Most people forget what they’ve just learnt within 12 and 24 hours. If you are reading this post now, chances are that tomorrow you’ll not even remember it.
Our brain works like a big search engine, when you insert a new piece of information, it goes on a big stack called short term memory. When you want to remember that information, your brain will try to search inside that stack for the information you requested.
This process happens asynchrony, that’s why you often remember a title of a song after many hours from your first attempt.
If you are trying to recall something after a long time (it can be even 1 hour for useless information), your brain will have an hard time finding it, as it’s more likely you have forget it.
Knowing this, we can try to understand why we forget what we’ve learnt just a few hours ago. When a new piece of information enters your brain, it is stored as a volatile information, because your brain doesn’t know if it’s useful or not. For example you don’t need to remember every car you’ve seen in your daily commute to work.
But what happens when you try to recall something you’ve previously learnt? Most times you simply can’t. If I would tell you now that to find the sum of the number from 1 to n you have to calculate (n+1)*n/2, chances are that within one hour it’ll be already hard for you to recall the correct formula, although it’s pretty easy. This happens because (if you are not good at math) your brain does not find similar information already stored in your brain, so it’s hard for it to reinforce that information alone. And by now you’ve probably forget it 
As you’ve just read, the major difficult for your brain is to reinforce and create consistency, and the best way to help your brain doing it is by recalling what you’ve just learnt multiple times.
What does this mean in practice?
Knowing this, you can probably understand why your life doesn’t change even after reading the best how to book you’ve ever read. Even if I was telling you the perfect formula for solving all your problems, and that formula would make perfect sense to you, you would forget it after a few hours, and your life would remain the same.
Unless, of course, you deliberately reinforce your new knowledge and make it part of your life (also known as taking action).
How do you keep track of new stuff?
Depending on the nature of the information you’ve just acquired, there are many ways to keep track of what you’ve learnt. If you want to master a new technique on your sport, the best way is to repeat it as many times as possible until it becomes second nature for you. If you are following an history class at school, it may be a good idea to create a mind map with the fundamental concepts and dates, and repeat it every day.
Enter the learning log
Given that I spend most of my learning time in front of a monitor, or reading a book, what I needed was something where I can store information very quickly. I used to have a personal wiki, but it didn’t quite work for me. Instead I am now using a learning log, which is something extremely simple that can be done both in your computer and also in a simple notebook.
The idea is to create a new entry every time you learn something new (assuming you want to remember it). If you are doing this on paper, you can just write the date on the top of your sheet and then make an incremental bullet list. If you are doing this in your computer, you can do the same thing, but you also need to keep track of your files in an efficient way where it’s easy for you to switch from one day to another.
With this simple method, it will be extremely easy to keep track of the new concepts you want to grasp. And if your system is not available at any time, you can make a note elsewhere, and merge it with your original file at the end of the day.
How often should you recall?
How often you need to recall depends on the mole of information you’ve stored and how important it is for you. As a general rule you should recall at the end of the day, after 24 hours, after 1 week, after 1 month, after 6 months, and after one year. This should be simple to do if your system is in order, as on a typical day you only have to recall 6 files. I tend to do a quick review at the end of the week for old files, but that’s a personal choice and you have to try what works for yourself.
If there’s something that I absolutely want to master and remember well, I copy it on new days until necessary.
Will your brain ever become full?
If you are worried that your brain will become full one day with a method like this, you have to know that it’s basically impossible to happen. So don’t worry and enjoy learning new stuff.
What to do now
If what you’ve just read makes sense to you, the best thing you can do now is creating your learning log. It doesn’t need to be perfect, as long as you get started you can always improve it.
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This is truly a great idea and similar to what I started with about two years ago. My notes are limited to personal development though, but maybe you should try to cover all grounds.
Stefan´s last blog ..The Simple Secret Behind Courage
Hey Stefan, yes I write about everything, not limited to personal development.
