Better's Blinkist

If you want to improve your concentration, you’ve got to clear your mind and be in the now.

Another smart move is to prevent your mind from wandering by giving yourself a purpose. That way, you can easily remind yourself why you wanted to concentrate on something in the first place. In this case, the PIC rule might come in handy: (P)urpose gives you a reason for learning. Take learning a programming language, for example. Your purpose there could be building a website for your family

28 January, 2020 03:06 Share

Use your creativity to bring information to life in a fun way that will help you remember it.

An easy way to remember a bit of information is to bring it to life, and this is all about using your creativity to make a memorable movie or picture. When it comes to words, there’s a lot to play around with. They can often be broken down into smaller words which sound similar to others – that way, you can make them more memorable by making them sound funny or absurd. This is great when it comes to memorizing foreign words or capital cities.

28 January, 2020 03:09 Share

Sort information into categories that already exist in your long-term memory.

Humans are experts at remembering specific routes or places (just think about your commute to work), so most memory systems already make use of loci. It works by putting the items to be remembered at specific locations along a route that is already vivid and familiar in our minds. Here’s how you can put the loci method to work: Say you’re trying to memorize bits of a speech you have to give. You would imagine walking around your house along a particular route. The idea here is to create a string of locations to visit as you go.

28 January, 2020 03:11 Share

This method is effective because it’ll work with any structured location that you know well. Whether it’s your car, your body or a museum, you can use your route to recall your list. If your route is intentionally structured to hold, say, five objects per room, then you’ll remember both the list and its exact order. And if you’re still not convinced, consider this: the author used this very method to remember the first 10,000 digits of the number π (pi)!

28 January, 2020 03:12 Share

Use the four C system to remember names.

Is there anything more embarrassing than forgetting a colleague’s name? Well, when it comes to memorizing this kind of information, just remember the four Cs: concentrate, create, connect and continuous use. If you use this handy system, you’ll never have to deal with this awkward situation again

28 January, 2020 03:14 Share

To help the name stick, pick it apart and use any words that come to mind to create a memorable image. Take, for example, the author’s surname: Horsley. To remember his name, you might picture a fight between a HORSe and Bruce LEE.

28 January, 2020 03:15 Share

Whichever method you use, make sure you revisit the names you’ve learned so that you use them continuously. It would also be handy to list the names in your diary or add the people whose names you’re trying to remember on your favorite social media channel.

28 January, 2020 03:15 Share

Stop yourself from forgetting information by reviewing it.

According to the author’s research, within two years of finishing school, people can only remember the equivalent of about three weeks’ worth of lessons from 12 years of daily classes.

28 January, 2020 03:16 Share

Each time you revisit what you’ve memorized, the information you’ve absorbed has more of an impact in your mind than it did before. Therefore, to really make sure your brain never forgets what you’ve learned, you should gradually leave more time between one review and the next

28 January, 2020 03:16 Share

Another point to remember is that when you’re going through the process of reviewing, take advantage of the memory techniques you’ve learned. The SEE principle should have provided you with clear, vivid images to bring your information to life. Has the bishop still got moves on the moon? Make sure to use the tools you’ve got, otherwise you’ll lose what you’re trying to retain.

28 January, 2020 03:18 Share

When it comes to memorizing what you’ve already learned, the key is reviewing what you’ve done to prevent yourself from losing your newfound knowledge.

28 January, 2020 03:19 Share