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How to Remember Everything You Read — Transcript

by Justin Sung · 4,176 words · 618 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00in this video I'll teach you a system
0:01for remembering everything you read
0:04study or learn I've been using the
0:06system for the last 7 years starting
0:09from learning disease pathophysiology in
0:11medical school through to reading
0:13research articles and learning science
0:16or reading books on productivity or
0:18business and the reason the system works
0:20so consistently and so well is because
0:23it breaks down that process of reading
0:24into two distinct stages the first stage
0:28is the consumption
0:31period and the second stage is the
0:34digestion
0:36period most people think that by
0:38focusing on the first stage and
0:40consuming more information they'll be
0:42able to therefore remember and apply
0:45more information so they focus on trying
0:47to read faster or watching lectures at
0:49triple speed or binge listening to audio
0:51books or watching hours of YouTube
0:53tutorials but that is not how learning
0:56works and once we understand how
0:58learning does work you'll see why my
1:01system is so effective you see when it
1:03comes to remembering and applying
1:05information it's much less about what
1:08comes in to your brain and it's much
1:10more about how much stays in your brain
1:14and that is what the second stage the
1:16digestion period is all about and it's
1:19the part that is often neglected so
1:21teach you a system for mastering both of
1:23these stages which in turn increases
1:26your Aurora retention as well as your
1:29ability to actually use the knowledge in
1:31the way that you need to but first we
1:33need to ask ourselves is it even
1:36possible to remember everything you read
1:39and the short answer is no but here's
1:43the secret trying to remember everything
1:47we read should not be the goal in the
1:51first place and we know this because of
1:53a man who actually could remember
1:55everything this man's name is Kim Peak
1:58and his story is so crazy that Hollywood
2:00made an entire movie about him Kim Peak
2:03was a mega genius and his memory was
2:06ridiculous he was able to memorize a
2:09book with such perfect recall that after
2:11reading a book one time he would be able
2:15to write it out word for word with every
2:19comma and full stop back to front he
2:23memorized so many maps and atlases that
2:26he could give you driving directions
2:28between any two cities in the world and
2:30the path that he gave you was mentally
2:33calculated to be the shortest distance
2:35now the reason K had such supernatural
2:37abilities is because of a very rare
2:39medical condition he had called FG
2:41syndrome he was born with macroy which
2:44means he had a larger brain and he had
2:47no Corpus colossum which is basically
2:49the bundle of neurons that connect both
2:52hemispheres of the brain together in
2:53scientists believe that because he
2:54didn't have the normal pattern of
2:56neurons his brain adapted and developed
2:59Ved new connections to compensate which
3:02I guess gave him like superhuman memory
3:05now I want you to imagine that both you
3:07and Kim Peak were about to sit the same
3:09exam who do you think would do better
3:12and the answer is that it actually
3:14depends on the exam you see despite his
3:17superhuman memory Kim Peak struggled
3:20with reasoning and problem solving which
3:23means that if the exam was at the junior
3:26levels of schooling which often tests on
3:28the lower levels of of learning which
3:30involve a lot of memorization and recall
3:33then Kim Peak would definitely win but
3:35if the exam was at a higher level like
3:37University or postgraduate where the
3:40reasoning and problem solving the higher
3:43orders of learning are examined as a
3:46higher priority then you may actually
3:49have the edge now for most of you
3:51listening probably using the knowledge
3:53you have consumed to reason and problem
3:56solve is kind of the whole point of why
3:58you're trying to read and remember in
4:00the first place which basically means
4:02that it is not enough to remember
4:06everything which is good because for
4:08most people that's not possible anyway
4:10but it is possible to remember
4:13everything you need to remember in such
4:16a way that we can use that knowledge in
4:20the way we need to and that is what the
4:22system that I'll teach you helps you to
4:24achieve so to start using the system we
4:27have to understand that not all
4:29information is equal in fact I break
4:32down the information that I read into
4:34five different categories using the
4:36acronym
4:38Pacer and it's important to be able to
4:40identify which category the information
4:43you're reading to belongs to because for
4:45each category there are specific
4:48targeted processes that then help you to
4:51deal with and manage that information
4:53more effectively and when we use the
4:55wrong process for the specific category
4:58of information it makes remembering and
5:01understanding what you read much harder
5:04much more timec consuming and much less
5:06effective and that you're more likely to
