How To Use The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve To Retain The Important Stuff

well hey there hero it’s David H
Lawrence the 17th and I just looked at
the calendar and if you’re following
along with these videos and not watching
them kind of way after I’ve produced
them this is out of the year-long
challenge of one a day for 365 days this
is the three hundred and forty seventh
we only have what eighteen to go it’s
crazy this is really crazy no I’m sorry
17 to go it’s three nine three or 48 I
was looking at the 1i I had done
yesterday I’m shocked at all if this if
this is if this series has been helpful
to you would you do me a favor I haven’t
asked this all year long would you click
the like button I don’t want you to
smash the like button I don’t want you
to do what the YouTube influencers go
hey smash that like button tap the like
button would that be good would you do
that okay great so today I’ve got
something for you that I’m really
excited about I just started doing this
and I wish that I had done this way
earlier in life I am a sponge if you
can’t tell by these videos I love
learning stuff and I love putting the
stuff that I learn to use to see if it’s
effective for me to see if it’s
effective for you I just I love that
whole process and sometimes though I
feel like I’m a sponge I soak things up
and then very quickly it can drain away
and I never knew why that was until I
read about a guy by the name of Herman
Ebbinghaus he was a German psychologist
in the late 1800s Early 1900s and he
came up with something called the
Ebbinghaus forgetting curve honest to
god the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve he
wanted to know why when we learn
something we sometimes forget it and
sometimes we don’t and he studied using
College lectures as his his test bed he
would he would test students based on
what they did with the information that
they got in lectures in colleges and
what he found first was the forgetting
curve so this is how long it takes you
to forget something
if you don’t review it all right so
remember this after one day not
reviewing anything 50 to 80 percent of
what you learn gone just gone it’s gone
you don’t your mind I guess doesn’t
think that it’s important enough to
retain and it’s gone after one week 90
90% of what you learned if you don’t
review it is gone and then after one
month only two to three percent remains
so 98 97 to 98% after one month if you
don’t review is gone so okay you can’t
sit there learn something and review it
every day for the rest of your life but
you don’t have to if you spend 20
minutes just 20 minutes with the things
that are most important to you like when
you learn something you go oh I got to
remember this immediately set up these
three milestones in your calendar okay
within 24 hours spend 10 minutes
reviewing what you think is most
important so if I learn something today
sometime tonight maybe first thing in
the morning I want to review that for 10
minutes or however long it took me to
really let that sink in that one day one
day within one day so you avoid that
whole forgetting most of it in one day
then make a note for yourself that seven
days later anytime within that seven
days but toward the end of it so that
you can take advantage of this just
spend five minutes five minutes
reviewing what you learned and it will
reactivate it and you’ll go oh right
yeah yeah yeah and it’ll start to sink
in what’s happening is your mind is
getting the message this is important
because he or she keeps coming back to
it yeah and then the final one is within
30 days towards the end 30 days spend
another five minutes
and his studies showed that if you do
that you spend that five minutes after a
week five minutes after a month ten
minutes within 24 hours you do those
three things the things that you think
are most important will stick with you
forever it became almost a permanent
thing students were getting it and
keeping it and it makes so much sense
you know when I learned how to do for
example a certain thing with the
microphone I would do it again and then
I would do it again and maybe it came up
in another week and then maybe it came
up within the month those things helped
me burnish those and that’s what the
Ebbinghaus forgetting curve can do for
you so it’s really simple just set up a
tickle file right
you’ve got index cards you’ve got a
notebook or you’ve got a calendar
whatever you do if it’s something you
really want to retain set up those three
appointments the next day review it the
next week at the end of the week review
it take advantage of that time and then
review it at the end of the week and
then at the end of the month review it
again 20 minutes you’ll never forget it
let’s let’s be honest you may forget it
but it’s highly unlikely and far less
likely than if you never reviewed it
ever again
so the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve I
would love to know your comments on that
if you could tell me in the comments
below what do you think of that you’re
gonna try it I hope so
if you’d like to be on my list go ahead
and go further down the page get on the
list we’d love to have you on the list
I’m David H Lawrence 217th I thank you
so much for watching
we’re gonna go to once a week on these
videos in about two weeks and in the
meantime thank you and I will talk to
you tomorrow.