Ekaterina Dodonova

Business coach, blogger, memory and speed reading instructor. Founder of the educational project iq230

1. Understand

Very often people try to memorize unfamiliar words and phrases without even understanding their meaning. Perhaps this is enough for a few days, say, to pass an exam. Unless, of course, the lecturer asks to explain what you mean by ablation and what are the signs of those same chromosomal aberrations from the first ticket.

The brain perfectly remembers words connected associatively. He discards incomprehensible letter combinations like garbage, not wanting to waste time on them.

For this reason, most people have difficulty learning. A strange-sounding word does not evoke native and understandable pictures to the heart.

Therefore, for better memorization, you must first parse and understand all new terms. Try to feel the word and associate it in your imagination with familiar concepts.

2. Come up with an association

The presence of fantasy is one of the most powerful tools for remembering information. Mnemonics greatly facilitate the process of memorizing important reports, presentations, texts, including those in foreign languages, due to artificial associations.

Take the word "Monday". What frames are running on your internal screen? It could be the morning, terrible traffic jams, a thought pulsing in my head, a day on the calendar, a page in my childhood diary, or a buzzing office anthill. What do you see?

To make associative connections strong and durable, you can use the five-finger rule. Each finger has its own association, filled with one or another content.

Thus, the necessary information will be imprinted in your memory at once at all levels of feelings, which will allow you to use it for a long time.

3. Fool the magic number 7 ± 2

The famous American psychologist George Miller found that short-term human memory cannot remember and repeat more than 7 ± 2 elements. The mode of constant information overload reduces this number to 5 ± 2.

However, there is an easy way to cheat the laws short term memory: the use of the method of stories, which involves the logical linking of disparate objects of memorization into one chain. You can get a funny, incredible and completely impossible in real life story. The main thing is that with it you can remember more than 15 elements at a time.

As conceived by the director in the next scene, you should swim in a pool filled to the brim with semolina. Yes, just imagine this madness in bright colors. Feel with your skin how semolina sticks to your skin. How hard it is to swim in this warm liquid, although the porridge is not too thick. Like the smell of milk in the air butter and childhood.

4. Repeat correctly

Our brain can be programmed - it's a scientific fact. It requires awareness and daily work in the chosen direction. Therefore, if you have firmly decided that it is extremely important for you to learn English in six months, then the brain has already tuned in to intensive memorization. But in addition to regular training, regular repetition of the material covered is also important.

Use certain time intervals for the best memorization: repeat the material immediately after learning, then after 15-20 minutes, after 6-8 hours (preferably before bedtime) and last time- a week later.

5. Tune in

Perhaps there is nothing worse when a person thinks about himself in negative terms: “I will never cope with this”, “It is impossible for me to remember this”, “I will not be able to learn such a difficult report”. Use only positive affirmations when programming your brain for work and results.

Tune in correctly, tell yourself: “I remember!”, “I have a good memory. I will remember”, “I will remember and easily retell in my own words in two hours”. Customize yourself. The resource state of the brain is your area of ​​responsibility.

Knowing the five secrets of memory, you can easily learn to memorize really complex and versatile materials. In addition, there are many interesting and natural ways for a person to train memory and consolidate the necessary memory objects, which Ekaterina Dodonova also talks about in detail in her book.

Happy reading and have a great memory!

My clients often complain about the deterioration of thinking, attention and memory, noticing that they have problems with reading: “I can’t concentrate at all. I read and understand that my head is empty - there are no traces of what I read.

People who are prone to anxiety suffer the most from this. They again and again catch themselves thinking: “I read something, but I didn’t understand anything”, “I seem to understand everything, but I didn’t remember anything”, “I found that I couldn’t finish reading an article or book, despite all my efforts.” Secretly, they fear that these are manifestations of some terrible mental illness.

Standard pathopsychological tests, as a rule, do not confirm these fears. Everything is in order with thinking, memory and attention, but for some reason the texts are not digested. Then what's the matter?