5:08forget what you read it also increases
5:10the chance of you entering the passive
5:12mode of reading which is where you get
5:14to the bottom of a page and you can't
5:15even remember what you just read so the
5:18system goes like this in the first part
5:20where we are consuming information we
5:23want to identify which category what we
5:27are consuming belongs to using the Pacer
5:31acronym then during stage two we digest
5:35what we have read using the targeted
5:38process for that category which takes
5:41the information and stores it in our
5:43long-term memory through the process
5:45called encoding so let's go through
5:47Pacer together so that you can
5:49accurately identify the category of
5:51information you're trying to remember
5:53the p and Pacer stands for
5:57procedural and procedural information is
5:59any information that tells you how
6:02something should be executed for example
6:05this is a book that I used during
6:06medical school that taught me about how
6:09to do a clinical examination like listen
6:11to a heartbeat or take someone's blood
6:13pressure and a lot of the information in
6:15this book is about the correct technique
6:18to perform the examination and some
6:20subjects and domains have a lot of
6:23procedural information some great
6:25examples of this would be coding and
6:27languages the targeted process for
6:29working with with and mastering this
6:31type of procedural information is
6:34practice the key is that you want to
6:37apply procedural information in real
6:40life as early as possible a lot of
6:43people will spend time to read it and
6:45memorize it and write lots of notes
6:47about it and then a week or two later
6:49they'll try to practice it but by then
6:52it's too late we've already forgotten a
6:53lot of it and a lot of that time is just
6:56wasted instead as soon as you take that
6:58procedural information into your brain
7:01try to apply it and practice it as early
7:03as you can now straight away we run into
7:07a problem with using this approach what
7:10if we're reading something and we don't
7:12have time to practice it right now the
7:14answer is you either move on to
7:17something else or you stop consuming
7:21anything and you wait until you have
7:24time to practice it but you do not waste
7:26your time trying to just memor memorize
7:29it on the spot because here is the
7:31crucial part about learning that
7:33everyone overlooks the two stages of
7:36consuming and digesting must always be
7:43balanced everything you consume must be
7:46digested in order for you to retain and
7:49use it only when stage one is followed
7:53by stage two does learning actually
7:57occur if we're reading something and we
7:59don't have time time to use the right
8:00process like practice then most people
8:02will say oh well I don't have time right
8:04now I'm just going to get through as
8:06much of it as I can and they spend more
8:08time reading and reading and essentially
8:10just consuming more and more but this is
8:14the learning equivalent of overeating
8:16they haven't had a chance to digest it
8:17so they're just going to end up vomiting
8:19it all up again through the mental
8:22vomiting process we call forgetting
8:23which is why for most people the amount
8:26that they forget after reading is
8:28extremely high with some studies
8:31suggesting that up to
8:3390% of what is consumed is forgotten
8:37despite hours of consuming and if we're
8:40forgetting 90% of what we read rather
8:43than consuming more and taking time away
8:47from the digesting it actually makes
8:49more sense to spend less time consuming
8:53and more time on the digesting and
8:56processing this increases your retention
8:59with which therefore increases the
9:02amount of working knowledge you're able
9:04to build so earlier I said what goes
9:07into your brain is less important than
9:09what stays in your brain and this
9:11principle of balancing stage one
9:13consuming with stage two digesting is
9:16important not just for procedural
9:18information but for every other category
9:21of PESA unfortunately stage two
9:24digesting is almost completely neglected
9:27for the second category of in the a of
9:30Pacer which stands for
9:35analogous analogous information is
9:37actually one of the easiest types of
9:40information to work with and remember
9:43and apply because analogous information
9:47is the information that is related to
9:50something you already have prior
9:53knowledge about and even if we don't
9:55have direct prior knowledge about it it
9:58may remind us indirectly of something
10:01that we do have knowledge about for
10:03example let's say that we are an avid
10:05swimmer and we're learning about the
10:08physiology of a muscle contraction when
10:10we look at that muscle contraction cycle
10:13we might think hey that reminds me a lot
10:16about the swimming technique I use and
10:19by connecting the new information about
10:22muscle contraction physiology with what
10:25we already know our swimming technique
10:28we have created
10:29an analogy and so that is analogous
10:32information and analogies can form with
10:35any prior knowledge including knowledge
10:38within a topic itself in most fields of
