SUMMARY 

• Did you know that some researchers estimate we only retain 10% of what we read? What if I could show you a way to retain 90% of whatever it is that you’re trying to learn?
• Today’s message is super simple, super quick. It’s all about how to up your retention game. 
• Teaching leads to a retention of up to 90% versus reading, where it’s only around 10%.
• So here’s a few simple ways in which you can employ this in your business or life. Number one, after you’ve read something, rather than seek to summarize it, seek to share it instead.
• The second thing that you can do is get into the habit of presenting your information. So this works super well in a work environment. Just the act of preparing for a presentation will lead to much stronger, deeper retention.
• Last but not least, an awesome way in which you can get into the habit of retaining more of what you learn through the power of teaching is by sending out a weekly email to your friends, colleagues, to your network. Just simply consolidate your learnings and share some of the things that you’re coming across, that you’re reviewing, that you’re studying, that peak your interest, with those that are important to you.
• So in summary, if you want to change your retention from as low as 10% from when you read something to as high as 90%, seek to teach.

TRANSCRIPT

Did you know that some researchers estimate we only retain 10% of what we read? What if I could show you a way to retain 90% of whatever it is that you’re trying to learn? Make sure you stick around for today’s message because I’m going to be teaching you how to retain 90% of the things that you’re trying to learn versus the 10% that we typically retain.

Hey everyone, Eric Partaker here, author and peak performance expert, and today’s message is super simple, super quick. It’s all about how to up your retention game. Many experts say that we retain sometimes only 10% of what we read, but what if I could show you a way in which you could retain 90% of what you read? And do you know what it comes through? It comes through the power of teaching. Apparently, teaching leads to a retention of up to 90% versus reading, where it’s only around 10%. And if you think about it, that kind of makes sense, right? Because if I read something, it can be quite passive. I can read through it and not really think much about it. But if I have to read something and then teach it to someone else, I am totally so much more focused in my reading, right? Because I have to be up in front of people or I have to be communicating these principles or whatever it is that I was studying or reading. So we can retain 90% of what we teach versus 10% of what we read.

So here’s a few simple ways in which you can employ this in your business or life. Number one, after you’ve read something, rather than seek to summarize it, seek to share it instead. And when you seek to share it, you’re going to get a two for one deal, right? You’re going to get both the benefit of sharing this with another person, but you’re also going to more deeply embed the knowledge within yourself. And that applies to all of these techniques actually today, which all are all encouragements for how you can go about getting this 90% retention by just getting into the habit of teaching others, because teaching is not as hard as you may think it to be.

You don’t need to be part of a school and have a full classroom of students and have the whole lesson planned out or the curriculum for the year. None of that. Teaching is simply getting into the habit, making it a habit of sharing what you learned with others in a way that will inform them so that they can also learn whatever it may be. So the super simple way to start is just to get into the habit of sharing whatever it is that you read or learn with someone else. You read something during the day, at dinner, share it with your family, share it with your husband, your wife, one of your best friends.

The second thing that you can do is get into the habit of presenting your information. So this works super well in a work environment. Let’s say you’ve been tasked to do some research. Rather than have the goal be the research will be complete by X date, instead, have the goal be, I will present to you my findings on Y date, because now that’s putting you once again into teaching mode. If you’re going to have to present to a group, you’re going to retain the information at a much deeper level. And just the act of preparing for that presentation will lead to much stronger, deeper retention as well.

So first thing was seek to share after you’ve read something rather than summarize it. And you can do that at the dinner table, you can do that with friends, you can do that over the phone. So easy to do. Number two, if you want to take it a step further, seek to present that information. It works especially well in a work environment. Rather than just ticking the box for the work being complete, present it to someone. Present it to a group.

Last but not least, an awesome way in which you can get into the habit of retaining more of what you learn through the power of teaching is by sending out a weekly email to your friends, colleagues, to your network. I’m sure all of you are subscribed to someone’s email list, and it’s maybe never dawned on you that you could be sending out an email. You don’t need to be a person with an email list in the thousands to just simply consolidate your learnings and share some of the things that you’re coming across, that you’re reviewing, that you’re studying, that peak your interest, with those that are important to you.

And it can be so simple. You could start off by just sending out a weekly Friday roundup of the things that interest you or that you learned this week to five or even 10 friends. Start somewhere. And just the act, once again, of putting that together will lead to a significantly higher retention than having just read whatever that is.

So in summary, if you want to change your retention from as low as 10% from when you read something to as high as 90%, seek to teach. Teaching doesn’t need to be as complicated as it sounds. It doesn’t need to only relate to our memories from childhood or a university. Teaching can be simply sharing the information that you’ve come across with somebody who’s important to you, presenting it to a group, or perhaps putting together a weekly email. Three simple ways where you can increase your retention up to 90% by developing the habit of teaching others.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed that. And if you head over to my website at ericpartaker.com, you can also subscribe to my weekly Peak Performance Insights newsletter.