Does it happen with you that you read or learn something and the next thing you remember is nothing at all! Isn’t that weird? Suddenly you realise that you don’t remember what you just read a minute back?

And the worst part is when you put all your efforts into learning the night before the exam and all you remember the next morning is nothing, or just chunks of what you learnt the night before. All you wish for while sitting in that exam hall is a super memory.

Well, you are not alone. It happens to the best of learners sometime or the other. But the good news is that there are tonnes of ways to increase the power of our memory. And here I’m going to share some really valuable magical shortcuts with you. So, are you ready to learn FAST?

We are going to learn fast by using FAST! Yes, you read it right. ‘FAST’ is acronym for Forget Active State Teach. Let’s get started!

The first part of the magical rule FAST, is ‘Forget’. But what to forget? Here we will read about forgetting three things.

Forget

1. Forget ingredients of the cup

Have you ever seen someone filling a cup that is already filled? Doesn’t that sound stupid? Why would anyone fill a cup that is already filled? If you think that is stupid, then you are right. But what about the information we all try to fill in our minds when we already have information about that certain topic?

Usually, we all start to learn things by gathering information that is already in our mind, which is a pretty normal way to start to learn something. But studies have now shown that if we temporarily forget what we already know about the topic, that will help us learn the topic faster and for a longer time period.

To remember this trick, recall this quote of Jim Kwik, “You can’t fill a cup if it’s already filled.”

Therefore, temporarily forget what you know about the topic.

2. Forget your limitations

If you keep fighting for your limitations, you get to keep them. One has to learn the art of letting go of our excuses. Often, we support and defend our excuses unconsciously to the point that we no longer see them as excuses and that hinders our growth.

So, don’t fight for your limitations and excuses.

3. Forget temporarily about things that are not urgent

One needs to set priorities for things. And must temporarily forget about things, events, situations that are not urgent so that one can fully focus on the present task.

Active

The second part of the magical rule FAST is ‘Active’.

Have you ever noticed when we are told to listen carefully, we sit straight no matter what our previous position was?

We sit straight to listen carefully. That is not just normal human behaviour, but there is also a science behind it. When we work while sitting straight, our internal organs work more efficiently as oxygen reaches the brain both efficiently and smoothly.

I have a task for you. Choose an activity of either learning, reading or writing. Now perform this activity in a position that is not straight, i.e., you can lie in your bed or sit slouched. Then perform the same kind of activity while sitting in a straight position. You’ll understand the difference there.

As said by Jim Kwik, “Learning is not a spectator’s sport.”

1. Take notes

You can’t just learn something while only seeing it. You have to participate in every stage to learn the best out of it. When you hear or learn something new, take notes. Things written by our own hand in our words tend to stay in our brain for a longer time period.

2. Internet

We live in an era where we are surrounded by the internet 24/7. Use the internet to the best of your capacity to grow. Did you hear something new? Google it! You can grow just by investing in yourself the right way.

3. Hold a question-answer with yourself

You must have heard people say that the person who doesn’t asks questions stays a fool forever, while the person who asks seems foolish only the first time. Don’t hesitate to look like a fool when you are asking a question, because a fool is too foolish to realise what he doesn’t know and make an effort to find out more about it.

Most people have thousands of questions in their mind but they struggle to question. Break through this struggle, stay curious and keep asking questions, because a true genius knows that only a genius has the guts to ask questions!

State

Have you ever observed that whenever you learn something while being bored, you don’t remember anything afterwards? So here, by state we mean emotions. What is an emotion to you? How do you define emotion?

In simple language, we can call the state or a snapshot of one’s mood and body as emotions. It’s basically how you are feeling in the current state.

As Jim Kwik says, “Information combine with emotion becomes a long-term memory.”

All learnings are state-dependent, if you enter into a learning experience with a state/emotion of joy, curiosity and fascination, the results will be fruitful. But if you enter the learning experience with a state/mood of boredom and tiredness, then the results would be less fruitful. Whatever state you go into a learning experience with, that will determine your result.

When we are having a good time doing something, tend to remember this positive experience more clearly, and when this positive state is present while we are studying, the information combined with emotion leads to long-term memory and retention.

Rumi says, “Sell your cleverness for bewilderment.”

Teach

The last part of the magical rule FAST is ‘Teach’.

If you are doubtful about a certain topic, then this trick is for you. Teach what you have learned. You can act as if you are teaching yourself or you can seek out a friend or classmate who isn’t clear about the particular topic that you have just finished learning, and then you can teach them what you learnt.

While teaching, you’ll be reliving and revising what you learnt and that will improve your memory about that topic. Learn with the intention to teach because by teaching you learn twice. Interestingly, the act of preparing to teach alone can lead to short-term gains, but the act of preparing to teach coupled with actually teaching another person is what leads to long-term retention and deeper learning.

For a study in Applied Cognitive Psychology, researchers set out to check if teaching improves the teacher’s learning, “because it compels the teacher to retrieve what they’ve previously studied.” They realised that “bringing to mind what we’ve previously studied leads to deeper and longer-lasting acquisition of that information than more time spent passively re-studying.”

Happy learning!

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 20th, 2021