10:41study there are Concepts or patterns of
10:44Concepts and relationships that tend to
10:47repeat and recur throughout that field
10:50you might have learned about how to
10:51solve a particular type of problem last
10:53semester and now this semester this new
10:56problem solving approach that you're
10:57learning for the first time reminds you
10:59a lot of that old problem solving
11:02process and relating those two
11:04approaches is also an analogy so when
11:06we're engaging in stage one the
11:09consumption period of reading we want to
11:12actively be thinking about whether what
11:14we are reading is related to something
11:18that we already have knowledge about and
11:20once we identify it as potentially
11:22analogous information the targeted
11:25process we want to use here is critique
11:30this is the part I said everyone misses
11:32once we create an analogy critiquing it
11:36means we examine critically how good
11:39that analogy actually is for example
11:42with the analogy of muscle contraction
11:44and swimming technique critiquing that
11:46analogy means asking ourselves in what
11:49way specifically are these two things
11:52similar or related to each other in what
11:55ways are they different in what
11:58situation does this analogy not make
12:00sense anymore and if there are a lot of
12:02differences or a lot of conditions and
12:04situations where the analogy breaks
12:06apart then is there a better analogy or
12:09can we extend or modify that analogy to
12:12make it more comprehensive and more
12:14accurate this critiquing process
12:16massively drives up our attention and
12:19depth of understanding of this new
12:21information and the reason this works is
12:23because instead of new information just
12:25being new information that your brain
12:28doesn't know what to do with we're
12:29actually extending it from what we
12:32already know we're taking our existing
12:34Network and connecting it to the new
12:37information straight away which is the
12:39reason why creating analogies has been
12:41shown in studies repeatedly to be so
12:44powerful for our retention and
12:46understanding now at this point you
12:47might be looking at the system and
12:49thinking this seems a little forced it
12:52doesn't feel natural and you're right in
12:54fact it's crucial that you understand
12:57that this is not natural and that's why
13:01it works if you have no time pressure
13:04and it doesn't matter how well you learn
13:06something then you can learn and read
13:08however you want but unfortunately what
13:11research has shown is that there are
13:13clear biological limitations of the
13:16human brain to how much it can consume
13:19and store into our memory in one go and
13:22in the modern day when there is so much
13:24we have to learn it is very very easy to
13:28exceed that biological limit and then
13:30get overwhelmed learning is extremely
13:33complicated so to be able to learn a lot
13:36in a short amount of time reach a high
13:37level of knowledge a lot of processes
13:40need to go right and this is why most
13:43people will Plateau on their learning
13:45ability and after a point not really
13:48improve for the rest of their lives for
13:50me figuring out what processes to care
13:52about and therefore what to improve on
13:55and then how to even execute on those
13:59correctly took me at least 7 or 8 years
14:02of almost constant experimentation and
14:06reading of research and coaching people
14:09to see what works for them and honestly
14:11I got lucky because 10 15 years ago a
14:13lot of the research didn't even exists
14:15which is why to make it easier for you
14:18I've started a free Weekly Newsletter I
14:21take everything that I've learned that
14:23helps you become a more efficient
14:24learner the things that have the highest
14:26chance of giving you success in a short
14:29amount of time and I packaged them in a
14:31way that you can take and Implement into
14:34your own learning in less than 10 15
14:36minutes if you want to sign up to the
14:37newsletter it's completely free I'll
14:38leave a link in the description for you
14:40now getting back to peser you might
14:42notice that the way that I've written
14:44the a in PESA is is like this it's this
14:48kind of strange shape there the reason
14:50is because a the analogous information
14:54can exist within as a subset of
14:59procedural information for example you
15:01could create an analogy on a set of
15:04instructions to make it simpler and
15:06easier for you to understand and then
15:07later you go and practice it but
15:09analogous information also exists as a
15:11subset within the next category of
15:14information which is the C of Paca and
15:17this stands for
15:19conceptual if procedural information is
15:22the how to do something then conceptual
15:25information is the what and for most
15:27science subjects the majority of what
15:29you need to learn is conceptual
15:31conceptual information includes facts
15:33and explanations theories and principles
15:37relationships between Concepts and ways
15:40that that concept can be applied and in
15:42most cases we need both the procedural
15:44and the conceptual knowledge to solve a
15:47problem and apply our knowledge properly
