I learned a system for remembering everything 

Huge thanks to Ryan Holiday for taking the time to chat! I’d def recommend adding Courage Is Calling to the top of your reading list! 👍 amzn.to/3K207XF

“Imperfect Action is better than Perfect Inaction” Most important takeaway is to just get started, make it a regular habit, and you will discover what works for you well, whether it be highlighting stuff, keep a journal, or just re reading those books again 🙂✌🏼

I feel like this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson fits perfectly here: “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so they have made me.”

I learned a fast way to improve my memory of books in college. Instead of highlighting phrases, sentences or paragraphs I would highlight only one word in an important section. The key was to highlight a word that would make me question why I had underlined that word. For example, in the sentence "Studies show aspirin use to be associated with reduced risk for a number of cancers including prostate, pancreatic, and rectal" (Source: "Surviving Cancer Covid-19 & Disease, The Repurposed Drug Revolution" by Justus R. Hope, M.D.) I would highlight one word like "risk" so that when I scan through the book later my curiosity makes me ask "What's this about risk?", or I might underline "aspirin" so that when I see it later I think "What's this about aspirin?" This way I can quickly reinforce the key points by scanning the book several times until I can recall all the important points.

“You are better off starting imperfectly than being paralysed by the hope or delusion of perfection” Loved this statement and it hit deep

Memory is derivative of necessity. It's similar to learning a language (either your first or a foreign language) -- we don't learn by passively absorbing what others say, but by feeling a need to speak in a way that's understood by others. Same with retaining information in books. Memory is created not when you passively receive some idea, but when you feel a need to explain it to someone else. Read every book as though you intend to be able to teach the same ideas to others.

Great video: 1. Read a book. Analog is better than digital. 2. Don’t be scared to take notes in the book, Highlight, book mark. You’ll have to build a system. 3. When you’re done, go through all the notes that stood out to you and write them on flash cards. 4. Digest the information, think of ways to use it. 5. Enjoy the process!! Take your time. 6. ORGANIZE ALL YOUR NOTES. File them in separate boxes.

When I was a kid I was to be able to read any book and summarize almost everything in it. My teacher ask me to summarize all the points we read yesterday for a student who missed class. Almost word for word I said everything that happened and finished exactly where we left off, my teacher accidently blurted out you so smart. I laughed because I though see was over exaggerating but turns out to be very hard for most adults to do this . After a decade of tik- tok I find myself finding it hard to remember what I did this morning let alone a book I read I month ago. I'm hoping after a social media detox I get my brain back to that exact point.

When you want to retain what you learn while you're learning: 1.) Take conscious time in taking down key notes you want to remember. 2.) When done, Review your notes, revise when necessary. 3.) Apply what you have learned in the real world (In this case, its the organizing and categorizing into a box). 4.) Repeat. You get better at it and can develop a system that suits better for you.

"You better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the hope or delusion of perfection" got me!

'It's better to start off imperfectly rather than be paralysed by the hope or delusion of perfection'. Thank you Ryan.

For years, I’ve been taking notes, highlighting, and folding pages. I recall more than I give myself credit for. This system takes it a step further. I’m going to try it. ❤

"I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The guy remembers all that stuff because he is probably telling people those quotes day in and day out. That's his life. You remember stuff you talk about and think about all the time.

Thanks for sharing, Matt! And love the simple advice mentioned in the video - to just get started even with an imperfect system than to be paralyzed by trying to find a perfect one.

I’m 19 and I honestly feel like a dunbass due to the fact that I can’t simply remember anything I read

What works for me is to learn or study with the intention of teaching it later on. This gives the brain a real life application to memorize it better.

As any university student knows, using Holiday's technique is definitely the most effective route but by far the longest. I tried his technique a year ago in university, and it worked great. By the mid-semester test, I nailed it - a 50% increase in grade from all previous tests for my courses. However, come the end of semester test, not only was I unprepared but my knowledge and notes were five whole weeks behind. Obviously this is a skill worth practicing, but just be aware that it's not easy to develop straight away. I still find myself over-highlighting and taking too many notes because almost every sentence has value. A 30 page anthropology reading quickly turns into a 3 hour expedition, and there goes my day. It's far better to accept prior to reading that, when time is on your shoulder, you won't remember everything. I'd say that it's more about reading less books but with more intention. There's often more knowledge to be learnt in a single book than the knowledge gained by reading 100 books without intention.

