how to remember everything you read

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Have you ever experienced this before? You like to read books here and there. It doesn't have to be books, to be honest; it can be podcasts, audiobooks, articles, or anything you consume. After a bit of time, even though there were so many things you learned and maybe even highlighted in the book, took some notes somewhere else, after a bit of time when you try to explain it to someone else, you just cannot remember.

The question is: why is it so hard for us to retain information? We are in an information era; you can access whatever information you need so easily with just a couple of clicks. However, we are bombarded every day with unnecessary information that we would not like to retain, and that we forget what actually matters to us. After clicking this video, maybe you thought, is it even possible to retain every piece of information you read? Maybe not 100 percent, like everything word by word, but I'm gonna introduce you guys a framework or a method that will allow you to retain information as much as possible. This video is highly inspired by one of my favorite books, "Altoputa Daisen: The Power of Output" by Dr. Kabu Sawashiya.

Let me ask you a question before we dig into today's topic. Which person's reading style is most likely to result in self-development, self-improvement? A) Someone who reads three books and does an effective output each time after he or she reads a book. B) Someone who reads ten books a month but doesn't do any effective output after they read. Who do you think will grow as a person more and more likely to retain the information they have read?

So the answer is obviously A. I'm sorry if you got it wrong, but it's okay; I'm gonna explain why and how to become person A and not become person B.

In order to retain information, in order to remember the things we read, output is the crucial part of memorization and remembering things. So you may have realized that I used the term output multiple times till right now, but what is output? Or what is an input? Input is basically consuming; it can be reading books, listening to podcasts, watching TV, scrolling on your Instagram feed. It is basically an input; you're introducing either new information or maybe already known information to your brain. You are highly passive in this situation, so this is an input.

Output is basically creating, sharing. For example, when you tell someone else the things that you have read, or when you post a blog post or maybe film YouTube videos like this, you're actively creating and sharing something. If you would write a summary of the book that you have read, this is also an output. So output is active. Dr. Kabu Sawashiya says that the only way to change your life is doing output. You could have just read the most important books of your life—like hundreds, thousands of them—but if you don't take any action from that book, then it doesn't mean anything; nothing changed in your life. And it is impossible to change your life if you don't take any action, and outputting is taking action.

There should be a golden ratio of how much percent you're gonna read and how much percent you're gonna do an effective output. So Dr. Kabu Sawashiya says that the majority of the people get the ratio wrong. Most of the people do 70 percent input—so let's say read books—and 30 percent output, like sharing, summarizing, telling it to someone else, or taking an action from the books. However, it should be the opposite: 30 percent reading books and 70 percent should be dedicated to output, which is pretty hard actually when you think about it, because think how many hours you consume in a day and how many hours you spend to create, to share, to take actions from the book—probably not that much.

So that means that we are actually doing the wrong amount of input and output, and we should fix that. So let me share some easy ways to do effective output so that you will be able to remember everything you read or everything you would like to remember.

Let's say one of the easiest ways to do an effective output is actually writing. Writing out takes notes from the parts that you would like to remember from the book; it's actually an amazing way to do effective output. Writing helps your memory. When you write with pen and paper, you stimulate your brain's area called RAS, which stands for Reticular Activating System. This system filters all of the information your brain needs to process and also tells your brain to pay more attention to your writing.

It also decreases the input overload because it takes more time and effort to write down things on paper; you now actively think about what you need to remember from the book. This allows us to prioritize the information that is important for us. Not only writing with pen and paper activates RAS, the Reticular Activating System, but it also helps with memorization.

The researchers suggest a few tips for better learning and remembering. First one is to write notes in books. There is absolutely no necessity for you to read the book clean and keep it clean. If you want to retain information, taking notes in the book, highlighting some of the parts that you would like to pay attention to, and sticking a lot of post-its and just like, you know, making that book dirty for the process of learning is actually something really important.

I actually have a dedicated notebook to remember the things I read. Ideally, having a notebook to write down the things you learned from the books or the information you found interesting and you would like to remember is the best way. However, for some reason, if pen and paper is not available, you can always use Notion, Obsidian, or any sort of note-taking app to store the information; it's always better than taking notes than doing nothing.

Another way to do an effective output is sharing. Sharing is caring. I'm just kidding. One thing I really recommend is to read the same book with your friends, or it can be your partner, it can be your family member, you know, whoever, read the same book at the same time, finish it, you know, together, and discuss about the book.

