Spaced repetition: How To change your mind for good.
Intro
Spaced repetition (also called spaced learning) is one of the oldest yet, underused learning techniques to retain information and even change your habits in the long run. Without a spaced repetition system, you may cram all your reading into a couple of days, and once you're done, you assume that you have nothing else to learn. But little that you know, you'll have forgotten close to 50% of all the material within a couple of weeks. Get ideas for lead generation services.
This is true for students as much as for entrepreneurs and lifelong learners. So, if you have been reading business or personal development books and still haven't been able to experience lasting change from them, it's time to set up a spaced repetition schedule to make the best out of your daily reading time.
My Background
Changing your habits requires spaced learning.
But before I tell you more about it, let me introduce myself (if you already know me, you can skip this paragraph!) My name is Deniero Bartolini, and I am a digital marketing agency owner, an e-commerce entrepreneur, a podcast host, an author, and a coach. Over the past ten years, I went from DJing three times a week in the Toronto nightlife scene to reading two books a week and building multiple successful businesses. And while hard work was a big factor, I attribute my 180° change to spaced repetition during the first couple of years of my entrepreneurial journey.
What is spaced repetition?
Spaced repetition is nothing more than getting exposed to the same learning material on a schedule. The concept seems pretty simple; this is how most (good) students study for their exams, but it seems that once we're done with school, we lose this vital habit, and only read new material once.
Think about Rich Dad, Poor Dad or The 4-Hour Workweek. These are classic books for new entrepreneurs, but if you ask the average business person if they have read them, they will tell you that they did... once... years ago.
That wouldn't be a problem if most of those entrepreneurs were running successful businesses and had already achieved financial freedom, but most times, they haven't.
See, if reading a book once was enough to spark lasting change, then everyone that read Rich Dad Poor Dad once would be wealthy. But that's not the case.
The reason why you don't retain much information.
When you read, you input a constant data stream into your mind. Some concepts are easy to grasp on the spot and remember, others not so much. So when you get exposed to more complex data, your conscious mind takes a few seconds to process it while you keep reading. On the surface, you read the whole paragraph, but in reality, you only focused on a couple of sentences, and you glossed over the rest.
Let me give you a visual example to see it more clearly.
Let's pretend that you and I went to an art gallery and we're both looking at a very detailed work like Vuk Vuckovic's Chicago painting.
You can only retain a limited amount of data when you study something once.
And let's say that we spend a few minutes looking at it, which is long enough to appreciate the amount of work that went into making it. We may even like it so much that we tell our friends about it, and we'd recognize it in a heartbeat if we saw it again.
But if I asked you how many American Flags there are at the end of the Navy Pier, you'd probably have no clue. Your eyes saw the whole painting! But your mind could only process a select few parts of it.
There are five flags on the Navy Pier, but you probably didn’t know….
You must read or listen to your books and programs more than once.
The first time around, you'll get enough information to understand the content. You may even get a couple of "aha" moments, but the knowledge won't stick with you for long.
The second time you put those thoughts together, you start seeing how they apply to your life or business. But you most likely won't be able to recall the information when you really need it.
From the third time onward, you'll start imprinting that knowledge in your subconscious mind, and that's when the magic happens. After that, you'll be going about your day, and when it's time to make a decision, you'll find yourself using bits of your findings to make better choices.
Priming your subconscious for change
For example, let's pretend that you've been meaning to lose weight and bought "Slim for Life" by Jillian Michaels to learn how to count calories and manage cravings.
After your first time reading it, you finally understand why you hadn't been able to lose weight up to that point. You have a clear image in mind of what it will take to achieve your goals. But three weeks after reading it, your friends invite you to a pub, and you still make the same food and drink choices as before.
You will always default to your baseline behavior unless you change your conditioning through repetition
After all, your conscious mind is not in control of your everyday behavior, and the knowledge you got from the book was not enough to spark change.
So this time, you decide to read it and study it every couple of days. By the end of the second week, you realize that you must put together your own meal plan, buy a food scale, and create a contingency plan for when you are not eating at home.
By the third week, you're still exposed to the material in the book and feel the need to share your mindset transformation with others following the same path.
By the end of the month, you realize that your lifestyle has changed and that your new view on the topic is influencing your everyday choices.
No matter where you go, what you do, or how tired you are, your subconscious mind is now primed with these new powerful ideas. They have taken over your old conditioning.
Spaced repetition is the only way to rewire your mind and create lasting change in how you see yourself (self-image), ultimately affecting your baseline behavior for good.
Hurrah! Now you're leading a healthy lifestyle and don't need to try to overcome your cravings consciously!
This is how you incorporate any skill or lifestyle change into your life.
So next time you need to learn a new language, get better at sales, or become a better manager, get your reps in and trust the process. It's only going to be a matter of time until you see the change you want.
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