Have you ever left a lecture having listened to the tutor tell you crucial bits of information and forgotten immediately?

With the competing distractions of life, social media and where to eat vying for space in your brain, it’s no wonder we can’t remember that morning’s land law seminar. We may have the answer for you. 
The forgetting curve shows how quickly we forget information if we don’t do anything with it. As soon as you have left your class or put down your book, you leave with the maximum amount of information that you can take in. 

As the days go on, you gradually forget the information as other distractions compete for your attention. Some studies indicate that you will have forgotten 70% of the information within 24 hours.
 
In the late 19th century, Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, pioneered this study of memory that has recently become a popular method for people to remember important information. The trick is for you to believe that the information matters to you and to give it value.

In 2015, the National Center for Biotechnology conducted a study designed to replicate Ebbinghaus’s idea.

The subject learned lists of nonsense syllables consisting of three or four letters. They then reviewed the lists at different time intervals of 20 minutes, 1 hour, 9 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 6 days and 31 days after first studying the syllables.

As with Ebbinghaus’s original experiment in the 19th century, this 21st century experiment also proved successful. Part of the reason for this is that because you learn in intervals, the brain has to reconstruct the memory and do some work in recalling the information. It is like going to the gym – you have to train the mind-muscle.

Next time you are seeking to remember crucial information, revisit your notes after 24 hours, seven days and 30 days. You will remember far more than you could have ever imagined.

If you want to improve your memory and concentration even further then also have a read six actions to focus your mind!