#11. How To Learn Using Active Recall? | We Don't Have Muscle Memory

Hi,

I'm happy you want to invest in your brain. That's a smart choice. As always, I've got 4 Brain Nutrients for you:

• One Short Article: Active Recall Explained

• Two Quotes.

• One Neuroscience Fact: We Don't Have Muscle Memory.

Enjoy!

One Short Article: Active Recall Explained

Your brain has the highest earning capacity. For the first time in human history, we have the privilege to earn with our minds. The world transformed from muscle power to brain power.

Learning how to learn is a skill that earns you more money and saves you time.

Learning the wrong way consumes a lot of time and leads to frustration.

Learning the right way is efficient and pleasurable. It gives you an advantage. Most people struggle with learning and often hate it.

Sadly, most of us don't know how to evaluate understanding. In the previous issue, I talked about my biggest learning mistakes and explained the difference between knowing and understanding.

Richard Feynman famously said:

"Don't fool yourself. And you are the easiest person to fool."

How to make sure you're not fooling yourself?

Use active recall - a simple learning technique that beats rereading and memorizing at comprehension. I learned about it from Limitless by Jim Kwik.

Active recall consists of three steps.

1. Review the material.

2. Close the material. Then say or write down everything you remember.

3. Go through the material again.

The second step makes all the difference. The retrieval process enhances learning. Do it immediately after the first review of the material.

Important note: Don't try to memorize word by word. Don't just repeat the new, unclear words. Use your own.

Why does it work?

We learn through creation, not consumption. Consumption is passive, creation active. For high comprehension, we must activate our brains. Jim Kwik says it best:

"Learning is not a spectator sport."

Let's differentiate between simple recognition and recollection.

• Simple Recognition - familiarity with words on a page.

• Recollection - retrieving consumed material from memory.

The former comes from passive consumption. The latter requires active creation.

The former is a proven way to fool yourself. But rereading is comfortable, so we stick to it. Sadly, familiarity with words often passes tests at school.

The latter challenges us. But it makes the material an active part of memory. To stimulate more areas in your brain, you must retrieve information.

Active recall is simple. But because it's challenging, we prefer passive learning.

Next time I'll describe the Feynman Technique, which is the active recall on steroids.

Two Quotes

• "We first make our habits, and then our habits make us." John Dryden

• "No excuse exists that can or will make you more successful." Grant Cardone, The 10X Rule.

One Neuroscience Fact: We Don't Have Muscle Memory.

Muscles are dumb. Muscles don't know anything, nor do they have memory.

So how do we improve skills requiring movement?

We have neurons that connect the brain with our muscles. The neurons store the movement "data" for the motor patterns.

Neuron memory is what we refer to as "muscle memory."

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

Keep your brain in mind.

Kris

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