I think the best way to recall what you learn is to use the data as soon as possible, even if its just jotting stuff down and discussing it with friends...playing around with it in as many ways you can think of, so you create "doingnesses", which solidify things in your mind.

Recently finished 'Wealth's Loyal Companion: The Uncharted Path to Prosperity,' and it's an eye-opener. It brilliantly goes beyond finances, offering insights into a well-rounded life. The book's blend of true success stories and actionable advice is fantastic. It really drives home the importance of discipline and continuous growth. Highly recommended for anyone looking to enhance their life in a meaningful way!

9:58 - 10:04 BEST QUOTE🌟 “You’re better off starting imperfectly, than being paralyzed by the hope or the delusion of perfection” --Ryan Holiday

I used to also think I have forgotten everything I have read from the self-improvement books, but then I realized that my brain have kept them and is using the informations that I need according to the situations I go through in life, so yes if someone asks me what did you learn from a specific book I cannot tell them, but I know that my brain retains and uses the information from the books in my life🥰

A wise saying once said, “Repetition is the mother of learning” The way our brains & neurons work are very similar. By learning new things, we establish new neural links in our brain, & with repetition we consolidate these neural links to become stronger & and easier to remember when we want to retrieve what we learned. This doesn’t apply just to things we read, but to almost every activity we have ever done or learned since birth. By repetition over and over again, we consolidated it to become a part of us.

This has been a subject that really interests me and in general could be considered a part of metacognition as a whole. There are several different types of strategies that work really well for reading and remembering information from books. My personal favorite is the combination of: a specific type of note taking(basically something like "chunking"), then mind mapping(Tony Buzan style), memory palace for storage of the mind map, and then spaced repetition to drill it into long term regular memory from the memory palace. I see the memory palace technique as being like a notebook for notes but it is stored in my head instead of written on paper somewhere. This process of compression, transformation from one medium to another and then recall makes what I call "sticky memories" which are memories that are unlikely to ever be lost.

Until I was twenty, I hated reading, and I thought I was stupid. I started reading at the age of 21, when I started studying psychology at University. In the past 4 years, I have read about 200 books. My recall of the books I read is very good; I can usually remember not just the main points, but also the arguments, stories, case studies and jokes. When someone talks about a psychological theory, I can usually remember the name of the theory, the name of the author and the name of the books or articles. I think the most important things that work for me are (1) I only read something when im really interested in it. If I'm not interested in it, I try to get back my curiosity by reminding myself why I wanted to read the book in the first place. If the emotion is not there, there's no point in reading, so I do something else until the desire is back. (2) I highlight everything I find interesting. Not just the interesting facts or theories, but also interesting stories or funny jokes. (3) I make sure that there is some kind of output; I write papers (for myself), I talk about it with others, or I teach workshops about it. Recall is like a muscle, you can train it, and get better at it. Now, I can read for hours without pause and remember everything that I read. But interest and curiosity are always driving the learning process. (Also, I have a book instagram called mind.readr, where I review and summarize books on psychology, philosophy and psychotherapy)

My favourite is the Feynman technique, named after the physicist Richard Feynman. To summarise, when you come across a quote you like, close your eyes for 30 seconds and try to recall what you've just read as many times you can. You'll find that you may not be able to recall every single word accurately but you'll get the gist of what the author was saying.

I read a lot of contentes, but forget many important informations. This video gave me an important key to improve my studies. Thanks for this!!

Omgosh! I highlight the books I read. A temporary experience in college, I would use index cards as well to recall info. Thank you. I'm happy to see this reminder in this channel.

This is the Zettelkasten Method from the book How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens. The purpose is not necessarily to recall but to categorize the individual notes so that they will resurface when you need them. There are several good ways to do this digitally by using Notion or Obsidian.

“You’re better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the hope or delusion of perfection” well said and great advice for just about anything goal in life

Thank you for putting this video together. What a life-changing concept. Thank you 🙏

Glad to find this video before I become sophomore. I was thinking how could I improve my memory while studying many subjects. This could be a great way to improve my daily studying. Thank you so much! Salute from Japan!

