The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast

Don’t you hate that feeling of linguistic deskilling?

You know the kind I mean…

The feeling that you’re losing command over your language.

It could be a language you’ve learned…

Or even your mother tongue that starts to slip.

I’ve experienced both kinds of linguistic deskilling.

In fact, when I listen to the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast episodes during the Berlin years vs. those recorded in Brisbane…

The difference is shocking, because:

 

You Really Can Lose Command Of Your Mother Tongue!

 

Seriously.

It can happen to anyone, including memory experts skilled in conference interpreting.

In fact, it’s even happened to me.

Near the end of my time in Berlin, I spoke English so infrequently, I was gradually losing my mother tongue.

Worse, when I did speak English, it was usually over Skype.

Nothing wrong with that, right?

Wrong.

Telecommunication is great, but it starves the brain of so many non-verbal cues.

Sure, the pros outweigh the cons, but…

All The Pros In The World
Can’t Defeat The Force Of Linguistic Deskilling!

 

I first realized I had this problem when I read about linguistic deskilling in Mindshift by Barbara Oakley.

At the time, I had no particular means of combatting the problem.

After all, the people in Berlin with whom I spoke English tended not to be native speakers.

That meant I would pick up their habits with English.

Even crazier, my English often took on the characteristics of German grammar.

And that was especially bad when I found myself speaking English with my wife and making all kinds of mistakes she would then incorporate into how she used English.

Even more alarming, I was about to embark on an adventure in Beijing, completely unaware of how long we’d be spending in the city.

Of course, the excursion was great for my Chinese!

Neither of my in-laws speak English and only a handful of April’s relatives know it well enough to string along a conversation. I was forced to listen like a hawk and speak Chinese a lot.

 

All Of It Chipped Away At My English

 

I don’t mean to exaggerate the problem. But more and more I felt as though I was reaching for words in English that normally would have leapt to mind. The Ugly Sister Effect also seemed more prevalent than ever.

But within a few weeks of settling in Brisbane, I noticed that the lumps in my English pipes seemed to clear.

Then something great happened:

The bumbling around that had become so characteristic on the podcast seemed to completely disappear!

It was like the difference between day and night. Until…

 

Language Learning Tragedy Strikes!

 

The problem with winning back English and narrowing my focus on Chinese?

I began experiencing the deskilling of my German.

I knew it was coming, which is why I was careful to enact the Dieter Dictum.

 

The Language-Preserving Power Of The Dieter Dictum

 

Dieter is my former father-in-law.

Odd how divorce and re-marriage shifts these people around, but I’ll always think of Dieter as a father-in-law no matter what. And there’s no reason not to, what with the ex and I remaining such good friends.

Anyhow, Dieter moved around a lot in his career and apparently he once told my ex-wife something I’ve never forgotten:

Responsibility for keeping in touch falls on the shoulders of the one who left. That’s why, even with its lack of verbal cues, I make sure to spend time with friends on Skype at least 2-3 times a month.

Put in the context of linguistic deskilling…

 

1. It’s Your Responsibility To Maintain Ties
With The Languages You Want To Preserve

 

And you need to do it in multiple ways, ideally ones that harness all of The Big Five Of Language Learning:

When it comes to maintaining and even flourishing an attainment of fluency, you’ll need at least three of these 4 Cs:

  • Community
  • Culture
  • Concepts
  • Clapping (i.e. Recognition and reward in the form of encouraging applause that you meaningfully deserve)

To be honest, I haven’t quite cracked the code on how to get this for German in Brisbane. That’s because…

2. Effective Learning Experiences
Should Align With Your Values

 

I was so excited when I discovered the Brisbane German Book Club.

And after discovering its existence, I had just time enough to prepare by reading Im Krebsgang by Günter Grass.

Just that one book alone would easily satisfy all of the Four Cs. With a short book review written auf Deutsch, I would have easily covered all of the Big Five of Language Learning too.

The problem…?

Culture be damned, I’m sick of reading depressing stories about war, terrorism and broken families.

Burning Torches Of Negativity Sucks In All Languages

 

And it turns out that the next few months feature similarly downer texts at a time I’m craving light-hearted literature – or at least darker stuff from a more Romantic era.

