The 1% Rule Of Learning

Have you ever met or known someone who seems to have an obscene amount of knowledge? It can be difficult to understand how someone can have so much room for that amount of facts, stats and stories in their head. 

You might think this type of person just has a much better ability to store memory than you, but you're wrong. I’m not saying people like this do not exist. I’m saying that there’s a much more likely explanation, which is the 1% rule of learning.

What Is The 1% Rule?

Essentially, the 1% rule of learning means for anything you decide to take the time to learn, you’ll be able to recite only 1% of it in the future. I’d like to make it clear that this isn’t a factual statement of any kind, it’s a general rule that I have come up with that allows me to gain some relief over the frustration of not taking everything I learn and remembering it forever.

I’d also like to make it clear that this rule does not always apply, so yes it’s more than possible you’ll be able to remember more than 1% of something you have learned.

Essentially, the 1% rule of learning means that for any sort of subject, programme or lesson you have decided to take the time to learn, you’ll probably remember 1% of it.

In an attempt to be more clear, it means that by reading a book which has 100 useful lessons or points that you’d benefit from remembering, you’ll more than likely only remember one. 

There are many reasons this is the case, a lot of them would be perfectly explained by neuroscientists with how the human brain works in terms of memory. But I also think it comes down to things completely out of our control. You might remember something because of how relevant it currently is to your own life's circumstances, or you might remember something due to the physical arousal you're experiencing by eating an ice cream at the same time as learning it.

Whatever the case may be, it serves as a nice reminder that you won’t be able to remember everything, regardless of how much you’d like to and regardless of how frustrating this realisation might be. 

What Can You Do About It?

Now that I’ve explained what this daunting and seemingly helpless rule is, let’s move on to what can be done.

Remember the super memory individual at the beginning and how their ability to recite things is probably not due to super memory? That’s because I'm inclined to believe that this individual has simply extended their 100%.

What I’m saying is if you want to increase how much you remember, you have to increase how much you learn. If your 100% is 1 book, you might only remember 1 thing, but if your 100% is a 100 books, well then you might remember 100 things.

This might not be the answer that you hoped I'd give, but I do not have some extreme memory productivity hack, I only have my own personal experience with learning, and I have found that by simply learning more, I remember more.

But, by simply knowing this rule exists, you have gained some insight into what it takes to remember more.

For example, because I know that this rule exists, I write down everything I remember from a book upon finishing it. Sometimes, if the book is filled with knowledge I definitely want to remember, I write it down as I’m reading it.

By doing this, I can come back to my notes to re-read the things I found most important, therefore increasing the chances of me remembering them altogether. I have also seen people use small sticky notes that you can stick to pages of a book, which is also a very good option.

Whatever it may be for you, I hope this article offers some valuable insight into why you may be struggling to remember the things you’re learning. 

This rule does not really apply to any form of studying or learning for something specific, like a test or an exam. For these, you’re more than likely going to read and re-read until you do in fact remember everything needed.

However, this rule mostly applies to general learning, like reading a chapter of a book once a day or listening to an educational podcast on your daily commute to work.