1- Take conscious time in taking down notes you want to remember. 2- When done, Review your notes. 3- Apply what you have learned in your life i.e. real world 4- Repeat. You get better at it and can develop a system that suits better for you. EDIT:Thanks for the likes

Hey I remember the same thing, my father told me once about his friend who was a professor at a university and has an enormous library of cards he has more than 10k or so categorised under different topics, and whenever he has to prepare for a lecture or any public event he just takes the cards he needs with him it has all kind of stuff written in like quotes short stories diagrams of ideas with the name of books to which that idea originally belongs to and he told my father that he never had to refer to thick books again in his life as all the knowledge he gathered throughout his life is in those cards, which are his most prized possession. he did not categories them by books but by general topics.

I HAVE this system for my students and yes it works because we remember the act of writing it...but yes who has all the time to re write... it really helps to "study" ...it is a habit!! ...i have 3 boxes of my students cards! Thank you!

I think this is the best way taking note I gonna do this to myself because I have also this problem whatever I read from the book can’t remember when I need so thank you so much to making this video for us ❤

Honestly, the information being provided by the fellow viewers in the comments section is no less than a book in itself. Thanks for sharing such good quotes and ideas. I appreciate it. We all appreciate it.

your videos not only provide such influential and insightful information but are cinematic masterpieces! I am so inspired to create like you!

Thanks for this Matt. Rang so true with me. I also find reading books out loud helps me too.

Matt, thanks for this video. The timing couldnt be more impeccable.

Matt D’Avella out here doing all the work and putting in the hours so we can watch a 10 minute video and improve our lives. You’re a gem, Matt!

As someone who can Memorize alot and quickly this is helpful😊

Appreciate your humility and sense of humor.

"You're better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the hope or the delusion of perfection" That line struck me for good, every time I write essays or produce music, I get stuck in the feeling that it sucks and therefore I shouldn't finish the job, when it's better to just continue, finish whatever idea you got and then focus on doing it better next time instead of mourning how amateur your final product is. This is the first time I hear about Ryan Holiday, but I can tell he carries a lot of wisdom from ancient authors but there's a good chance that his first essays probably weren't really good compared to what he does now, we're only human after all.

Loved this. I am a physician who also has several business ventures, and I work with mental health. That being said I have a huge library at home, and I tell people I have read half of all those books, “Half of each one!!” This summary of summarizing is perfect, I have tried it to some degree and you have pushed me to really get to it. Thanks!

I find it easy to remember unless information, an annoying song, or the words and catchy songs from a tv advert more than information that will benefit my life. I'm going to try this method. Thank you so much for this video.

I'll try this method. My biggest challenges will be highlighting and taking notes in the margins of books and being patient enough to organize my notes.

As a writer, I was attracted to the idea of “a book a day,” 5 books a week. But I never did this. Instead I read challenging books, taking notes and underline but most importantly not rushing a book for the sake of pride but engaging with it critically. Inputs to outputs of unconscious is an AMAZING thing. When I’m like “ok recall” it’s “crickets” but when my pen hits the page the recall from the unconscious has been life changing and motivating. VERY rewarding. As I mature I have been much more focused on the substance rather than mere appearances that because you read a ton of books quickly I will somehow be a stronger intellect. “Atta boy” on behalf of pride and ego, no thanks! The notecard filing system is a brilliant nugget to aid this process of recall and critical thinking.

I love the idea of writing notes on flashcards and sorting them!! I usually journal things that stood out to me after reading but it would be nice to see all of the related ideas together

I found that creating a presentation on google slides of the books I read, helps me retain so much. I still remember most of the books I did projects for in high school and college.

“Enjoying the process.” Love that . . . !

Another tip that works for me is reading out loud. Slowly, calmly, clearly. It improves memory and recall, while also improving speaking.

I also forget alot about the non-fiction books I read. The content of fiction-/fantasy Books, however, stays with me far longer. I feel like a lot of lessons could be more memorable if they are embedded within a captivating fictional story.

Wonderful advice!!! THANK YOU! I'm applying this model to my PhD studies and teaching it to my undergrad students. Keep up the great work!

Ryan’s system is the way my high school English teacher taught me to do research for a report (early 2000’s, pre-Google). It really works!

Forgetting things might be bad but it's kinda like necessary. Remembering everything is a nightmare. The ability to leave the past behind and not having to worry about it is a gift you've gotta embrace.

I tried it. I went at it with a few books - using a pen and a highlighter, and made notes in the margin. The library fined me the replacement cost of the books.