 

There Are Always Solutions

 

Turns out there is a Saturday German school for beginning students just up the street. I might be able to preserve my skills by pitching in and offering to help.

And then there is always the option of language learning online, despite its many deficits.

The important point is that, there’s little to be gained from frustrating or boring language maintenance materials.

Instead…

 

3. Align Language Learning Materials With Your Interests

 

As I continue searching for German-speaking community in Brisbane, it’s important to keep exposure to the language high.

And since I’ll need to await for some alignment with the local German bookclub, I performed a simple inventory of what I’m currently interested in.

Turns out that my current fave topic, Advaita Vedanta, is also loved by Germans. So much so that there is an abundance of books and videos on the topic.

The best part?

German speakers discuss topics in ways that English speakers do not.

Sure, the differences aren’t that huge, but listening to discussions on this topic in German still opens perspectives that I doubt ever would have come alive in a thousand years of English study.

(Often German Wikipedia entries, such as the one on vedanta are either more detailed, better prepared and or peppered with richer/alternative hyperlinks not featured on the English pages.)

Why Does This Exposure Matter?

 

Because when you can study a topic in a different language, you’re getting perspectives from people who have read dozens, if not hundreds of books in their native tongue that have never been translated into yours. Chances are they never will be.

And if you fail to keep up with that language you learned and let linguistic dskilling have its way…

You risk missing out on more than just the joys of communicating in that language.

Worse, you risk losing the myriad of worlds each language contains.

The solution?

Memory of course. Here’s how to get it on your side:

The post 3 Language And Memory-Preserving Ways To Combat Linguistic Deskilling appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Direct download: 3_Language_And_Memory-Preserving_Ways_To_Combat_Linguistic_Deskilling.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 5:35pm EDT

Let’s face it. Everyone has fantasized about having a memory implant.

You know the kind:

A small, unobtrusive thing, patched directly into your brain …

… capable of letting you learn and remember at miraculous speeds.

Heck, maybe this neural implant or brain prosthesis (whatever you want to call it), doesn’t even need to break the skin.

It may even be possible that your memory could be manipulated by radio waves or some other external signal.

But until that time, unless you’ve already decided you’re going to be the first in line …

Here are 7 reasons why memory implants are probably going to suck.

 

#1. Memory Implants Won’t Eliminate Practice

 

I conduct a lot of surveys here at the Magnetic Memory Method headquarters.

And that scene from The Matrix …

… comes up a lot.

The problem is:

People don’t watch the movie for what it’s really saying and the true metaphor about the value of training and journeying we can extract from the tale:

 

Downloading IS NOT Learning!

 

Not only does Neo have to get into the dojo and spar with Morpheus as a form of “accelerated practice” …

… Morpheus next cajoles Neo into jumping off a building, part of a chain of events that causes the “real” Neo to bleed.

Morpheus then tricks Neo with the woman in the red dress, proving again that downloading isn’t enough.

 

Far From It!

 

The mind still needs to be trained.

The mind still needs practice.

And let me ask you something:

What is Neo’s ultimate showdown with Agent Smith other than another training exercise? An exercise that actually requires Neo to die before he experiences an awakening …

… That leads to two sequels where he needs to practice being Neo even more until he can surrender his life to the war between humans and machines and finally die.

And even then, some people reckon that Neo’s not really the one:

The point is this:

When people fantasize that a memory chip implanted in their brains is going to give them knowledge …

They’re just plain wrong about the definition of knowledge.

Knowledge may well involve things you can store and retrieve …

But at its core …

 

Knowledge Is The Ongoing Practice Of Knowledge

 

And that knowledge/practice coupling should ideally become better practice over time. But it can only be earned through consistent acts of practice, consistently applied.

The level of learning most people want will never be instant. It will always require practice over time. And it will always involve an interesting combination of weaving and navigation as you create the paths you travel.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. - Bruce LeeClick To Tweet

Understanding takes time. Even understanding must be practiced through consistent contemplation.

 

Yes, Yes, But I Still Want To Know …
Is There A Shortcut?

 

As a matter of fact, yes there is. A short cut even better than the shortcut many people seek.