The trap of "clip thinking"

The American sociologist Alvin Toffler, in his book The Third Wave, suggested the emergence of "clip thinking". Modern man receives much more information than his ancestors. In order to somehow cope with this avalanche, he tries to snatch the essence of information. Such an essence is difficult to analyze - it flickers like frames in a music video, and therefore is absorbed in the form of small fragments.

As a result, a person perceives the world as a kaleidoscope of disparate facts and ideas. This increases the amount of information consumed, but worsens the quality of its processing. The ability to analyze and synthesize gradually decreases.

Clip thinking is associated with a person's need for novelty. Readers want to quickly get to the point and move on in search of interesting information. Search turns from a means into a goal: we scroll and leaf through - sites, social media feeds, instant messengers - somewhere there is “more interesting”. We get distracted by exciting headlines, navigate through links and forget why we opened the laptop.

Clip thinking and meaningless search new information almost all modern people are subject to

Reading long texts and books is difficult - it requires effort and focus. So it's not surprising that we prefer exciting quests to quests that give us new pieces of the puzzle that we're unable to put together. The result is wasted time, a feeling of an "empty" head, and the ability to read long texts, like any unused skill, deteriorates.

One way or another, almost all modern people who have access to telecommunications are subject to clip thinking and a senseless search for new information. But there is another point that affects the understanding of the text - its quality.

What are we reading?

Let's remember what people read some thirty years ago. Textbooks, newspapers, books, some translated literature. Publishing houses and newspapers were state-owned, so professional editors and proofreaders worked on each text.

Now we mostly read books from private publishers, articles and blogs on online portals, posts on social networks. Major websites and publishers are making efforts to make the text easy to read, but in social networks, each person received his "five minutes of fame." A heartbreaking Facebook post can be replicated thousands of times along with all the errors.

We do the work of editing: discarding "verbal garbage", reading into questionable conclusions

Of course not! We are trying to break through to the meaning through the difficulties that arise when reading texts written by non-professionals. We get stuck in mistakes, we fall into the gaps of logic. In fact, we begin to do the editing work for the author: we “exfoliate” the unnecessary, discard the “verbal garbage”, and read the dubious conclusions. No wonder we get so tired. Instead of getting the right information, we re-read the text for a long time, trying to catch its essence. This is very labor intensive.

We make a series of attempts to understand low-grade text and give up, wasting time and effort. We are disappointed and worried about our health.

What to do

1. Do not rush to blame yourself if you did not understand the text. Remember that your difficulties with the assimilation of the text may arise not only due to "clip thinking" and the availability of searching for new information inherent in modern man. This is largely due to the low quality of the texts.
2. Don't read anything. Filter the feed. Choose resources carefully - try to read articles in major online and print publications that pay editors and proofreaders.
3. When reading translated literature, remember that there is a translator between you and the author, who can also make mistakes and work poorly with the text.
4. Read fiction, especially Russian classics. Take from the shelf, for example, the novel "Dubrovsky" by Pushkin to test your reading ability. Good literature is still read easily and with pleasure.

People joke: "The only thing we really 'teach' in school is how to memorize information." If you ask ordinary passers-by on the street how to quickly memorize things, most of them will probably tell you: "Repetition is the mother of learning!" As it turned out, they are very far from the truth.

Below are 9 universal steps to mastering the art of memorization.

Before we begin, you need to figure out what type of learner you are: an auditory, visual, or experiential learner? If you perceive information best by ear, then the most effective method for you to understand and remember is to hear. As you might guess, visual learners are better at remembering what they see, while experiential types learn from events and experiences. Most of us are a combination of at least two of these categories. And we will designate which method of memorization is the most beneficial for your learning style.

Step 1: Preparation

To optimize the memorization process, pay close attention to what environment you are in. For most people, this means choosing a location with few distractions. Although some people can easily speed up the process of absorbing information in public places. Once you figure out what is the ideal environment for your learning, you can get started.

Next, have a cup of tea. Scientific studies confirm that green tea is a natural catalyst for improving memory.
Mechanically speaking, our ability to reproduce information comes down to the strength between the neurons in our minds that are connected by synapses. The more you train the synapses (by repeating), the stronger the resulting memory capacity will be.

