How to Remember What you Read

Most people would agree with me if I say that “I really don’t remember some of the sentences and notes from the articles and books I read“. “Why does this happen”, it happened to me a few months ago when I needed to do some research and I realized that I need to do something about it. So, I started finding tactics and watched some YouTube videos. I have been doing some tactics, some of them work but some not.

Let’s see what tactics work with me:

(1) Take Notes 

You would say that everybody takes notes when they read. Yeah, I agree but there’s a difference. A lot of people take notes and leave them in the book. What I’m saying here is that you should take notes, not in the book, use some apps like Microsoft One Note, Notion, or even Note pad on your laptop. You can also use Paper Note Book. It depends on what you like. Choose! Take notes of each chapter or maybe two or three (here, I’m saying on self-improvement books). It’s like a small win. You don’t need to take notes of all chapters all at once, you know. 

(2) Make Lists or Sections of Notes

Make each chapter or title into sections and put your notes into it. You can use bullets or tables to make it. It’s an easy step but organizing your notes would make you a little bit like adding extra work for you. But the thing is that it helps you find your notes easily and clear. I’ve struggled a lot finding the relevant notes for my contents, “Should I find this in it? Where am I suppose to find it? Did I write this here or in the book?“, it is just making me stressed and become a barrier of my productivity throughout the day. So, as soon as I realized this tactic, I started doing it and it worked. Hopefully, it also works for you.

(3) Revise Your Notes

You just need to do it once a week, only a chapter or a section in the list. If you don’t want to read, make it as audio. You can do it in the OneNote app. There’s a feature called immersive reader in the view tab in OneNote. It’s very easy to use and comfortable. It really helps. 

It’s a pretty stupid thing to revise what you read, right? “Why am I supposed to do this? It’s not even for academic purposes”, you would say. It is an important tactic. I also thought that this can’t be done. But when I try that, I could simply feel what I actually got from it. 

Hope these tactics help you to remember what you read. If you want to say something, leave it in the comment section below.