7 Habits To Help You Remember What You Read by Jim Kwik

We now live in a highly competitive information age. Each of us has access to more information than we could possibly imagine. Yet we are still using the same methods to absorb and process it all. Today, our requirements for learning are much different.

The most successful people in the world are lifelong students continuously learning new skills. If you are going to be a lifelong learner then you must make reading and retention a part of your entire life. Here are seven habits that will help you remember what you read.

1. Active recall: Review what you are reading. Shut the book and write down what you understand or say what you remember. Look again. What did you miss? Make sure you have enough time to do active recall multiple times.

2. Spaced repetition: Review the material at similar intervals. Like, once in the morning and at night four days in a row, and then move on to the other material that you need to study. Use this technique in combination with active recall.

3. Manage The State You're In: Your posture controls the state of your mind, sit as if you're about to learn something crucial, your posture also fixes your breathing & necessary circulation of oxygen to your brain and the rest of your body. A slumped posture will make you tired.

4. Use Your Sense of Smell: Smell is an important yet underused memory tool. Different scents can be used to accelerate our recall. Connect important information with a particular scent (any essential oil) by using it while learning and when needed to recall.

5. Music For The Mind: Music stabilizes mental, physical, and emotional rhythms to attain a state of deep concentration and focus in which large amounts of content information can be processed and learned. Music and learning expert recommends "Baroque music at 50-80 beats/min."

6. Listen To Your Whole Brain:

- While reading, actively highlight or underline key phrases, keywords, or important concepts. It makes it easier to review later.

- Visualize the information, ask yourself questions about it, and make connections to what you already know.

- Formulate questions about the material you are reading. This not only reinforces your understanding but also encourages a deeper level of engagement.

- Regularly review the material you've covered. Repetition helps reinforce memory and understanding.

7. Take Notes: The advantage of taking notes is that they customize the information you need to retain to your vocabulary and your mode of thinking. Take notes and organize the information in a way that makes it easy for you to use and understand afterward.