Anki helps with this kind of thing
Cool, I’ll try it. Thanks Eric
Hey Oscar,
Interesting question. I never seriously thought about it until now. Probably because I use information I learn as a tool to develop skills and attitudes. So I don’t keep track of the info in itself, but of how my skills and attitudes evolve. On the other hand, working in training and coaching, i usually test the info I find very powerful and then I integrate it into my coaching or training programs. So it’s very valuable, I can find it in my handouts
Eduard
Ideas With A Kick´s last blog ..Q: How do I look? A: Like everybody else
Hey Eduard, like everyone else, you can give it a try and see if it’s worth it
I think I didn’t understand well how the log works. Could you give some examples? or even add some picture? (like in all those GTD blogs showing to-do lists & stuff..)
Thanks
I just use a new text file every day where I make a list of all the things I’ve learnt during the day. I can then revisit each file after a fixed period of time. I’ll make another post in the future with more detailed examples.
Instead of tracking reviews manually, consider Supermemo.
I’ll give it a try as well. Thanks.
This sounds similar to what Steven Berlin Johnson advocates in his article Toolfor Thought, which deals with DevonThink. I’m also a fan of the program, although I haven’t published any books, but its “find related” feature will probably not only help you keep track of ideas, but, more importantly, connect them to one another.
Jake´s last blog ..Adventures in The Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), and Figuring Out Where to Start the Narrative
Thanks for your comment Jake, I didn’t know about that program, but it looks interesting. The find related feature sounds very cool, as it’s a great tool for remembering things.
You’re welcome—I hope you find DevonThink as fruitful as I have. Version 2.0 is supposed to be coming along shortly, and in the beta version at least, it’s got some impressive improvements. But the central functionality remains the same; I only wish it had an easier way to include bibliographic information, which Johnson has got around by making each folder a bibliographic representation.
Jake´s last blog ..Harold Bloom on word processors (and, for good measure, editing)
Now this is an awesome article Oscar. It happens to me as well. I used to assume that once I read a book, I’ll be able to learn and take action from it. What happen is, because I often read a book fast, I tend to forget the pages before. As lame as it sound, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. It’s just as you said, it’s being kept in the short term memory. This days, I tend to take my time to read slowly and thoroughly.
Karlil´s last blog ..How To Lighten Up And Be Happy
Hey Karlil, it’s the norm, and it happens to me as well if I din’t keep track of what I’ve learnt. It can also happens with kick ass information if I don’t do anything about it.
Reminds me of this article Wired article: Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm
It sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing.
That makes sense.
Write down learned material, then review them the next day.
I’ll try it.
Hey Larry, it’s also useful to review the material after a few days and months. Hope it works for you.
Thanks for this Oscar. You stated that we usually forget what we have learned in an hour or in a day. I agree with this because usually humans can learn things fast but can forget things easily. Unless there is a strong emotional tie to what we learn, we will usually forget it in the long run. Your method of creating a learning log is a great way to jot down things in the moment, and have them handy when we need them for the future.
Tristan Lee´s last blog ..How to Conquer Fear
Thanks Tristan, associating strong emotion is a quick way to develop long term memory. Assuming you can find an emotion to associate, that’s a great tool.
I have to write everything down if I want to remember it. Then read it just before going to sleep and first thing in the morning. They say the more you know the more you can learn. But as I get older I forget more and find that somethings are on the tip of my tongue but not quite coming back to me as fast as I’d like. You’re too young for that:)
Hey Annabel. My memory isn’t my forte, that’s why I need something like this. Also if I read books and articles during the day there’s no way I can remember all the important things without a system like this. Thanks for your comment
I have intermittently kept a learning log using Evernote in the past. This excellent article has inspired to re-start and maintain those efforts – thanks!
I’m glad it has inspired you. Cheers
This is also why so many people are unorganized. People just think they’ll remember what they have to do, but they don’t. This is why it’s so important to have an organized system to capture what you have to do. I do love GTD, although it can go to extremes. The point is, start writing stuff down. When an idea comes up, right it down. Why you remember you need something at the grocery store, right it down. I’m starting to do this much more and it really helps.
