How to Remember High Volumes of Information Quickly - 12 Principles

Proper encoding stands out as one of the most critical abilities for learners and professionals alike. An individual possessing strong encoding skills can absorb knowledge at a deeper level, significantly increasing retention. Conversely, deficiencies in encoding can lead to the waste of hundreds of hours annually. Coaching over thirty thousand learners revealed that robust encoding skills are rare and often characterize exceptional intellectual performance.

Encoding describes the process by which the brain forms memories from new information. The brain excels at this when interference is minimized. To commit data to long-term memory, the brain attempts to locate where the new input fits within its existing organizational structure, much like shelving a book in a library based on logic and category. When this fit is clear, understanding and retention follow naturally.

This process is extremely inefficient. One is having a shouting match with your brain.

When information lacks an apparent connection or relevance, the brain deems it unworthy of energy expenditure and discards it. Attempting to force retention of this discarded data through sheer repetition, known as rote memorization, is counterproductive. Effective encoding focuses instead on making the information relevant in the initial stages.

The fundamental principle of effective learning involves cooperating with the brain’s natural tendency to organize incoming data. Encoding begins immediately when new information enters awareness. The brain searches for existing frameworks to connect this data, establishing relevance and structure. This organizational effort is what creates the feeling of understanding; without it, the data feels disconnected and is immediately marked for potential forgetting.

On one end of the encoding spectrum are methods that actively help the brain connect information and build structure. On the opposite end lie techniques where the learner fails to see the big picture, leaving no place for the data to fit. This results in repeatedly forcing data into the mind without context, a process termed rote memorization. Good encoding realizes that finding relevance supersedes mere repetition.

Learning debt accumulates when individuals continuously fight their brain’s initial rejection of irrelevant information. If a new concept, like a square, is initially perceived as irrelevant, fighting the brain means it remains irrelevant, leading to constant forgetting. This forces the future self to spend significant time later reviewing, re-learning, and repeating the same material simply because the relevance wasn't established initially.

Developing a habit of creating learning debt makes improving encoding extremely difficult. Every opportunity to practice the skill and convert the irrelevant into the relevant is postponed, relying instead on excessive repetition later on.

Learning operates best as a two-phase process: consuming information and digesting it, where digestion is synonymous with encoding and making information stick. Overeating information occurs easily, such as spending an hour in a dense lecture followed immediately by an hour reading a textbook, only then attempting to synthesize everything. This batch processing is significantly less efficient than constant, frequent digestion throughout the learning period.

The habit of constantly digesting what is being consumed creates a learning snowball effect. As more is understood, patterns emerge, making subsequent new information easier to connect due to a stronger foundation of anchor points. Conversely, digesting twenty-five concepts at once after long consumption periods becomes overwhelmingly cognitively taxing compared to synthesizing just two or three concepts frequently.

Pre-studying material before a fast-paced event, like a workshop, is highly recommended as it builds this foundational snowball beforehand. Furthermore, understanding one's current learning system can highlight areas for improvement, such as encoding. A free learning system diagnostic quiz is available to map out learning across five domains, including providing an encoding skills score.

The trick to effective encoding is shifting the primary goal away from trying to remember or understand new material directly. Instead, the focus must be on simplification. Understanding and retention are merely beneficial side effects achieved when the brain is directed toward simplifying the input first, which automatically triggers the necessary processing motions.

Even if a simplification of complex technical information is ultimately incorrect, the mental work invested in attempting that simplification significantly strengthens the memory trace. Framing complicated concepts, such as the medical definition of anaphylaxis, into simpler, more intuitive language allows for easier conceptual manipulation and understanding.

Making the irrelevant relevant—a requirement for good encoding—begins with comparison. The brain fundamentally operates using interconnected networks; information only gains meaning through its relationships with other data points. For instance, the importance of a house is derived from its implications regarding shelter, stability, and security.

Actively forcing new information to be compared against another piece of new data, or against existing knowledge, opens up the brain's networks. This process involves actively looking for similarities and differences, thereby assigning meaning to the new input by establishing where it fits relative to what is already known.

Following simplification and comparison, the next crucial step is connection. Once concepts have been processed through these initial filters, the influences, impacts, and implications between them become visible, allowing the learner to actively build the memory network. The emphasis is placed on the word 'everything' because these encoding actions must be performed consistently on every piece of incoming information, not just when it seems convenient.

