I speak with many engineers (both senior and junior) daily and one question I get asked a lot is “How do I retain the things I am learning”. My answer to that is simple … I do not.
I have seen people while reading a book, complete a few pages and then try to recollect what they read. If you are one of them then by doing this, you are testing your recall and not understanding. To me, this is not the right metric to chase.
Whenever you are reading a new concept, focus on understanding the underlying pattern and the core concept instead of remembering the bullet points. But what if someone asked you something, shouldn’t you thoroughly answer it?
Yes, you should. but thorough answers need not be bookish. If you have built an understanding, then there are three possible cases
- best case: you would answer because you understood it well
- avg case: with hints and nudges you will be able to answer
- worst case: you would recall some keywords which will help you do the quick lookup in the right direction
Thus, even in the worst case, you are looking in the right direction and not being a headless chicken. Also, with the availability of note-taking apps, search engines, and even LLMs, we can offload the task of remembering to our devices; and we then are free to focus on understanding concepts, connecting the dots, and solving problems creatively.
In my experience, prioritizing understanding over memorization has the following benefits.
- it improves your learnability and grasp
- it helps you come up with creative solutions
- most importantly, it keeps you curious instead of a rote learner
By the way, this doesn’t mean that memory isn’t important at all. There is a massive value in having a sharp memory but the point is to shift your focus from rote memorization to deep understanding. So, the next time you’re learning ask yourself the following questions
- what problem does this solve?
- what are the underlying principles at work here?
- how does this connect to concepts I already understand?
Remember, It’s not about what you know, but about how you think.