Remember More In Less Time

So maybe you didn’t get a 1400 on your SAT, or maybe you didn’t even graduate high school. I am here to tell you that it is not to late to start learning things that you might have given up on because you have been conditioned for years that you were not cut out to do certain things. We all can remember teachers, peers and even parents telling us that we shouldn’t try this or that we would never be able to do that. Or after a failed attempt or two, were told to give up. For all those who are making minimum wage are unemployed, or hate their job listen very closely…THOSE PEOPLE WERE MORONS!
I do not mean that your parents were morons, just that the idea of you not trying something because someone else said you can’t do it, or stopping because you did not shoot a bull’s-eye or a hole-in-one your very first try is MORONIC. Some of the most successful people in our worlds history were the greatest failers in history. No not failures, failers…because every time they failed, they would attempt to “get back on the horse again and again until they accomplished what they wanted to do.
If you think that you must have a PhD to have a great memory, I would like to give you a few names of people who did not finish high school….Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Henry Ford. Einstein couldn’t even remember his own phone number, he would look it up any time he needed it. We all have great memories; we just remember what we want to.
This is the reason why so many of us did so poorly in school, when was the last time you used calculus in the real world? We may not have cared about chemistry class or The Mongolian Dynasty of the 1300’s, but we can rebuild a lawnmower engine or build a second level on our ranch style house. This says we can learn and remember things, but only we decide that which we want to remember. Like Einstein and his phone number…what do you can to know and not know?
Allow me to give you some tips to make your study time more effective and productive. Who knows, this article may be the catalyst for you to win a noble peace prize. Follow these tips for any kind of information you want to remember for the long term and not just regurgitate it for one test and forget forever. For the teacher who gave up trying to teach you a certain subject, only means that they are the failure. Anyone can learn anything, if they have a good teacher. As you now read the following, believe that you have the ability to read this information and remember it forever.
That is the first step, believing in yourself that you have the ability to remember information. Stop the negative self talk about how you could never remember things. Immediately decide to have the ability to remember what ever you choose to. Your mind will only grow to the size of your limiting belief about your ability, but like an old rubber band, it does not stretch back once expanded. Turn your mind from a shot glass into a computer that can hold information that you can access with a moments notice.
True learning takes energy, passion and a burning desire, so decide what you want to learn and shut out all the other things that you do not need to consume when learning. Yes this does mean to turn the television and radio off when reading. It has been said that light Mozart or classic piano in the background is conducive to learning. When you play this music when not studying, you are able to recall the material your had studied. (see my articles on anchoring).
Where you study is just as important as how you study. Before you begin, find a place that should be used for studying, preferably somewhere with an upright chair and an even desk. Your bed should be used for sleeping and will make you tired when you study there and give you a hard time falling asleep on other occasions. You should also be alert when you study, decide if you are most alert in the mornings, afternoon, or evenings. Do not fight you body’s natural clock, use it to your advantage.
Now you have a place to quiet place to study and are ready to read your material. Before you begin, figure out why you are studying this material, what levels of comprehension do you need? Know what information you are looking for and have an idea of how you are going to use this information once acquired. If you are reading a book, read the front and back cover and ask yourself if you are familiar with any of the authors other works; if you are, you will know his writing style. Read the table of contents and know what each chapter is about.
Read each chapter very quickly looking at headings and bold type words. Go through the entire book like this to have an understanding of what the entire book is about. Next, read the first chapter running your finger along the words very quickly without the voice in your head repeating the words. This may be difficult at first, but you must trust that by looking at the words that you will remember them. The better you get at this, the faster you must begin moving your hand across the page. Soon enough you will be reading many lines with one swoop of your hand across the page. Do not go back to reread a word or statement, trust that your mind will remember everything. If you must reread something, you can do so after you finish the chapter.
When the chapter is finished and you looked back at something that you really felt you needed to, make a quick outline or map of what that chapter was about. Only write down ideas and concepts and trust that your memory has all the information it needs about the subject. Continue doing this with the rest of the chapters.
When you are finished with the book, you should have a brief personalized version of your own Cliff Notes. Review these notes twice a day for about 15 minuets each time and after a week look them over three weeks later, then in 2 months and finally in 6 months. Keep them on file, so you can access them any time needed. Chances are you will have them on file in your head where you can access them anytime you want.
When you are in a class be sure to take notes, but do not miss what the teacher is saying by being stuck writing down something in the middle of something else important. Some even suggest just listen in class and take all your notes immediately after class. You may find that this works best for you. Either way review you notes in the same fashion as above. Most great teacher’s words continue to teach for years, long after the teacher is gone.
Does teaching mean talking or lecturing? How we learn is as follows 10% hearing, 30% seeing and 90% doing. Take these percentages and understand that if you want to gain muscles or throw a curve ball, you can hear about it and see others do it, but not until we actually do it, do we truly understand what is involved in the process.
When you are listening to someone speak, sit up close and ask questions upon receiving new information… if you don’t have questions you are either not listening or afraid to ask or are not listening and do not care.
When you are tested on what you have learned, it gives you a reality if what you have consumed has been effective/consumption, so test yourself with new material. When you teach things you’ve learned, it reinforces what you have learned and gives you confidence. Remember that those who learn the most earn the most. Sometimes life puts some of the more valuable things on higher shelves and the more books you read, the closer you are to those things. Now that you are able to learn anything and trust that you have an extraordinary memory…what will you learn and why?
Louis Lautman, he is a business consultant, life coach and peak performance expert. He is the president of International Sales University, a sales training company based in Miami FL. He runs extraordinary public and private seminars to create breakthroughs and transform your life. Louis can be contacted at 813-380-7467 or louis@InternationalSalesU.com. Check his website at louis@InternationalSalesU.com.