Don’t retain what you read?
5 Steps to Boost Your Memory and Apply Your Learnings
I remember that I started reading when I was a kid. It was a fun activity, immersing myself in the adventures of the Hardy Boys and solving cases with the Secret Seven. If I go back further, I was reading comic books and was happy with my Tinkles and Noddy’s. While the purpose or benefit of reading as a kid is to exercise your mind and imagination and learn the art of being patient, reading as an adult has become more about broadening perspectives, exploring new ideas, learning skills, and implementing them.
Here are 5 steps to retain and learn from what you read:
Read with a Purpose
Before picking up any book, decide what it is that you want to achieve by reading that book. Based on your goal, the way of tackling the book will be very different. If you are reading a book on UI/UX, you might need to go over certain parts again to fully absorb them, as opposed to reading a memoir where you might only need to remember a few key lessons.
Keep a Notepad (Digital or Otherwise)
If you read on Kindle or any e-reader, it is easy to highlight sentences and add notes at any point. You can also see all your complete notes in the Notes section of the particular ebook. But if you are like me and prefer to read a physical book, and hate annotating in the book, keep a notepad beside you to jot down key points from the book. I personally use the Pages app on my iPad to write anything and everything.
Recall What You Read Every Time
Once you are done reading for the day, recall what you read. What were the key concepts and new things that you learned, with relevant examples to solidify the concepts? If you are reading fiction, how did the plot move? How did you feel while reading that portion? Is there anything new you came to know about? Refer to your notes after this activity and add in case you have missed out on any point.
Write Key Insights Post Completing the Book
Once you finish the book, you will have a comprehensive summary of the book along with your thoughts and notes. If you read a non-fiction book, write 2–3 actionable insights that you want to start implementing, at work or in your personal life. If you read a fiction novel, write a key takeaway from the book (could be a single line of your thoughts about the book, a thing/concept that you learned, your emotional response to the book). This will become the cornerstone for you to remember the book by.
Revisit Your Notes
If you have implemented your learnings, you will not forget them. But in case you have not, revisit your notes about the book at a frequency that works for you to keep that book and its takeaway in your memory. Create a single notebook/document that will have all your notes for all the books and keep it handy while reading any book. You can cross-reference if you are reading a similar book or the next one in a fiction series.
Hope this was helpful. Do check out my other articles here.