Talking and thinking actively is a perfect way to do output, and also different people can pay attention to different parts of the books, so it might allow you to maybe recognize some parts of the books that you haven't recognized before. So it will allow you to have a deeper understanding of the book and also it will allow you to memorize more.

If you don't have friends who would like to read the same book, you don't necessarily have to read the same book. Just like sharing what you learned from the book to people will allow you to understand more and memorize more. So let's say you're really lonely and you have absolutely no one who would like to listen to your thoughts about the book. Then no worries, no worries for the people who have no friends, no one else around them—it's totally fine.

You can share it on social media. You can share it on Instagram, Twitter; you can open a news blog or maybe create a newsletter—all of them are free. So there are no excuses. You can just like, you know, take a picture of the book and write some of your thoughts or maybe some of the things you would like to remember on an Instagram post and just post it. You don't necessarily have to do it on your main account; you can just like create, I don't know, a book notes account or whatever your name is, a book account and share your thoughts and notes from that book.

You can even, like, you know, take pictures of the parts that you liked so that you can create kind of like, what is that, a carousel on Instagram so you can check out later on, or you can just simply tweet the parts that you like from the book. The great thing about sharing on social media, you know, is you can like make videos about this, like I do right now, and you can monetize that content.

Therefore, if you would do enough effective output like I do right now, like filming a video about it, you can actually make money out of just reading. So I think it is such a loss to not share information because we're in an information era. You know, if you would like to make money, then you gotta share information; you gotta give value. The easiest way to give value to people is sharing what you read.

So if you would like to do an effective output without spending any money, you can either use Instagram, Twitter, blog posts, emails, newsletters, or if you have a bit more time and money, you can start a YouTube channel and film videos about books.

Another way to do an output, and I think this one is the most important way to do an output, is taking an action. Yes, outputting! So basically, doing an output is taking an action. However, a more precise way, a more direct way of taking action, what Dr. Kabu Sawashiya recommends is that after reading a book, whether it be finishing a chapter or finishing the whole book, write three things, three to-do lists from the book.

I'm sure that there are some things that you realize that you would like to change in your life from the book you read. So create three to-do lists and do them for two weeks, and then give yourself feedback: what went wrong, what went good, and just give yourself feedback and continue doing this.

When we talk about outputs and inputs, if you want to maximize your output, it is crucial to create an environment that has no to limited distractions. In order to do great output, you actually need quality input. Not every information you see, not every content you see on social media is a quality input. There are so many things you do not need on social media, like, you know, about celebrities, what they're doing, you know, who dated who.

But also, when you open YouTube, if you want to consume a relatively high-quality input source, maybe this video—I hope there are some YouTube videos, if you don't have YouTube Premium, that you see during the video which can really distract you. If you want to watch my YouTube videos for free while supporting me, you can watch ad-free versions of my videos on Nebula. Nebula is a streaming platform built by and for independent creators. Nebula is Streamy Award nominated and features over 14,000 titles, so there's so much high-quality content there, and they're all ad-free.

I'm planning to create exclusive videos on Nebula so that you can watch more videos from me if you can't get enough from me on YouTube. Also, I'm planning to release my videos earlier on Nebula, without any ads and without any sponsored segments. So if you're a big fan of my channel, you know, sign up for Nebula so that you can watch them before I publish them on YouTube.

Curiosity Stream has also fantastic stuff too. For example, yesterday I was watching a documentary which explores the potential to augment our human lifespan, and it explains how the human body ages. In Curiosity Stream, there are so many interesting and high-quality input documentaries that you cannot find in other places. So if you care about your input source, if you care about your input quality and output quality, I would highly recommend Curiosity Stream.

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So now I think we should talk about how often we should do an output. You know, now we understand after we read we need to do quality output, blah blah blah, but how often should we do this? And the answer is before the forgetting curve. Even though our memory fades quickly, a review session soon after the original learning can improve it. This session should happen when we recall has slipped significantly but hasn't fallen so low that you're essentially starting over.

Reviewing and refreshing information regularly holds the forgetting curve, although forgetting starts again and after each session it's slower than before. Therefore, it means the more you try to retain the information, the more you review, the more you do output—it becomes easier for you to retain the information, makes the memorization last longer. The gaps between your review sessions can be longer as time goes on.

If you would like to learn more about outputting and inputting, I can actually make another video because this book has so many things I could share on this channel. So if you're interested in this topic, just let me know in the comments down below so that I can create more videos about remembering things and outputting and inputting.

Thank you, Curiosity Stream, for sponsoring this video, and see you guys in my next video.