Thank you for putting this together❤😊

Matt, this video is an interesting take on helping us all to be more effective at remembering things we don't want to forget. Thanks much for the great quality.

Matt I love your videos, two year ago during the pandemic I surpassed a hard process and begin a better live style and with your videos I always find things that help me or give me another point of view.

This video helped me a lot developing my own study system for my upcoming course. Thank you so much! Subbed ❤

Just started reading 3 months ago. After every chapter I read, I like to write 3-5 bullet points on my takeaways from the chapter. I also write in the margins on pages with great info/research. And lastly, I use a sticky note for something really key, and I try to limit it to 5 per book. Maybe I can minimize my process, but it works for me!

When I was younger, I devoured pretty much every work of fiction I could get my hands on. Fantasy, sci-fi, action adventure, westerns, whodunnit, romance, it was all good. As I got older, the idea of escapism held less and less appeal, and I got more into non-fiction. Hard core stuff like computer programming textbooks and history, but also self-help. Reading non-fiction is a VERY different experience, and to really _benefit_ from it, I found I had to approach it with a different _attitude._ As in, _expect_ to learn something. But more than that. Whether for real or just in my head, what really helped was diving into the book with the expectation that I'm going to be _teaching_ this stuff. Whether it's a class, a book of my own, or even just a RU-vid video about the book doing a review or a synopsis, bottom line is, I'm not just reading it for _me._ Two tools/techniques that have proved to be an _incredible_ resource in that regard... (1) Mind Mapping, and (2) Photoreading. Plenty of content about Mindmapping already so I won't dive into it here, but basically it's doing an outline, but with pictures and doddles as much as words, and connected not in a structured way we're taught in school, but more like a neural network. You know, how your brain _actually_ works. This really gets the mental juices flowing. Photoreading, when you just look into it lightly, almost seems like an esoteric occult-like how is this even possible technique, and that's part of why it's probably not gotten as much attention as mindmapping. But regardless of that, the useful technique that can be learned here is the _preparation._ Unlike fiction where you _want_ to be surprised and entertained, with non-fiction it's a good idea to do a thorough _preview_ of what you're about to read. Thoroughly examine and meditate on the table of contents, scan the index and glossary if there is one, do a quick page flip and get an overview of the contents of each chapter _before_ you dive in and read the thing word-for-word. Train your brain on _what to expect_ before you take the deep plunge and bury your nose in the pages.

Amazing. Loved the part where Ryan shares that his system has been changing in the last three years and is continuing to change - might even become digital, he adds. It is so nice to see the quality of allowing the process and imperfection of things, rather than trying to find an absolute answer or method right now.

This system of sorting gave me idea, how to finally finish writing my book easily. Thank you

Hey Matt! I've been marking highlighting and page-folding my books since I was a kid (to the chagrin of my teachers) so this is wonderful knowing I wasn't the only one who does this to their books. But, most of us haven't yet come to the realization that we are physical creatures and we learn best when we're engaged in something physical; turning pages and focusing on what's on your hands will make the brain participate and remember the activity more than passively looking at kindle. Plus, there's just something satisfying and comforting knowing that if I forget what's in that book I can just take it out of the shelf and refer to it again. No shame in doing that. I also recommend reading "Remember: the Science of Memory" by Lisa Genova. Great book explaining the functions of the brain and why we forget and how we can remember what needs to be memorized.

Well this system is what I've used from university and it all came to me all of a sudden, I took notes and then found our my visual memory can always remember my notes, whether I go back to those notes or not I would remember them for a long time but having this system taken to a next level would even help more I guess. There are also ways to take digital notes as well like keep notes from Google :) . Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge with us Matt :) .

Bro, it was your first video i just saw. I could not close and skip any second of it. It was full with information. amazing

This is the exact system I created for myself in order to complete my Master's thesis. It's time consuming, but it works. My entire thesis started out as notecards I would carry around with me in a box.

"You're better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the hope or the delusion of perfection". This quote sums up what this video is really about.

what a wonderful episode having a lot of information and tips and tricks really thank you matt💛💛💛💛💛💛

this is incredibly practical and helpful on my daily readings !!! love this !!!