The only (and best) shortcut to contemplation is memory techniques. Learn them a.s.a.p.!

Why? So you can STOP dithering around with the consumption process and get on with processing information.

No computer can do that for you. Ever. That’s entirely on you.

 

#2:  If You Think Advertising Is Bad Now …

 

A lot of people whine and complain about advertising. Sadly, this kvetching often comes from the same people who sacrifice hours of their time to social media and mindless television.

To tell you the truth, it kind of makes me miss the PBS days …

What people who complain about advertising don’t realize is that this big media platforms are chewing up your attention span by selling ads …

… and THEN telling content creators how to make their content in ways that serve ads better and more frequently.

Serve ads better – not necessarily you.

And you had better believe that the first thing they’re going to do if implants succeed is erect billboards in your head.

At least now we can fend off Digital Amnesia by digital fasting.

But once the branded devices are fused with your brain, you’ll be the walking receptacle of advertising you can’t switch off.

 

#3. The Nightmares Of Hardware Maintenance …
In The Flesh! 

 

Taking care of our human bodies is hard enough. People do a better job with their pets and vehicles a lot of the time.

And since we know the implant market will follow the trends of manufacturing processes, there will be an ongoing attempt to make the hardware as cheap as possible to maximize profits …

Think about that.

Do you really want a brain prosthesis built in a sweatshop constantly breaking down and rotting in your head?

When you could simply learn memory techniques and have way more than you ever need?

Plus, bad people will be constantly trying to hack into your implant.

And the first place they’ll go is your passwords manager, while also working to put your entire brain on the fritz.

 

#4. Medical Maintenance Monstrosities

 

And that’s just the tech side of the equation.

Imagine a hacker being able to cause electrical shocks or worse, simply by writing a line of code and “email thinking” it at you? Someone writing a “Brain Aneurysm” virus is almost a certainty.

And it would be so medically disgusting. Or disgustingly erotic, as David Cronenberg envisioned the human-computer interface in eXistenZ:

 

#5: It Could Become Very Expensive
(Even Deadly) NOT To Have A Memory Implant

 

Don’t have an implant?

Too bad, kemosabe. You’ll have to go live in the camps.

Assuming the scientist can solve all the biotech problems I’ve just predicted, I foresee even worse problems.

For example, what will it matter if you have all the currency in the world, if you don’t have the brain implant by which it is traded?

Just as we are all now forced to have email accounts to do just about anything, social trends may wind up forcing a majority to adopt a thoroughly unhealthy implant just to keep up with the joneses.

 

This Problem May Lead To All
Kinds Of Terrifying New Governance

 

We already see how slowly sovereign powers around the world have risen to deal with the Internet.

And we see more and more control over this precious tool that will lead to greater control over the inside of our minds and memory if we allow wired neuralinking and the government lurking behind it to penetrate our skulls.


Pause:

In case you missed it, we were jamming on related topics with reference to everything from Jacques Ellul to the Unabomber to Videodrome on this Magnetic Memory Method YouTube Live. Feel free to enjoy the replay:


 

#6: Memories Are Generated, Not Recorded

 

Okay, enough Sci-fi …

Another big reason brain prosthetics will suck is that our brains don’t record memories. They encode them, breaking them apart for reconstruction later.

It’s a chemical process that can be guided by thought (itself produced out of the chemical brain).

But if an implant “records” a memory for you, then it is not encoded.

This will atrophy those beautiful parts of your brain, mind and willpower that need the fitness.

Those parts of your brain need fitness as badly as the muscles in your arms and legs need pushups and squats.

Just walk around: Couldn’t more people use more physical fitness?

Just talk to people: Aren’t most conversations a series of statements like, “I’ll have to look that up and send it to you”?

Well, having an implant in your brain might make it possible to perform a quick search and send a thought email …

… And heck, why not thought-Tweet it to everyone in the world at the same time? …

 

That Will Only Create More Noise

 

Worse, we’ll suffer even fewer instances of meaningful information consumption.

More twitchy people who are less and less interesting to talk to.

Because now instead of constantly monitoring their phones in the middle of conversations, they’re zoning out from inside their heads.