Nate´s last blog ..The Elusive Search for Meaning
Hey Nate, writing down ideas is very powerful. The difference between doing it and not doing it is like day and night. Thanks for your comment.
A great take on learning Oscar. I like the idea of a learning log. I keep a small notepad for inspirational ideas. Now I’ll keep another notepad or Wordpad on my PC for a learning log.
I’ve always had an issue with remember names after I’ve been introduced to someone. Now I repeat the name over and over in mind after meeting them. I’ll address them by name before I depart. Repeat any concept until it’s etched on the mind. Memory is not immune from the “practice makes perfect” principle.
Ryan´s last blog ..How To Promote Cash Gifting With Free Methods
Hi Ryan, I know one way to remember names is to focus on the person when he or she said the name and associate something with the name. I never tried to put a name in my learning know, let me know if it works!
Thanks for the great article.
Any examples of learning log?
Ian Lim´s last blog ..Ajaxian » Lunascape Orion: Cross browser extensions
Actually I don’t have any example to show. I just use a text file and make a list of what I’ve learnt during the day. I’ll probably put some examples in the future. Thanks for your comment.
Hi Oscar,
Great post.
Unfortunately your graphic doesn’t work on a couple of levels.
Gears representing the brain -> Mechanical worldview.
When in reality you are able to improve your brain by using it.
See Brain Plasticity Future Salon http://www.futuresalon.org/brain/
Also designer created nice little gears, but if you turn one of them and look what the others would do, you realize that they are locking each other
A common mistake, Mark.
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Mark Finnern´s last blog ..Health Care Reform we need to start from scratch
Thanks Mark,
I didn’t realize that when I added the graphic, should have paid more attention. Lesson learned
excellent post! thank you. I recently bought an internet tv software which has about 3500 HD channels (http://www.reviews-report.com/satellitetv.html), keeps me informed about all sorta news. works great and saves money – no need to pay cable anymore.
http://www.reviews-report.com/satellitetv.html
Hey Kenry,
Good luck remembering all 3,500 channels
Good read! Will test this method for remembering more easily
Thanks
J
Jaran´s last blog ..Preconditions, Multimaps and partitioning with Google Collections (part 4)
Hey Jaran, let me know if it works for you.
This is what my teacher told me: the “triple I” which are short for Impression – Iteration – Imagination:
+ Impression: you must make it a big impression, so that it can last longer in your mind.
+ Iteration: the more you think about it, the more it lasts in your mind.
+ Imagination: think about it with other things, so that it can be linked to other things which are already in your mind.
However, it is just for learning in school. In real life, I prefer what you tell me here, practical and we just need to remember something which is essential haha
Phaoloo´s last blog ..12 Best Tools To Find And Manage Proxy Servers
Hey Phaoloo, that’s a great way to remember things. Thanks for your comment.
This is especially good for bloggers. By writing down new info, processes how we solved our problems we’d more likely to remember them. Keeping a log or notes helps a lot when we write to share how we overcome obstacles or solve problems. Keep us more efficient, too, by being organized.
jan geronimo´s last blog ..Read My Lips: Twitter Lists Are Meant to be Exclusionary
Hey Jan, this technique is indeed very efficient for people who come across a lot of information each day. Thanks for your comment.
wow! really wonderful and interesting topic to read.. very helpful
Thanks
vinay´s last blog ..Iconza!customizable tool
Glad you liked it Vinay
Oscar, what a superb post! I used to keep a learning log without even thinking about it and this was somethng on my mind recently. It’s a perfect way to retain the information and I find once I’ve logged it I don’t need to go back to it because the process of logging itself is what keeps it all in my mind!
You are the man!
Amit Sodha – The Power Of Choice´s last blog ..Choose Your Inspirational Acronym For The Week
Hey Amit, thanks a lot for your feedback!
