A Simple System to Remember Everything You Read

Here’s my system to retain more of what I read. I use Notion as a second brain to store important notes & key takeaways.

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📚 Book recommendation (best books I've read in 2024):

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Chapters:
0:00 Can't remember anything I read
0:28 How to fix it
1:08 Writing is important
1:42 Analog or digital
2:52 Tablets can be a problem
3:14 Notes & Highlights
3:54 Transfer to digital format
4:10 Notion as a second brain
4:17 The best way to remember everything

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[Alluneedismosh]

Now I'm curious...what are your favorite books, Robert? Amazing video as always!

[boomi]

A simple solution to that problem: Stop focusing on remembering. Start learning. If you don't know how to learn, then learn how to learn.

[kurtmichaelson]

You’ve given me some inspiration to be more diligent about taking notes from the books I’m reading and how I should transcribe those notes into my second brain (Apple Notes).

[federicocipriani]

very great video Robert :) I used to use a Kindle, read books, highlighted, Readwise synchronisation and everything dropped in Notion. Maybe lazy, maybe actually not interested, I rarely invested time to go through those highlights. I rediscovered reading actual printed books, being able to scroll back, re-read, see the whole context of my highlights. I will also manually insert them in Notion, but this additional layer of review is what it makes so valuable. Glad to see someone else doing this!

[nazarshortcuts]

I use Notion to add all my books to the database and append new notes and quotes through the Siri Shortcut to the one I’m currently reading. Every day another Siri Shortcuts Automation will read through all my book pages and get a random book quote to display in a notification. This is my workflow to remember the stuff that resonated with me throughout the reading process.

[LifeAsAThomas]

Thanks for the vid!
I’ve gotten in the habit of using Day One so I have a template that says “Book summaries” where I log pretty much the same thing you do. Another reason I really enjoy journaling it is because in a year it’ll just pop back up as a memory and it gives me a nice little refresh.
Plus you can always use the search option if you want to access it anytime.

[habit_of_studying]

I have the same routine! I can only add that I ALWAYS add a note to the things I wanna highlight (saw this advice in some video and I really like this idea), like, what I had in mind at that moment, maybe some idea how can I use that, my attitude, what I felt, etc. And I try to summarize every chapter or 5-10 pages, depending on the book difficulty, first using my own words, and then I go through my highlights=notes, and add what I've forgotten but wanted to remember, and add some quotes if I think that they are important. And if I'm not lazy that day I reread what I've written, and try to make it as concise as possible, let's be honest no one re-reads 10 pages :D I usually try to make it fit to one or two.

[catandthemoon]

I'm reading the Laws of Human Nature right now. I've got a long way to gooo but I'm really enjoying it. And this vid came at the perfect time, I needed these tips. So much in this book I want to remember but probably won't lol. I find that making these changes in the book in real time and journaling on my phone has helped :)

[Jeannemarre]

Another Banger as usual. Love to watch your videos while making the morning coffee. Thanks mate !

[curtispenner]

Writing is what I do also. Transferring doesn’t work because my reading is physics and math.

Most videos of this type work on soft subject matters. It does not work on any material that is symbolic.

All the similar YouTube videos I’ve seen repeat the same thing, and come up short on symbolic subjects, such as engineering, chemistry, physics and mathematics

[HarneetSinghKharbanda]

Nice video as usual Robert ! I had started making notes earlier this year, then left it mid way.. this video is a reminder for me that i need to get back to it .. thanks :)

[EduardoHenrique-ndro]

Another lovely video, Robert! Thanks for sharing with us!
Have an amazing weekend!
Cheers from Brazil! 🥰

[DavisNorde]

“That’s why I don’t have these apps on my iPad. I just use it to read”
Same here! I love using iPad mini for reading.

[KIKOmanasijev]

Here before you reach 500k subscribers in the next 6 months. 🚀

[ThomasPurkis]

Interesting system, and banger video as always, Robert. Will have to give it a go. And I'm all in for writing all over non-fiction books! Why do people think it's weird??

[theindianlegend]

great video it helped me a lot thank you big brother

[alexisjesusgonzalez]

This is an amazing video, very well made and very useful. Subscribed.

[shawezonline]

just write down on a notebook nd transfer that to notion the highlighted one on ce finish reading book.

[MDFire]

I do have a photographic memory, I'm just out of ;)

[Guii]

Can you start doing book reviews in the future?

I love your content, bro. Thanks for the video.