 

#7: Non-Wired People Already Struggle
With The Failure To Disconnect

 

What will they do when it becomes impossible to unplug?

Download and scan Orwell through their minds, and in a Neo-esque moment of triumph, proclaim, “I know 1984?”

Not likely.

 

Is There An Upshot?

 

Sure.

Through neural implanting, blind people have been able to experience sight. Valuable triumphs like these have been going on for a very long time.

Perhaps there is even hope for brain lesions, curing Alzheimer’s and other problems that plague humanity.

memory implant magnetic memory method

But as science discovers more ways of fusing technology with the brain through neuralinking, neural implants and the like, let’s understand this:

The brain is not now and never will be technology. Even if a strong enough neuralink is established, people who fantasize that machines will learn on their behalf completely misunderstand what memory and learning mean and how practical, everyday life will define it.

And nothing will ever replace the amazing feeling of being accomplished in several areas of interest, skill and aspects of human and scientific knowledge.

 

Don’t Want Those Things? No Problem.
(Or Is It The Biggest Problem In The World?)

 

Keep playing with your apps and fantasizing that spaced repetition software is the path to a truly powerful memory.

Go ahead and be the first in line when the chopshops open up to perform neural implant surgery. Let the surveillance parameters of both computer hacker criminals and government and the marketers they barely control have at it.

I’ll point out in conclusion that humans are very poor at predicting the future, including me.

But whatever direction this project of neural implanting takes us, just don’t call it memory. The great tradition of memory techniques and the current Mnemonics Renaissance only holds meaning through our own acts of preservation through practice and practice as preservation.

The post 7 Reasons Having A Memory Implant Would Really Suck appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Direct download: 7_Reasons_Having_A_Memory_Implant_Would_Actually_Suck.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:09am EDT

Tired of note taking techniques during lectures that sound like they’ll be effective …

…but ultimately fail to help you remember information?

You know the kind:

The ideas look good, but … not exactly something you would ever do.

And every time you try some new note taking technique …

No matter what, all of them seem to lead to one place:

You … writing down loooooong strings of notes verbatim.

It’s usually boring, and (stand by for truth pill) …

 

Boring Note Taking Rarely Works!

 

It gets worse:

These boring note taking styles mean that you’re always struggling to keep up. You often wind up missing huge sections of the lecture and struggle to reconstruct what was said from the notes.

And if you’re anything like me, you don’t want to struggle with your memory!

 


Pause for a second.

Do you have time for a quick question?

Do you like live discussions? Here’s one about note taking that I think you’ll enjoy:

 

We had some great questions and contributions on the call and some really interesting books and resources were mentioned. Click play and see if this kind of learning experience suits you! 🙂


 

Back to our regular scheduled blog post:

If you’re tired of struggling with your memory after note taking, then you’re in the right place. I’m going to give you some counter-intuitive note taking techniques to try.

Some of them even tap into episodic memory and how to improve it (check out that post and Magnetic Memory Method Podcast episode for 4 super-powerful episodic memory exercises).

But please understand the following …

This is The Brutal Truth About
Note Taking Techniques

 

You can read all the articles on note taking in the world, but it’s never the note taking techniques that should take the blame when you fail to remember information.

There are other factors at play and they all meet in one central place:

You.

So if you’re taking lecture notes verbatim, that’s the first thing that should change. This practice is taking you out of the presence of the information at a moment when your focus should be on its source.

To help you increase your focus and memory, get ready for techniques that I’ve used myself to remember more and develop tremendous confidence in any subject area.

 

The 6 Guiding Principles That Govern
Magnetic Note Taking

 

But before diving into my Magnetic Note Taking Techniques, let’s take a step back and look at a few other factors.

We need to be aware of them for one simple reason:

All the best note taking techniques in the world won’t help you for even a second if you haven’t got the following aspects handed. After all, your note taking can only ever be as good as the state in which the notes were taken.

1. Be well rested

 

Seriously. I’m on YouTube Live every once in awhile, and always astounded by how late some learners in the world stay up.

