4 Ways to Boost Memory and Concentration.Part 1.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

“You read a book( or a blog or anything else) and after a day or two, you only remember 25%-30% of the information. And soon after a week or two you just remember the part that you ‘read something’ but you can’t effectively call out the major terms of what you read.”

Majority of the time, this does happen with us until the information is something important that we care about a lot.

Here is the reason why -

Research shows that within one hour, people will have forgotten an average of 50 percent of the information you presented. Within 24 hours, they have forgotten an average of 70 percent of new information.

Now, I am here to tell you how to effectively retain this information, so the information gets stored in your mind.

The 4-major techniques used for better memory are -

1. Understanding the Cognitive bandwidth of focus
2. The importance of Summary
3. Continuous follow up (or continuous questioning.)
4. Time to Time revision

I have divided the above four techniques in 2 diffirent blogs for your better understanding. :-)

1.Understanding the cognitive bandwidth of focus -

Let us first understand the difference between the terms ‘Focus’ and ‘Concentration’.

Focused work is when you do some activity by giving it your complete attention and commitment. It is when you indulge yourself into that activity without being distracted by anything.

Concentration is when you can focus yourself in some activity for a long period of time.

Our brains have a limited capacity of focus yet It can be improved through continuous practice. Like many muscles in our body, the brain is also a muscle. When you workout, you stretch your muscles, and after workout you rest to let your muscles heal.

This is general knowledge.

The same thing is done with the focus muscles of our brain, you do some work with absolute focus and then you rest for a little while to help your focus muscles to gain back its energy. This is known as the Pomodoro technique (usually, 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest).

The cognitive bandwidth of focus is the limited amount of the energy your focus muscle has before getting exhausted. So while reading something, like this article, do not multitask, like listening to music or playing with some nearby object, because this divides your brain’s attention from the “focused work” you want to do.

For absolute focus, sit in a quiet environment with organized surroundings so your mind is not disturbed.

(I will soon explain on how to improve your focus in my later articles.)

Summarised — Do not multitask if you want to focus on an activity.