When connections are unclear, strong encoders formulate highly targeted questions, probing similarities and differences, and suggesting potential links they are unsure about. Reaching a point where many overlapping connections and similarities are perceived indicates readiness for the next stage of organization.

Grouping is the process of taking an existing, potentially overwhelming network of interconnected thoughts and simplifying it further for easier retention. This is achieved by examining patterns of shared similarities among existing connections. By identifying a single, unifying similarity, a group can be formed, represented by a single name or label, drastically reducing cognitive load.

This reorganization preserves the underlying connections while creating a much more organized and memorable structure. Importantly, the deep thinking involved in looking for patterns, creating groups, realizing those groups are inadequate, and forming new ones—this entire process—is the encoding that leads to deeper understanding and saves substantial study time.

Achieving efficient learning requires a significant increase in mental effort compared to passive methods like speed reading or endless flashcard repetition. Digesting information and building complex structures requires concentration. Reaching a level of learning efficiency necessitates consistent engagement with this high level of mental work, which eventually transforms into an effortless habit.

While the hard work is unavoidable for substantial results, certain tools can make the process less detrimental to learning momentum. One such tool is Short Form, which provides summaries and analyses of popular books. This service analyzes content, comparing author statements against existing research, highlighting where concepts are validated or contradicted.

This service aids in holistic topic exploration, which supports the rigorous thinking required for encoding. The book Attention Span by Gloria Mark, which examines different types of attention, is an example of material that benefits from this kind of analytical review.

Encoding is an endless endeavor; creating a perfect mind map today does not conclude the process. As knowledge deepens, new details emerge, or gaps in previous encoding become apparent, the constructed network must be re-evaluated and restructured. Even after intensive initial thought, testing may reveal errors that necessitate immediate correction.

The micro-process of digestion involves taking in a small amount of information, simplifying, comparing, connecting, and grouping it. When the next bit of information arrives, these four steps must be reapplied, often forcing the re-evaluation of previous groups to encompass the new data. Effective learners exist in a constant cycle of these activities.

If you're an effective learner who can encode efficiently, you are constantly in a cycle of simplifying, connecting, comparing, grouping, taking new information in, and then doing it all over again.

This continuous revision is easier than it sounds once the initial habits of simplification, comparison, and grouping are established. Maintaining this cycle ensures that the resulting memory control and deep understanding remain a rare and valuable skill.

Using analogies serves as a powerful tactic because creating one inherently forces the execution of simplification, comparison, connection, and grouping. While analogies should not be the sole learning tool, they are invaluable components of a learning toolkit. Supercharging this technique requires creating analogies that are better than average.

A superior analogy must successfully balance three components: it must be comprehensive, including key details; it must remain simple; and it must be accurate. While simple analogies covering two or three concepts are easy, adding more factors causes the analogy to become overly complex, defeating its purpose. Conversely, oversimplifying sacrifices accuracy.

The mental effort required to ensure the analogy meets the conditions of being comprehensive, simple, and accurate simultaneously is itself a powerful encoding activity, strengthening memory formation.

Note-taking functions as an essential cognitive offload mechanism, analogous to giving plates to a friend when hands are full. The human brain has defined limits regarding how many pieces of information it can juggle simultaneously, especially when trying to compare and connect twelve different concepts. Note-taking allows externalizing thoughts so the brain can focus on higher-level processing.

This reflection is highly useful because weaknesses in knowledge can be identified simply by evaluating the notes. A straggly piece of information unconnected to the main structure indicates a likely point of future forgetting, allowing for targeted review without formal testing.

Every piece of knowledge constructed, every network formed, should be viewed as a hypothesis about how reality is structured. Expertise growth depends on the flexibility to challenge these structures when new information arises. After thirteen years studying learning science, the understanding held remains subject to challenge and adaptation.

When hypotheses are not challenged, knowledge becomes rigid, hiding mistakes and gaps. If initial groupings and connections are accepted as permanent fact, subsequent learning that contradicts those early structures will be ignored. The foundational errors remain cemented, becoming the basis upon which all further knowledge is built insecurely.

You will never know you are wrong until you know you are wrong.