 

I don’t care what note taking techniques you use. They all suffer if you’re tired.Click To Tweet

 

And exhaustion means this:

No note taking efforts in the world can help the information enter your mind at the highest possible level. We can’t properly pay attention to what we’re learning when we’re tired and often wind up taking notes about unimportant details.

But when you’re well-rested, you pay closer attention to the information that matters. This raised level of awareness already makes every note taking technique you try instantly better.

To help you get a better rest and benefit from the improved memory abilities sleep creates, check out this Magnetic Memory Method Podcast episode on sleep and memory improvement.

 

2. Nutrition and Hydration

 

Foods that improve memory aren’t hard to find. Luckily, many of us don’t have a hard time finding water either.

We don’t need to dwell on this topic for long, but please understand that your brain shrinks when it’s not properly hydrated. Many foods deplete your hydration. By making a few simple dietary changes and drinking more water, your note taking abilities will go way up automatically.

 

3. Fitness and Meditation

 

Your brain is a physical entity. The more you exercise it, the greater focus you’ll experience.

Likewise, meditation primes your brain to pay attention and remember more. Meditation improves concentration and memory too.

 

4. Knowledge of how memory works

 

Note taking skills work better if you know about the Primacy Effect and Recency Effect. You’re much more likely to remember the beginning and end of a lecture, for example.

But even if these general rules don’t fall in your favor, the forgetting curve will take its toll unless you do something about it.

The science of memory, particularly as it stands in support of a Memory Palace approach, should be covered immediately. It will add a great deal to how you think of note taking from a meta level.

Never forget: practical tips are great, but understanding why the tips work is golden. Using tips based on understanding makes you and your memory Magnetic.

 

5. Be Prepared

 

We’ll talk in a moment about pre-reading, but as a global point, too many learners show up to lectures unprepared.

As a student myself, I can’t tell you the amount of times I heard people asking, “what’s this week’s lecture about?”

That should never be the question on your lips. You should know the syllabus or plan inside and out so that your brain is primed and prepared to lock-in on the most salient points.

Seriously:

If you want to help yourself remember more, stack the chips in your favor by reading as much as possible in advance.

Heck, you can even email the speaker and ask what you should read to be better prepared if it isn’t already clear to you.

I’d even suggest pushing for more suggestions. Even if you only have time to skim over the suggested material, you’re feeding your brain with velcro hooks. And the more hooks you have before you show up, the more material will stick.

 

6. Know Your Learning Preferences

 

Finally, a huge shortcoming to all note taking is that many people aren’t aware of their learning preferences. They don’t know if they’re primarily visual, auditory, kinesthetic or conceptual.

And when you lack that knowledge, you can’t determine your MMM Learning Hierarchy. I’ll be talking a lot about how to do this in a new book I’m releasing. For now, just understand that you probably have a sensory preference of which you’re unaware.

The following techniques on offer here reflect some of mine. Regardless of how I learn, the most important thing is this:

Experiment with different note taking techniques based on your MMM Learning Hierarchy. You’ll quickly find yourself remembering more when you honor the way your brain prefers to learn by matching your note taking approach to these preferences.

Heck, you might even find yourself focusing and concentrating on your studies like a Zen Master.

 

WARNING!

 

You’re about to discover some of my most prized – and totally counterintuitive – techniques for taking notes at lectures.

These are significantly different from how I would take notes from a book. You can explore that approach here on my podcast and infographic about How to Memorize a Textbook. Everything in that teaching applies here as well, provided that you take your notes on index cards or move them over to index cards.

None of the techniques you are about to discover are mutually exclusive. You can use some of them at the same time. You can even use all of them to varying degrees in the same lecture.

But what you should never do is experiment with new note taking techniques when the stakes are high. Like gambling, only try something new when you can afford to lose.

With that caveat in place, here are …

 

My Favorite And Most Magnetic Note Taking
Techniques For Lectures

 

1. Release Yourself From Note Taking

 

To be honest, I often prefer not to take notes at all if I can avoid it.

At least … not the first time around.

How is avoiding note taking possible?

How is it even responsible? Desirable?

Especially when you’re someone dumping thousands of dollars into a university education, a certification course or other live educational event.

Easy.

Just press record.

