The Only Skill that Matters: The Proven Methodology to Read Faster, Remember More, and Become a SuperLearner

by Jonathan A. Levi

First, picture as much detail as possible. By creating a high level of detail, you ensure that you are adequately visualizing a vivid, memorable image in your mind’s eye. Fuzzy, nonspecific images are much easier to forget. Plus, remember that the average person’s working memory can only retain three to five individual items at once. This means that breaking information down into “chunks” of three to five items makes it inherently easier to remember. That’s why phone numbers and credit card numbers are formatted the way they are. As you’ll see in the upcoming examples, every detail that we insert into our markers can represent a new piece of information. In this way, we effectively “chunk” more information in there, condensing it into one easy-to-remember visualization instead of three to five.