As we get older, toxic chemicals damage our neurons and synapses, leading to memory loss and even Alzheimer's disease. Green tea contains substances that block toxins and keep your brain working properly for much longer.

Step 2: Make an audio recording of what you want to remember

This is especially useful if you are trying to memorize information from a lecture. Use a voice recorder to keep track of all acquired facts and listen to the audio recording at home. If you're trying to memorize the words, write them down while you read aloud and replay them several times in a row. Obviously, this is the most useful way for auditory learners. The audio recording ensures that you get more context from the lecture, which in turn helps you learn the material much faster.

Step 3: Write down the information on paper

Before you begin, try to remember the information yourself, and then write it down in your notebook and rewrite it again. This will help you become more familiar with the material you are trying to remember. While recording, listen to your tape recorder at the same time - this way you can save more data and small facts.

This method of memorization will be most effective for experiential learners.

Throughout life, a person has to learn something. And the learning process, as you know, often associated with the need to remember a large amount of information for a short time . For some people, this is not a problem at all, while others experience some difficulties, especially if there are unfamiliar words, terms, and difficult-to-understand phrases in the text.

Of course, today there are many recording devices, but we can not always use them. And the information in modern world such a quantity that it is best to keep it in the safest place, namely, in your head.

It is enough to learn once how to remember a large amount of information in a short time, and this skill will help you out in any situation. For example, at school or at the institute, during advanced training at work, before the exam in the traffic police. The main thing here is to tune in to the result, read a few useful advice and immediately put them into practice. We invite you to learn right now how to quickly remember a large amount of information.

Do you know the situation when you need to quickly memorize a large amount of information, and there is very little time? What do you experience? Are you starting to panic? You feel like a loser who at one time skipped classes, and now suddenly took up his mind and decided to learn all the material covered.

You shouldn't be upset. Even if you don't have a perfect memory, there are special techniques that allow you to learn a large amount of information in a short time, be it a voluminous textbook paragraph, the text of your public speech or presentation, or a whole hundred exam tickets.

Memorization can be mechanical, requiring memorization, or logical, that is, meaningful.

Consider the main ways of perception and reproduction of information.

• cramming method. It is not suitable for everyone, although it helps to quickly memorize information. However, she also quickly disappears from our heads, leaving only pleasant reminders in the form of a good grade or praise.
• Retelling method. Everything is very simple: you read the text and prepare a detailed retelling. Wherein best to sit in front of a grateful listener. Thus, you will not allow yourself to relax and will subconsciously select the necessary words and clear formulations.
• Recording method. good students write summaries. Do you know why? This is very good way organize and organize information. Even if you missed the lecture, do not be too lazy to rewrite or compose brief summary. Firstly, all the necessary information will be at your fingertips, and secondly, you will lead the story according to a clearly drawn up plan that is visualized in your head. Plus, writing helps you remember better.
• repetition method. Mentally repeat the material covered, the poem or the learned exam tickets.
• Reading aloud. Some people find this method helpful. Important read the text several times, comprehend it. You can break what you read into paragraphs and apply the retelling method.
• The method of "remembering the place". Try remember the situation when you received information, you may need to focus on smells, surrounding objects, landscapes.

How to quickly memorize information using visual images?

The technique of meaningful memorization of information is called mnemonics. Exists some secrets of mnemonics, which help to remember information better:

1. Try to convert information into images. Moreover, living pictures can evoke not only poems - with the help of images, you can remember dates, tables, graphs and even formulas. To do this, of course, you need to choose a high-quality and most suitable image. Here you can use the method of associations based on the correspondence of color, shape, select abbreviations, create small stories.
2. Paint bright pictures in your head. Do not be afraid to use fantasy - let your images move, interact, line up in chains. So one information will gradually come from another, creating a complete picture.
3. Stop at the details. Try to describe in detail the subject you are talking about. Remember its features and characteristics. For example, you need to talk about mobile phone. List its component parts: display, keys, charging port, speaker, microphone.