Many speakers will allow you to record their talks. And when you can record, you can simply release yourself to absorb the information without distracting yourself with the need to capture any of it.

I know this is counter intuitive, but it’s well worth practicing. I suggest that you go to a few public lectures where you don’t need to remember anything and then use the room as a Memory Palace as you listen.

Don’t know how to create a Memory Palace? No problem. Just grab my:

Once you have the Memory Palace tool working in your favor, cool things can start to happen.

When you remove the consequences of forgetting and then think back to the lecture and allow yourself to remember, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what comes back.

It’s almost as if you’ve said to your memory, “Go ahead and forget everything. It will be fine.”

Of course, you’re not actually saying that, and this “reverse psychology” could backfire. But by releasing the outcome, you’ll likely focus more on the proceedings and remember more by default.

Pros:

You can practice being more present in the room and using a Memory Palace.

Allowing yourself to recall information without notes provides you with profoundly powerful memory exercise.

Cons:

Things can go wrong with recording devices. But if you have a solid network of friends, they can supply you with their notes and commentary.

 

2. Take Notes From The Recording

 

Recordings are powerful assets. You can listen to them anytime you want in the future, as many times as you want.

And you can take notes at your leisure with one powerful asset:

You’re encountering the information for the second time, not the first.

You’ve already got the broad overview, and you’ve primed your memory with reverse psychology. And you’re also in a position to listen more strategically.

Plus, when you take notes from the recording, you’re able to do it in a preferred environment free from the distractions of other people in the room. You’re even free from the visual distractions created by many speakers themselves.

Pros:

You can review recordings as often as you wish.

If you like 2x-ing your content, you can listen to it faster on the second review.

You can also pause the recording so that you’re taking notes without missing out on any of the information yet to come.

Cons:

Speakers often don’t prepare lectures for the purpose of creating recordings. Their lack of intention to perform for your posterity can make the recording slow, punctuated by “dead air” and filled with the sounds of people and paper shuffling.

 

3. Minimize Notes, Maximize Creativity

 

Although I do like to attend lectures and take no notes at all, I still always have a notebook.

And in that notebook, I like to doodle. I’ve doodled in lecture halls around the world. And it’s also a great activity while watching or listening to recorded lectures.

The longer the lecture and the more attention they require, the more I find doodling beneficial.

Why?

Because long content can make me fidgety. No matter how enthralling it is, I like to be moving.

The best part?

Drawing doesn’t exclude note taking. Rather, it shapes and informs it.

As I draw, I write down keywords and notes that seem interesting to me and useful for further exploration.

In a way, doodling while paying attention to information is like mindmapping, but without creating a deliberate mindmap. It also helps me focus on the information as it flows in real time without being distracted by writing down things said seconds or minutes ago while new information is accumulating.

 

Wow – Cool!
Two Kinds Of Drawing

 

There are also different kinds of drawing that are useful. I would divide these between doodling abstract shapes and forms and drawing characters.

For many years, I drew abstractions almost entirely. Then I started drawing figures. Doctor Fuse Less is one figure in particular who came up in my notebooks again and again.

In either case, I found that by drawing the same things repetitively while focusing on lectures helped me focus even more on the material. It’s being creative and giving the body something to do without creating anything from scratch.

This lowers the cognitive drain of the doodling and maximizes how it can focus your attention like a laser on what you’re learning.

After that, the keywords you write down on the page are triggers or catalysts for remembering what was discussed.

Pros:

You increase your focus on the content.

You give your memory exercise by letting it decode keywords you’ve made, rather than having to read through hastily written notes later.

Cons:

You might struggle to decode the keywords you noted down.

You also might get better at drawing, but you can’t expect to get an A+ on an exam if you cover it with doodles.

4. Be A Note Taking Maximalist (If You’re Prepared To Follow-Up)

 

Sometimes I like to take massive amounts of notes. To do this, I just go hog wild.

There is no particular strategy. It’s just to write down as much as I can in a linear fashion.

Is this effective?

Yes and no.

But in order to make sure that it is effective as possible, I tend to type these kinds of notes later into a document or a summary.

I talked about the power of writing summaries last week when we discussed instant gratification, and that raises an interesting point.