15:49for example although this book goes
15:51through how to listen to someone's heart
15:55I still need to have the conceptual
15:58knowledge about what I'm listening to to
16:00be able to analyze that and make a
16:02conclusion on the diagnosis so when we
16:05identify that a piece of text we're
16:06reading is conceptual type information
16:09the process we want to use straight away
16:11is
16:13mapping
16:14nonlinear network based note taking such
16:18as mind mapping is an efficient way of
16:21increasing your attention and Mastery of
16:24conceptual knowledge because conceptual
16:26knowledge inherently exists in a network
16:29although a textbook or a lecture might
16:31be delivered word after word in a linear
16:34format if we look at the mind and
16:37knowledge of the person that wrote that
16:39textbook it doesn't exist in a linear
16:43sentence by sentence structure their
16:45knowledge and expertise exists in a
16:47highly connected network of information
16:51there is no innate sequence of
16:53information an expert can start at any
16:56point and navigate to any other point
16:59this is what allows an expert to do
17:01complex problem solving because they can
17:03look at a problem understand what
17:05concepts are related and see how those
17:08Concepts connect together to solve the
17:11problem whereas a beginner who's only
17:12learned it at a surface level just sees
17:15individual separated Concepts and they
17:18don't understand how they link together
17:21as a learner our job is not to remember
17:24the sequence word for word our job is to
17:26try to recreate that network of
17:30knowledge that the expert had and
17:31mapping is such a great technique
17:33because it forces us to not only think
17:36about each fact and concept but also how
17:39they connect to each other to form a
17:42bigger picture so when you are reading
17:44and consuming take some time to get out
17:48a piece of paper or a tablet and make a
17:51map of the things that you're learning
17:53and as you read more you add more to
17:57your map you move things around you
17:59reorganize things as you read more you
18:03also digest more and your map grows
18:06remember analogous information can also
18:09exist within conceptual information so
18:12you might find Opportunities within
18:14conceptual information to create some
18:16analogies and you might want to add
18:18those into your map as well even if the
18:20analogy doesn't make its way into the
18:21map it could give you an idea in terms
18:23of how you want to structure your ideas
18:26on your map now here's that same problem
18:28again let's say you reading but you
18:30don't have time to draw a map or maybe
18:33you don't have anything to map on while
18:35you're reading then again we need to
18:37slow down and consume less so that
18:40consumption and digestion can stay
18:42balanced and if you don't you'll just
18:45end up overwhelmed again and wasting
18:47time because not only are you going to
18:50forget a lot of what you are consuming
18:53but now you've given the future version
18:55of you more work to do by having to go
18:57and figure out what your forgotten and
18:59then Rec consume it again anyway now the
19:02good news is that the digesting of
19:04procedural analogous and conceptual
19:06information is easily the most timec
19:09consuming the E and the r of PESA are
19:12much faster and easier to deal with I
19:14talk about e and are together because
19:15they're both very similar to each other
19:18but pay close attention because the two
19:20are actually so similar to each other
19:23that most people never distinguish
19:26between the two and that can lead
19:28directly to hours of wasted time per
19:31week the E and Pacer stands for
19:35evidence evidence type information is
19:37the information that helps make
19:40conceptual information more concrete
19:43they're often very detailed sometimes
19:45very technical pieces of information but
19:48they're useful because we can use these
19:51facts or statistics or cases as examples
19:55to prove a conceptual point for example
19:58we could understand
20:00conceptually how World War I started but
20:04we also need to know the evidence
20:06information of date certain specific
20:09events occurred between which specific
20:12people at which specific location to
20:15make that concept more concrete and the
20:18key process for evidence type
20:20information is to
20:22store and
20:25rehearse store means that you just colle
20:28collect that information and note it
20:30down somewhere you could add it to your
20:33conceptual map you could add it to a
20:35second brain system using something like
20:37notion or Rome or obsidian or you can
20:40put it onto flashcards you could even
20:43just write them down on a document
20:45somewhere with all the other things that
20:46you are storing this should happen as
20:48soon as you identify it so as you are
20:51consuming the information and you
20:53identify that this piece of information
20:56is an Evidence type we go ahead and
20:59straight away store it the rehearsing
21:02part of it comes a little later we put
21:05aside time to do the rehearsal and
21:07rehearsing the information is the key to