Video lessons: how to quickly memorize a large amount of information?

Despite the fact that the number of people reading fiction in the world has decreased, reading is still popular, and often necessary. This is especially true for students and schoolchildren, who, in addition to reading, also need to be able to remember what they have read. How to make what you read easy and quick to remember? Is it possible to facilitate the memorization process? Let's figure it out.

In order to make what you read easy to remember, create certain external conditions - this is calm environment and silence. When reading takes place in a noisy environment, attention is scattered and, as a result, what is read in the head is not postponed. Agree that when reading, for example, in the subway, it is difficult to remember something. Sometimes you don't even realize what you're reading.

So, close yourself in a separate room, create silence, and start reading. If possible, find a secluded corner in nature, it helps to relax and focus. You need to learn to fully immerse yourself in the book. Nothing should be distracting!

Reading in the morning is optimal. After sleep, the head is clean and free, it easily perceives information that is quickly absorbed. Therefore, read in the morning, preferably even before breakfast. If reading in the morning is not available to you, read in the afternoon.

Most bad time to remember information - evening. At this time, the body is already tired, and the information is not absorbed. It is not advisable to read information that requires memorization after lunch or dinner, because at this time the body is busy digesting food and, as they say, it is not up to memorization.

Improve your reading speed

To understand how to better remember what you read, you need to understand that visual memory plays a huge role in this process.

When reading, try to cover the entire page with your eyes, as if reading from top to bottom. This helps to train visual memory, thanks to which the read is easier to remember. Visual memory is very important. In a situation where you can’t remember something in any way, it’s often enough just to imagine a page in a book where this information was, as visual memory immediately tells you what was written there.

Reading speed is also important. The faster a person reads, the better the information is absorbed. The ability to read well from top to bottom significantly speeds up the reading process.

To develop this skill, you can be like speed reading courses. These courses teach you to read diagonally. With this method of reading, a person covers the entire page with his eyes. As a result, he can learn and remember information quickly and clearly.

In the process of reading a chapter, do not go back to what you read, either visually or in order to reread it. This interferes with the holistic perception of information. It is better to read the chapter to the end to re-read it in its entirety again.

It is not necessary to say what you have read to yourself while reading. It is also not advisable to read the text by pronouncing it with your lips. All this interferes with the perception and assimilation of information.

Outline, fantasize, tell

Try to visualize the situation you are reading. This will help you remember the text. Compare this situation with something already familiar to you, create associations. Then, by association, it will be easy to remember what you have read.

If you read textbooks, take notes. Write out the main points, make diagrams, lists. All this makes it easier to remember.

Discuss what you read with friends and parents. Try to make your own personal opinion. You need to learn to reason, to consider the situation from different angles. If you have no one to discuss what you read with, just write a summary, but just write it, because writing leads to additional memorization, including visual one.

If you forgot something, do not try to immediately open the book and look for it. Try to quickly remember on your own, without peeping. If you can, you will never forget this moment. Strain and train your memory!

Train your memory

If you have a serious memory problem, develop your memory. by the most the best remedy for the development of memory is the study of foreign languages. Choose a language that interests you and learn it. You can do it yourself or enroll in courses. In any case, knowledge of a foreign language is not superfluous, but it will help develop memory.

For the development of memory, memorize verses, and for development visual memory practice with image memorization. For example, look at a picture of animals or objects for 30 seconds, close it and quickly list the animals or objects that you remember.

A great way to train your memory is to memorize a sequence of words. Ask a family member to write you a list of 10 words. Read it 2 times and try to reproduce without changing the sequence of words. Practice until you remember all the words. Make new lists, gradually increasing the number of words in them. Such training will help you remember everything the first time.

Remembering the information you read is important. According to scientists, when reading a book, a person remembers only 20% of the information read in a day. The worse the environment in which reading takes place, the worse the information received is assimilated.

The older we get, the worse our memory works. Therefore, you can not let her rest. Memory needs to be constantly trained. Then at any age you can remember what you read easily and quickly.

And one more important factor. If you read with pleasure, then the percentage of memorization is higher!