?ref=mail&mtype=daily_newsletter&mid=20170306_customized_editor_pick&uid=687414&hash=707e797f7e757e6d794c856d747b7b3a6f7b79&action=click
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