“You’re better off starting imperfectly than to be paralyzed by the delusion of perfection.” “Imperfect Action is better than Perfect Inaction”

The most important thing is everyone is different. For me writing something down that I just read would bore me to death and my mind would wander off of topic. I take notes when being spoken to and just visualize what I read and when recollection is needed I go back to the visualizations and remember what I read or wrote.

Wow thank YOU for this Video! It feels like such a interesting method to try out for upgrading the remembering!

I figured this method out on my own 2 years ago, been using perfectly. This video is an eye opener that I've been doing great. Cool, love it

Wow, this is very motivating. Thank you so much for sharing and doing it by yourself first Matt. I'll try again to read, enjoy, and finish book that I read since this early year.

There is a simple way to take highliting with rulers to the next level, and its extremely simple. Add more of them in diffrent colors! Assighn meaning or feeling to each color. This way you have a way easier time sorting the notes afterward. Ive been doing this 20 years already. It works really well.

"You are better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the hope or the delusion of perfection", that's my takeaway of this video. What a phrase!!!

Thank you for the time you invested in this video and presenting it to us! Cheers

Such a nice methodology! Good things takes time, and patience nowadays is more than a good skill to have 🤟

Way back in the 80's when learning computer languages, I would type my notes into a plain text file. Copying, writing down or in some other way, storing what you feel is important really does help you. Well, at least it helped me. Plus, I got better at typing 🙂 I once worked with a fellow programmer who had not only a photographic memory, but he also tested very high IQ-wise. God, it was so hard working with the guy. New computer language just released? He'd read a couple of books and in just a few hours, was able to do whatever he needed in the new language... much to the dismay of all the rest of us!

I literally just started my masters program and I’ve been looking for ways to retain the extensive info. Thank you for this video and thank you to Ryan.

Great video!! And great quote “You’re better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the hope or the delusion of perfection”

Brilliant. I thought about doing this system earlier today while reading and he confirmed it😂 I’ve already done it before with another book in the past that I wanted to research and write a commentary on

now this was something i was struggling alot and got a solution.......thank you so much mate

One of the most wonderful aspects of getting old (I'm 74) is that you can read a book and 2 years later read it again without thinking you've read it. I have so many "new" books.

Thank you, Matt. This video was extremely beneficial, as I realized I have the same problem regarding not being able to recall what I've read, even though I never realized I had that problem. But I just did, once I clicked this video. I'm excited to try these techniques you shared in the video. Thank you for being so professional and to the point with the information you provide to us. Your effort is highly appreciated.👏🏼

I really appreciate what you've done here. It's a mystery that we can read a book and not even realize it's completely vanished from our head until we look at the book sitting on a shelf or in a box a day, week, month later and . . . nothing. Zero recall. I love Ryan's system but can't even imagine how massive Ryan H's file box system must be! And yes, I agree. Just get started. It will be messy but so be it.

Time is the most valuable thing in one's life. Things that we spend our time on become valuable thus become important and eventually for brain, they evolve to things to remember. The essence is to spend proper time on those we want to remember. Nice video!

For those who like digital, there's a whole world of what's called Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). With apps like Obsidian, you can keep a "second brain" with things you've learned and notes from books you've read. This is even easier if you read digital because there's a plugin to import all your kindle notes. However, like this video mentioned, there's a different between note taking and note making. Note taking consists of things like highlighting and writing in the margins. Note making is putting what you're learning about in your own words and relating it to other knowledge you have. Note making is far more effective for retention. The Linking Your Thinking (LYT) channel has lots of content on both Obsidian and "note making."

thanks man really apreciate the work you put it

I thought this was going to be something more unique! This is what all good students did/do in college.

Something which has always been effective for me is teaching someone the material afterward. The hard part is finding someone able to have a long-form conversation.

I started doing this a while ago for exactly this reason. I was reading so much and getting so much inspiration I didn’t know where to put it all. For me, I use a Miro Board. It not only helps me keep my minimalism 😅… but helps me to make cross references as well. Totally transforming for knowledge. 🙏

I like how honest you are

Amazing. Thank you.

After failing so much in my first semester of high school, I decided to start changing my studying and recap by making flash cards. It has enhanced me to take notes in my textbooks and notebooks so I can make easy flashcards, and it ultimately reminded me to take notes I'll actually understand and remember!

This notecard method is exactly how I was taught to write research papers in high school, but for some reason I never thought to apply it to my personal reading.

thank u so much for the information. I'm so exited to reads all my book.