SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES BECOME A SUPERLEARNER SECTION REVIEW SECTION 5 LECTURES ● Using Spaced Repetition to Help Us Maintain Memories ● Note taking and highlighting ● Mind Mapping ● Memory Palaces ● Number memorization systems ● The PAO System SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 2 KEY DEFINITIONS FROM SECTION 5 Mind Mapping → a note taking method that involves drawing out a neural network of new ideas, concepts, and details in a visual and logical fashion. Memory Palaces → buildings or structures that you create in your mind, either imagined or remembered, to fill and populate with detailed memories Loci → The areas where memories can be stored The Major Method → A number memorization system that involves converting every digit into a consonant or sound. The PAO (Person-Action-Object) System → a system that was developed to memorize long strings of numbers or the exact order of a deck of cards SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 3 USING SPACED REPETITION TO HELP US MAINTAIN MEMORIES ● A big part of being a SuperLearner storing information in intelligent ways that we can later review ● No matter how good of a job you did encoding your memories, eventually, you will probably have to refresh the knowledge and keep it relevant for your brain. ● If we do not use information that we’ve learned, our brains do the most efficient thing possible, and they start to push it out of our memory. ● Using dual coding and logical markers, as well as learning connected information and linking our knowledge, we can reduce the forgetting curve and in some cases almost eliminate it. ● Use applications like Anki that can actually learn how quickly you forget information, and based on your rating of how difficult or easy something is, will remind you of the information at scheduled intervals that you're likely to forget it. NOTE TAKING AND HIGHLIGHTING ● Five reasons why you might take notes: ● 1. Note taking for reviewing the content ○ To add a SuperLearner “spin”, draw a rough diagram of your complex marker in the margins of the text, and review the marker instead of just the words on the page. ● 2. Note taking as a means of focusing attention ○ Taking notes improves attention and knowing that you need to use the information will maintain your attention and add a sense of urgency. SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 4 NOTE TAKING AND HIGHLIGHTING (CONTINUED) ● 3 . Computerized note taking ○ Evernote, Anki, OneNote, or any other program can be used to quickly type the main ideas in our own words ● 4. Note taking as action items ○ Make a list of “action items” like exercises you want to try, topics you want to research, or websites you want to sign up for. ● 5. Note taking as a strategy ○ Jonathan creates Evernote documents with goals and long term visions to define life strategy including what to learn next, what to write about, how to balance life and work. ● How Jonathan personally uses notes: ○ Meetings or lectures → takes stream-of-consciousness notes to remember the items and to document thoughts and reactions. May also use Evernote or jot down reminders of markers on paper, and then snap a photo using Evernote’s automatic scanning and text recognition feature. ● Jonathan’s highlighting color system for long texts: ○ Yellow = quotes or solutions/closing points to reverse engineer details ○ Green = action items ○ Blue = highly technical information not worth memorizing, but worth referencing in the future. ○ Pink = information other people in his life might find interesting ● After reading a book, Jonathan reviews all highlights and thinks about the markers he set when highlighting. ● At least once a year, Jonathan does a review all the books he would like to “refresh” himself on, spending no more than 5 or 10 minutes per book SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 5 MIND MAPPING ● Mind mapping is a note taking method that involves drawing out a neural network of new ideas, concepts, and details in a visual and logical fashion. ● They allow us to draw out and visualize neural connections in the physical realm, and show the logical interrelation between different thoughts and ideas. ● The Anchor ○ The root node or anchor is the place from where you access your whole mind map. Make sure it's unforgettable. ○ The anchor should summarize the essence of what you need to remember, like the trunk of a tree. ● Retrieval markers ○ Retrieval markers are like landing pages for various lines of thought and are created AFTER reading. ○ Used as triggers to remember the root node from as many perspectives as the article supports. ○ Invest a TON of time into these retrieval markers, or you may forget the whole mind map ● Main branches ○ Main branches are the core ideas springing from the trunk. ○ You have 3-6 main branches per mind map, which correspond to the sections ● Smaller Branches ○ Smaller branches are allocated to supporting ideas, controversies, and facts ○ These are the bulk of your markers, and you should have approximately two per paragraph, subject to the density of the text ○ Each branch should have a visual representation either an icon SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 6 MIND MAPPING (CONTINUED) ● Leaves ○ Leaves are the details, facts, numbers, and specific information ○ Typically encoded back as details of the branch that supports them, for example the color of the marker, its texture, its shape, or it's design. ● Strings ○ Strings connect the small branches and the leaves of various trees with a translucent web of strings, or hyperlinks. ○ You cannot operate mind maps effectively without connecting different aspects of the tree. ● Dr. Anna Goldentouch’s system for mind mapping: ○ Imagine the face of an analog clock with numbers 1 to 12. ■ Now the trunk or the bigger branch always connects where the clock strikes 12 ■ You still have 11 hours to position additional markers or branches. ■ Since each marker is a visual entity, you visualize the clock with the marker near the relevant number, like an icon. ■ It is recommended to put markers on the odd hours ■ Then use the even hours as a reserve