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This Amazingly Simple Technique Lets You Learn Anything in 5
Minutes and Remember It Forever
Inc:
2.13.2018 by Minda Zetlin
If
you're struggling to master a complex topic, a new language, or anything
else that seems to strain your brain, Michael Nielsen has a suggestion for you: Try flashcards.
Nielsen is a scientist and a research fellow at Y Combinator, and he's
written books on such brain-straining topics as quantum computing and neural
networks.
In
a recent series of tweets, he explains his process and why he
finds flashcards so useful. Silicon Valley insiders have been passing his
advice along and asking for details about how he does it.
Nielsen
says he first started memorizing flash cards (using
an app called Anki, although there are
lots of options) two years ago. Since then, he's memorized more than 9,000
flashcards, reviewing them while doing things like standing in line for
coffee or riding in transit. He says he spends a total of about 20 minutes a
day reviewing flashcards.
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Nielsen
has a simple rule: If learning something could save him five minutes in the
future, then he'll put whatever it is onto flashcards because it takes
less than five minutes total to learn things this way.
1.
Spaced repetition
This
is what Nielsen sees as the reason for his success. Research has long shown
that we absorb information better when it's repeated, but also when we have
time to rest and reflect between study or practice times. READ
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