Whether information technology'southward Facebook content, Bill Gates' favorite book, or the latest critical concern report, about of us enjoy reading or have to do quite a bit of information technology through the solar day. Merely in the blitz to practise everything in less time, you might exist missing a crazily uncomplicated manner to commit more content to memory:

Just get back and give yourself a little time to reflect on what yous just read.

Now, when I say "reflect," I don't mean sit down there pondering for an 60 minutes. I hateful sitting merely long plenty to

  • Mentally identify the main points or concepts
  • Jot down some notes (you can't write everything, so this forces your brain to choose what's most of import)
  • Consider the ramifications or implications of the content
  • Retrieve about how the content connects to your personal preferences, personality, and experiences

Why it works.


As Allison Preston, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Texas at Austin, explains in this 2014 research study release,

Nosotros think replaying memories during residual makes those earlier memories stronger, not just impacting the original content, but impacting the memories to come. [...] Goose egg happens in isolation. When yous are learning something new, you bring to mind all of the things yous know that are related to that information. In doing and then, you embed the new information into your existing knowledge.

With this in mind, when you give yourself a few minutes to rest and recall almost what you simply ingested from the page, you're allowing your brain to better connect the new information to what you've already done or empathise. And because the encephalon is wired to reply to emotions quickly and efficiently, connecting them to memory formation and the estimation of facts and rational idea, if you can allow yourself to actually acknowledge and respond to what you lot experience during your reading reflections, you stand a meliorate chance of the new memories being more powerful and easier to remember.

The myth of lost time.


I tin hear you protesting from here.

"I barely have fourth dimension to utilise the restroom! How am I supposed to take time to reflect on what I read?"

I become it. But when you tin can remember information from your content meliorate, you actually tin end up saving time. Yous don't have to go back and await upwardly as many facts or ideas, and whether it's rubbing elbows with some big shots at a conference or explaining your rationale for a new process to your team, you can apply the data on the wing better. From this standpoint, reading reflection is an efficiency booster and worth the few brief minutes information technology takes.

More ways to level up.


To actually go the most out of your reading and reading reflection, there are a few other improver tricks you tin can try. You might want to

  • Read some of the content aloud or draw images for the main ideas. The brain doesn't process the different types of sensory information in isolation from each other, so honing in on auditory or visual data might assistance you procedure the content.
  • Read when you are more than rested. Fatigue tin negatively influence your ability to focus, and then selection a reading time where you lot feel energized.
  • Eliminate distractions. While turning off phone alerts or shutting your door are obvious distraction points, don't forget well-nigh other factors, such as room temperature, hunger, and your position in your chair.
  • Exist clear near your goal. Knowing the purpose backside what you're reading can go far easier to feel motivated and engaged with the content.
  • Get for a hard copy. Researchers from the University of Oregon establish that online content is harder to recall. Ane theory is that the disappear-reappear nature of online content is distracting, but the loss of tactile data, such as the feeling of the page, might contribute, too.

No matter how long your reflection time might happen to last, but read. Read anything. Information technology's by far one of the easiest things you can do to boost your intelligence and stay on top of your game.