21:11improving our retention of evidence type
21:13information rehearsing means that we
21:15think about how we will need to use this
21:19piece of information how are we going to
21:21apply it what type of conceptual
21:23information is this an example of we
21:25then challenge ourselves by using an
21:28applying that information in the way
21:30that we will need to use it this means
21:33solving problems or writing detailed
21:35answers to questions or creating
21:36explanations teaching it to other people
21:39or maybe writing essays that use that
21:41piece of evidence as a supporting
21:44example for a wider concept and so while
21:46we store the information while we
21:49consume it the rehearsing happens later
21:52maybe at the end of the day or at the
21:53end of the week but do not waste time
21:57while you are cons assuming trying to
22:00just memorize and read and reread and
22:03writing copious notes on that piece of
22:05information otherwise you are not going
22:07to have enough time for the PA and C the
22:11first three types of information which
22:13is what forms the foundation of
22:16knowledge that the evidence type needs
22:19to build off of in the first place now
22:22evidence type information is very
22:24similar to the final type which is the r
22:26of PESA and this stands for
22:29reference type information reference
22:31information is the easiest to deal with
22:34it is all of the Nitty Gritty very
22:37specific detailed bits of information
22:40that don't really change your conceptual
22:44understanding they're not particularly
22:47that important they're not analogous and
22:49they're not procedural but for whatever
22:51reason we might need to know this later
22:55this might be something like the exact
22:56value of a mathematical con Conant or a
22:59specific Gene involved in a particular
23:01mutation or the name of a very specific
23:03molecule of a disease or maybe a list of
23:06attributes used to define a variable for
23:09coding and the process we use to deal
23:12with this type of information is the
23:13same as for evidence almost it's store
23:18and rehearse the same
23:21things the storing part exactly the same
23:25you Chuck it in a second brand and your
23:26flash cards wherever makes sense for you
23:29but if you need to be able to record
23:30this information from memory and you
23:32can't like refer back to your notes when
23:35you need to use it then you probably
23:36want to use something like flash cards
23:38because the rehearse part is a little
23:40different because reference type
23:42information is by definition not very
23:46conceptually important anyway it's quite
23:49hard to use this for problem solving or
23:52as part of like an extended discussion
23:54or answer the way we're probably going
23:56to use this information is just Direct
23:58fact recoil which is why something like
24:01flash cards using a space repetition
24:03active recoil strategy like an app like
24:06ankey is going to be the best way to
24:08handle reference type information so as
24:11you're reading and you're thinking hey
24:13this might be a reference type
24:14information you dump it into your
24:17flashcards and you put aside like 30
24:20minutes every day or whatever to just go
24:22through your flash cards to do your
24:24rehearsal but please again
24:26absolutely do not waste time while
24:30you're reading trying to just read and
24:32reread and write notes and just memorize
24:34this information at the time you need to
24:37use that time for the first three which
24:40forms the bulk of your knowledge as I
24:43said earlier there are a lot of things
24:45that need to go right to be able to
24:47learn a lot of information in a short
24:49period of time and wasting time on
24:52trying to memorize reference information
24:54while you are reading it instead of
24:56spending that time on the first three
24:59types is one of the worst offenders and
25:02as soon as you get into that mind frame
25:04of reading something and then rereading
25:07it again trying to get it into your head
25:09you can say goodbye to your learning
25:11efficiency so now you know the five
25:13types of information for you to try to
25:15identify as you consume in stage one and
25:19the appropriate targeted process that
25:21will help you to digest that information
25:23in stage two and the key to be able to
25:26retain a lot and have a good high level
25:29of knowledge for what you have consumed
25:31is to keep that stage one and stage two
25:33balanced however when it comes to
25:35learning efficiently this just scratches
25:38the surface in fact if you look at this
25:41map of learning that outlines the major
25:44processes that you need to be a
25:46consistently High performing efficient
25:49learner what we talked about today is
25:51like barely a few percent of it so if
25:54you want to start unpacking what those
25:55other processes look like without having
25:57to dedicate
25:59a decade of your life to uh learning
26:01about it like I did then make sure to
26:03check out my free newsletter the link is
26:05in the description thank you so much for
26:08watching and I will see you in the next
26:10one

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