Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China. In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 136th day.

Today's topic is: How to remember twice as much with half the effort

Scientific "repetition" can yield twice the result with half the effort! In the last lecture, we talked about how to retain the information you learn by using active learning techniques, like discussing, practicing and teaching others, instead of more passive techniques like listening, reading and watching.

We discussed two reasons that active learning works so well.  First, it engages both the left and right side of your brain which improves retention.  The second reason is that active learning requires action which requires repetition. Repetition is critical to retaining information.

What is the right way to repeat information?  This is a very important thing to understand.

First, let me tell you a story......Before my son was two years old, he could recognize 2,000 Chinese characters. He is not a genius and this is not a joke.  He really could recognize 2,000 Chinese characters before his second birthday. For this discussion, let's not discuss the very popular discussion topic about "Whether or not it is better to send children to pre-school vs. letting children grow naturally..."

Knowing 2,000 characters at such a young age was very beneficial to my son.  His ability to read grew earlier in his life and he learned several other languages as he grew older. My son's ability to learn so many characters at such a young age was so impressive that the Beijing News also specifically interviewed him when he was 3 years old. In fact, because my child quickly learned Chinese characters, he began to grow interested in cars at a very young age.

You see, when he was just two years old, my son could stand at the side of the road and try to name the make and model of all the vehicles he saw. One day I counted how many vehicles he named correctly and how many logos he could recognize.  It was more than 200.

My son's ability to recognize vehicle logos and car types gradually improved to recognize the flags of different countries, and then study different countries and geographies on the globe , which grew into a dream that both of us share as father and son --- traveling around the world! Therefore, the skill of retaining information allowed my son to gradually accumulate more and more interests.  

You may be wondering: "How was my son able to learn 2,000 Chinese characters before the age of two?"

Well, first I should thank my wife who is a tremendous mother and educator. She taught me a method called "word cards", and the concept of the "Ebbinghaus memory curve" to play cards with children.

Fascinated, I decided to further study the "Ebbinghaus memory curve" which is also called the Forgetting Curve. When my child was studying Chinese characters, I made a lot of word cards for him. While playing cards with him, he recognized some words but not others. Whenever he recognized a word, I drew a smiling face on the card, and then marked the date. Over the next few days, I focused on showing him words he did not recognize.  This repetition of the cards he had difficulty remembering increased his retention and as a result his literacy greatly improved. Then I used the eight cycles shown in the Ebbinghaus memory curve, so his literacy increased significantly.

Let me tell you exactly what the Ebbinghaus memory curve is or what is known as the Forgetting Curve. 

Our brains process millions of pieces of information every day from the things we see, hear, smell, think about, feelings, etc.  If we remembered every single one of these things, we would be overloaded with unneeded information, so the brain is selective about what we remember.  Thus it will forget things unless it deems it important enough to remember.  Repeatedly learning the same concept tells your brain that this piece of information is worth saving and thus it becomes retained in our memories.

If we learn a concept only once in class but do not review it after class, then we will retain 5% of the information.  This is how much we retain if we do not study. Of course, if we repeat the learning which we call studying, we will certainly remember more. However, how you study the material will determine how long you will remember it.  Random repetition or studying will extend how long we remember it but we will eventually forget it.  

However, If we use a learning technique that emphasizes the eight cycles of the Ebbinghaus memory curve, we can easily remember the material. What, on earth then, are the 8 cycles of the Ebbinghaus memory curve?  I'll tell you. The eight cycles tell us how long after we initially learn a concept that we must study it again before we forget it.  

The first cycle is 5 minutes later; this means we should study the material 5 minutes after first learning it.

The second cycle is 30 minutes; that is 30 minutes after the last time we reviewed it, we should review it again.

The third cycle is 12 hours;

The fourth cycle is 1 day;

The fifth cycle is 2 days;

The sixth cycle is 4 days;

The seventh cycle is 7 days;

The eighth cycle is 15 days later;

If you strictly follow this schedule of learning you will retain most of what you study.

Since you know that repetition is so critical, let's repeat the last lesson again: We learned that it is no use to study knowledge only once and only repeated, and active learning will help us retain information. And today we've learned that studying using the Ebbinghaus learning cycles is a form of active learning that will help you retain information most of all.

Let me ask you, how many times have you listened to each of these recordings on time management? Have you listened to them 8 times? If not, then I recommend that listen to them repeatedly, and I suggest that you sort out the content you have learned, discuss them with others, and share them with people around you, so that friends and relatives around you can also learn these good methods for time management, improve their efficiency in completing tasks, and enhance their happiness in life. 

What I'm about to say is very important and I urge you to remember it.  Are you ready? The best way to learn is to teach others to learn. And the more people you serve, the greater your own performance will be. As long as we understand and practice this sentence, whether it is to learn time management, or to learn the professional knowledge of your industry, or to teach your children to read... we will all benefit.

Now you know how to remember twice as much with half the effort.  So go out there and share the knowledge you've learned.

That's all sharing today. Thank you being with me together today. Have a wonderful day!