Writing down as much as you possibly can during a lecture is essentially succumbing to scarcity. You’re acting out of the fear that you’re going to miss something.

We need to be really careful about this fear.

Why?

Because chances are, fear will cause you to write down a bunch of useless information and actually miss the most important points.

Why does this happen? Because you’ll be note taking while the more relevant information is streaming past you, outside of your awareness.

And you can’t write summaries of information you missed.

So if you’re going to use the maximalist technique, back it up with a recording so you can review the lecture later.

Pros:

Your wrists and arms get lots of exercise. You feel like you’ve accomplished a lot.

Cons:

Most times you won’t have accomplished much. Instead, it was a bunch of activity that crowded your attention when you needed to be focused elsewhere.

 

5. Have a note taking strategy and style planned in advance

 

Now that you have some more approaches in your note taking arsenal, you can start practicing them.

But I find that one of the most important aspects of note taking is simply being strategic about what you write down.

For example, I’ve had a lot of students who write down all the book titles I mention … but they’re not the type of students who ever go and read those books.

As a result, they miss out on what I’m actually saying about those books while writing the titles down.

But if you notice that you have the habit of writing down a bunch of information you never follow up on, you stand to gain a lot by writing down only so much information as you can and will follow up on during the post reading phase.

On the other hand, maybe you don’t have to attend the lecture at all. You can skip a whole lot of lectures entirely by simply reading an article written by the speaker and then reading all the books and articles mentioned in the bibliography. I have done this many times and feel confident that I gained as a result and never lost.

Or, you can combine reading material by the lecturer and attend the lecture. Pre-reading is a great strategy and one that will maximize the value of every lecture you attend.

Pros:

You’ll be prepared and have maximum flexibility.

Cons:

None. Unless you’re the type of person who gets so caught up in preparation that you suffer analysis paralysis.

 

Magnetic Tips For Beyond The Lecture

 

Speaking of pre-reading and post-reading, one of the best things you can do regardless of how you take notes is read beyond the lecture.

And understand that you get more bang for your buck if you also speak with others about what you’ve encountered in lectures.

Some of my favorite memories of university involve the discussion groups I attended with my fellow students.

In English 1300, for example, a small cluster of us all walked away with the top grades.

Why?

Because after many of the lectures and tutorials, we met to discuss the material further.

I’ll never forget sitting up in the 7th-floor Grad Lounge of the Ross Building.

I don’t think we were aware of it at the time, but think of the unconscious message we were giving ourselves.

A first-year course and we chose the grad lounge as our meeting room for discussion. We treated this first-year course as if it was graduate-level material and that gave all of us a cutting edge.

Later, in grad school, I recall other student groups with different dynamics.

In one of my favorites, we would each voluntarily read an article to present to the group. In this way, each of us was exposed to additional reading material for which we had no time. Yet, we could still take notes about the key points, remember these and enjoy the effect of priming our memory for future encounters with that text or references to it.

 

Effective Note Taking Is A Process That Develops Over Time

 

Effective note taking skills are everywhere. There are scientific studies well worth your attention too, such as this Scientific American article about not taking notes with a laptop.

Whatever you do, I suggest that you approach note taking as an art and a science. Make sure that you experiment with multiple styles and track your results.

As you pay attention to what’s happening more consciously, you’ll learn more about what works for you and lean towards your preferences with greater understanding.

But at all times, choose flexibility. Make sure you have on hand what you need whenever you attend a lecture or recording of one so that all your bases are covered.

And above all, remove all stress. So many learners bring so much worry about the game of education that they forget to play it.

But learning really is a game. It’s one you can win too, provided you put your memory first.

And to help with that, I’m confident these note taking techniques – if you give them a try in combination with the bigger picture of your rest, relaxation, health and a Magnetic Memory Palace Network – will force you to remember more without so much as breaking a sweat.

Bonus:

Matthew Clark was one of my favorite profs in grad school. Through the magic of the Internet, I now have the chance to take some notes from one of his lectures.

Wanna trade?

The post 5 Note Taking Techniques That Force You To Remember More appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Direct download: 5_Note_Taking_Techniques_That_Force_You_To_Remember_More.mp3
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