How to Memorize Anything - Aditi Singhal and Sudhir Singhal

memory. Our faculty of attention affects us in countless ways. Our very perception of
reality is tied closely to where we focus our attention. Only what we pay attention to
seems real to us, whereas whatever we ignore—no matter how important it may be—
seems to fade into insignificance.
So we must always pay attention to relevant things so that these stay in our memory
for a long time.
INTEREST
When you want to learn and remember something for a longer time, your interest in
that particular information plays an equally important role in shaping what you pay
attention to.
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Rahul is all set to go out to play with his friends when his mom tells him that
some friends of his father are coming for dinner. She then tells him a list of
things she wants from the market. Rahul listens to it half-heartedly and just as he
reaches the shop, he is not able to recall even half of the things he was told to
get.
Well, the reason for this is that Rahul was not interested in the list of things his
mother was telling him. That is why it did not register strongly in his memory.
This is what happens with most of us in our day-to-day life.
Students don’t remember everything they were taught in the lectures they attended
in a day. Husbands don’t remember what their wives said and kids don’t remember
even half of the instruction their parents and teachers give them. This is all because
of a lack of interest.
On the other hand, you can easily hold on your attention to things you are
interested in. For example: when was the last time you were distracted by thoughts
of your homework or forthcoming exams while watching your favourite
movie/game/TV serial? Most of you will say never. The reason why you were able
to concentrate and pay full attention to 3 hours of your favourite movie is because you
were interested in watching the movie; hence your attention was uncompromised.
Similarly, when you pick a book or attend a class or a lecture, check yourself
whether you are interested in it or not. If you think it is boring, you won’t be able to
focus or pay attention to it. Even while you are being introduced to someone and if
you don’t pay attention to his name, you won’t be able to recall it 5 minutes later,
even if it is a simple name. So attention is very important—whether information to be