for the markers we need to add later on, like the results of your analysis, the details you missed during the first read, and so forth. ■ The clock face allows you to remember the exact order of markers, which are drawn clockwise, as well as the relationship between those markers and other details. SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 7 MEMORY PALACES ● Memory palaces are buildings or structures that you create in your mind, either imagined or remembered, to fill and populate with detailed memories. ● Each story or piece of information is represented by a marker, which is then placed in a specific area, whether it be on the ground, on a bookshelf, on the counter, on the cupboard, or dangling from the chandelier. ● These areas where memories can be stored are called “loci,” and they become anchor points. ● Use your imagination to walk through this familiar area in a linear fashion, making sure not to cross your own path. As you go through the memory journey, place objects in memorable areas. ● Every memory athlete uses them because our brains are excellent with remembering locations, and they help to index events in chronological order How to create a memory palace: ● Create at least one, but probably a few more, empty palaces like your childhood home, a building once seen, or any building you make up. ● Then, it’s time to start practicing placing your markers in strategic areas. ● Most people who use this technique have many different memory palaces for different types of memories, ● Memory palaces are great tough for memorizing stories, order of events, lists of items, and things like that, but only when we have the time to carefully populate a memorize the palace. SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 8 NUMBER MEMORIZATION SYSTEMS ● In order to memorize large sequences of numbers, we need to create detailed visual markers for each number ● By creating visual markers for numbers, you can transform long strings of numbers into stories, and memorize longer strings of information much more permanently than you could otherwise. ● Two systems: ○ System one involves building a permanent marker for each number. ○ Feel free to use Jonathan’s, but consider making your own. The more ridiculous the better 0 = Bagel 1 = Pen 2 = Broken Heart 3 = Butt 4 = Chair 5 = Unicycle 6 = Broken pair of glasses 7 = Cliff 8 = Racetrack 9 = Tadpole ● From there, you can remember a string of numbers like this by creating a sequential story of the numbers. You can then translate the story back to the numbers. ○ Ex. a racetrack had a broken pair of glasses on it, then the driver swerved to avoid them, and he ran off a cliff. The man on the unicycle, in the crowd, was shocked, and he fell on his butt, swallowing the tadpole he was balancing on his tongue. SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 9 NUMBER MEMORIZATION SYSTEMS (THE MAJOR METHOD) ● Every digit is converted into a consonant or sound. ● It’s more about the sound than it is about the spelling ● When you add those sounds up, they actually become a series of words, and those words become pictures. 0 = S or Z or soft C 1 = T or D 2 = N 3 = M 4 = R 5 = L 6 = J, G, Sh or Ch 7 = K or hard C 8 = V or F 9 = B or P ● All vowel sounds, including W and H are unassigned, so we can add them in and they don’t signify anything. ● Spelling doesn’t matter, and repeat letters don’t count either, so a double L, double R, or double s, counts as just one repetition of that number, unless there’s a vowel in between. SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 10 THE PAO SYSTEM (CONTINUED) ● The PAO (Person-Action-Object) system is meant for learning strings of numbers, or memorizing the order of a deck of cards ○ Requires significant up-front work in order to make long-term memorization easier and faster. ● For every card in the deck, or every 2 digit number, you assign a visual marker which includes a person, an action, and an object. So for memorizing decks of cards, you have 52 symbols, or for memorizing numbers, you have 100 of them, if you include double-zeros. ○ Ex: Michael Jackson Moonwalking on his front lawn at Neverland ● The actions and objects matches to the person, and is distinct to them. ● Then, when you are presented with a string of 6 numbers or 3 cards, you can simply convert it into a compound symbol of the person from the first card or set of 2 numbers, the action from the second, and the object from the third. ● Ex: ○ 66 could be Sylvester Stallone leaping off a cliff to escape a helicopter ○ 09 could be Olivia Newton Jon dancing in 80s fashion wearing bright pink spandex ○ 34 could be Charles Darwin using his beard to lasso a tortoise ● Then, 660,934 = Sylvester Stallone dancing like an 80’s pop star on top of a tortoise ● System can also be used to memorize a deck of cards quickly and easily, into groups of 3’s ● Up to you to determine if you want to take the time to generate 100 of your own PAO symbols for use in your daily life. SECTION 5 SUMMARY SECTION 5: SYSTEMS FOR CREATING & MAINTAINING LONG TERM MEMORIES 11 KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM SECTION 5 ● No matter how good of a job you did encoding your memories, eventually, you will have to refresh the knowledge. Use applications like Anki to reduce your forgetting curve. ● You might use note taking to review content, focus your attention, digitize and add details to your review, to create action items, or to develop a strategy ● Mind maps allow us to draw out and visualize neural connections in the physical realm, and show the logical interrelation between different thoughts and ideas. ● Memory Palaces are buildings or structures that you create in your mind, either imagined or remembered, to fill and populate with detailed memories. Each story or piece of information is represented by a marker, which is then placed in a specific area. ● You can use two main systems to memorize numbers. The first strategy is to develop a permanent marker for each number. The second strategy is to master the major method. ● The PAO (Person-Action-Object) System is used to memorize long strings of numbers or the exact order of a deck of cards ● ●