The steps susggested in this article utilize the principles that psychologists have formalized in Information Processing Theory. I saw a show on it on PBS once. Our minds work similar to a computer and knowledge is stored in stages.
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/infoproc.html
One good thing to note is that long term memory has no limit, but short term. Repetition moves knowledge progressively to long term memory.
Nirav Assar´s last blog ..The Perils of Not Unit Testing
Thanks for your contribution Nirav, and for the link. I remember one man who was able to repeat a sequence of something like 50 letters backwards, after something like 20 years, so when you say that long term memory has no limit, I really believe you
Hi Oscar,
A good post
I could enjoy reading through each WORD, I repeat, each and every word because I am mostly doing the same thing in reality 
.
My modes are many — be it sharing with friends, documenting it in an accessible format (excel file for ‘tasks to do’, expenses etc,.text files for technical stuff, sharing/repeating it with friends)
Coool.. Keep it going…
Cheers,
Raghavan alias Saravanan M.
Raghavan alias Saravanan M´s last blog ..3000 Posts in JavaRanch
I would like to share with you (all the fellow readers of this post).
For sure, we come across many new words through various sources be it reading the newspaper, article, discussion, emails etc., Also there are possibilities of referring the dictionary (or similar utilities serve the purposes — to name a few, tech savvies use WordWeb).
The question is: How long do the new words stay in us?
The answer is : Depends on the context/sensitivity. If the situation on which you are referring is most important and/or the word actually is, we do NOT remember it for a longer duration and as Oscar narrated the life span of the new words is very less! – A bitter truth!
If we have a practice of referring back the words we have learnt and its usages (as a noun, verb etc.,) atleast every day for a week, we would definitely to some extent memorize those.
It might even give a different impression/opinion of mugging up!. Never mind.
In technical terms especially in Neural Networks, it is what exactly called is cognition which refers to the act of repetitive training and thats how we do indeed use the word/term called Recognition whenever you tend to recollect a person upon meeting 
Hope this helps to some extent!
Cheers,
Raghavan alias Saravanan M.
Raghavan alias Saravanan M´s last blog ..3000 Posts in JavaRanch
A typo in previous reply!
The answer is : Depends on the context/sensitivity. Unless If the situation on which you are referring is most important and/or the word actually is, we do NOT remember it for a longer duration and as Oscar narrated the life span of the new words is very less! – A bitter truth!
—-
Regret the inconveniences!
Raghavan alias Saravanan M´s last blog ..3000 Posts in JavaRanch
A typo in previous reply!
The answer is : Depends on the context/sensitivity. Unless the situation on which you are referring and/or the word actually is most important, we do NOT remember it for a longer duration and as Oscar narrated the life span of the new words is very less! – A bitter truth!
—-
Regret the inconveniences!
Raghavan alias Saravanan M´s last blog ..3000 Posts in JavaRanch
Hey Raghavan, thanks for your extensive replies. I agree with what you said. Cheers
Hey Oscar,
I’ve been using this technique since the beginning of this year. I’m filtering inputs sequentially which means I’m creating knowledge by re-filtering periodically a common knowledgebase like building a pyramid.
The tools I’m using and the process of learning follows:
1. Reading through 2-300 news headlines every day using google reader
2. Marking the most interesting 10-20 items into my lifelog: clair.ro/flow
3. Creating almost daily some short tweets to my tumble log. They are like a dictionary, like a wikipedia of my own containing definitions, cornerstones of my personal knowledge base (metaman.tumblr.com)
4. Monthly distilling a short post from the flow, by re-reading the monthly most interesting news ang grouping them in four major categories: world, business, tech and lifehacking
5. Stable pieces of knowledge acquired goes regurarly to my clair.ro/blog
if anyone interested we can create a small app wiring all above together creating everyones Personal News Agency
Cs´s last blog ..Daily Digest for November 17th
Hey CS, that sounds interesting, I sent you an email.