The Power of Forgetting (30 page)

Solution: In every case, the ones digit squared (6
²
, 3
²
, 8
²
) gives you the last two digits of the answer (36, 09, and 64, respectively). This is why I told you to take away the 5, so that you might see this. Now what you do is square the number 5 (5
²
), which gives you 25. Then add the ones digit to 25. So, in 56
²
, we have 25 plus 6 to get 31; in 53
²
, we have 25 plus 3 to get 28; in 58
²
, we have 25 plus 8 to get 33. Let’s do 54
²
together:

Did you follow that? If not, go back and think through it. Get to a point where you can do this exercise in your mind quickly. Here are others to try:

Patterns don’t necessarily have to reflect a complex array of different numbers or things. They can be as “simple” as a
complex array of the same numbers or things. Binary code is a prime example of this. The word “binary” refers to something with just two parts. We often hear that binary code is a way of representing text or computer-processor instructions by using the binary number system’s two binary digits, 0 and 1. This is accomplished by assigning a so-called bit string to each symbol or instruction. For example, a binary string of 8 binary digits (bits) can represent any of 256 possible values and can therefore correspond to a variety of different symbols, letters, or instructions. Even if you don’t understand what that really means, suffice it to say we owe much of our ability to build computers and their complex programming to simple digital patterns that use 0’s and 1’s to create codes.

Another game I like to play that’s based on alphabet codes is called the Wild Word Countdown. This one is fantastic for getting better with numbers and mathematics. It’s pretty simple: Each letter in the alphabet corresponds to a number, starting with the letter
A
, which equals 1. The rest of the alphabet follows in sequence:
B
= 2,
C
= 3,
D
= 4, and so on, until you get to the last letter,
Z
, which equals 26.

To play the game, there should be one leader and any number of players or teams. Have the leader give a random number from 60 to 100, which becomes the target value. In three minutes, each player or team must think of three words that come closest to the target value. For example, let’s say the target value is 83. One word you might try is “tennis.” Let’s see what that would add up to:

Since 81 is only 2 away from 83, this word gets 2 points.

The goal is to amass the fewest points by finding words as close as possible to the target value. You can try playing the Wild Word Countdown with any target value. If you don’t have an opponent, you can even practice by yourself to get a terrific mental workout anytime, anyplace!

Games like the Wild Word Countdown may not feel like they are adding anything to your pattern-recognition ability or “forgetfulness,” but they are.

Once your mind has a grasp of the game’s rules and you’ve become familiar with the patterns that emerge between the letters and their “values,” your brain is fully tuned in to its own pattern-recognition software, if you will. It’s also in a groove whereby you force yourself to forget along the way as you continue to search for new words while forgetting the previous ones. With your mind flexing its pattern-recognition and forgetting muscles, chances are that the next time you’re faced with a hidden pattern you’ll identify it much sooner and not be distracted by competing information. So while it may seem impractical to play games that are about numbers and arbitrary words rather than real-world problems, the fact is that they can help you speed up those areas of your mind that you enlist when you’re trying to “read” your colleagues and bosses, or when you’re trying to concentrate really hard, or when you’re planning the future and hoping to make a realistic prediction of what’s to come based on patterns you’re seeing now. In other words, these kinds of exercises will help you solve real-world problems in the long run.

Here’s another game that will show you what happens when your brain is fired up by patterns and will help you sharpen the right areas of your brain to accelerate pattern recognition in general. I’m going to give you five letters, and I want you to come up with as many real words as possible using all five letters. The words I will give you will be scrambled, much as the letters
a-t-r-p-t-n-s-e
spell “patterns” when they are switched around. This is an excellent way of forcing your brain to look at things differently and seek patterns via different mental paths. Okay, here we go. Let’s try the following (remember to use all of the letters):

How long did it take you to arrive at all four words? Don’t worry if you didn’t time yourself the first time around. We’re going to do this again (and you can find answers at the end of the chapter). Notice that it might have taken you only a few seconds to get the first three words but then several minutes to get the last word. Let’s try another one. Below is a new scramble of letters. Shift them around to find six real words. Yes, six different words.

Still stuck on a few of the words? If you find yourself stumped on the fourth or fifth word, then try really hard to switch the words around. Here’s a hint: Write down the scrambled word differently and see how that changes the
way your eyes look at it and how your brain interprets it. So, for instance, rather than staring at AELST, try playing with LATSE or SETLA instead. Watch how a visual shift in letters can instantly allow another word to pop up right in front of you. Bam! Why does this happen?

When you sit and stare at a set of letters, your brain starts to go in circles. It becomes all the more challenging to switch the letters around in your head to arrive at a new word, especially once you’ve found the relatively obvious ones. What you need to do in this case is visually mix up the letters again so your mind is forced to see another pattern somewhere. Put another way, you need to see letters in altered states in order to see more patterns. Like a broken record, the mind can get stuck seeing just one pattern.

Let’s try one more. This time I’m going to give you a six-letter jumble. Find the five words that can be found in it. Remember, when you get stuck, try mixing up the letters again to see another pattern, which will probably bring you another word or two.

For more fun games like this, I encourage you to play Word Whomp by going to
www.pogo.com
, signing up for a free account, and clicking on the Word Whomp link. Or go to www.MikeByster.com and use the direct links there.

All too often I watch kids and adults alike struggle to take useful notes. Sadly, I don’t think we are ever formally taught
how to take notes or study. It’s largely assumed that we will learn on our own as we progress through school, but too often that doesn’t work out as well as we’d like. As you already know by now, I’m a firm believer that people who excel in school and life aren’t necessarily smarter, but they do study smarter. They know what’s important. And they know how to ignore—forget—the irrelevant.

When I was in college, I had a roommate who rarely slept. He was always studying, and whenever I looked over his shoulder to peer into his textbooks, I’d notice that he had a habit of highlighting pretty much everything. He couldn’t decipher the important from the unimportant and focus solely on the critical information. To him, everything needed to be remembered; he treated all the information the same, so rather than separating what had to be permanently stored for quick recall from the stuff he could just disregard, he tried to pack it all in. This would be the equivalent of remembering every single number in my shortcut to two-digit multiplication. Virtually impossible.

Because of my roommate’s inability to distinguish between what was constructive and, frankly,
destructive
to his memory, he retained very little of the information and the important content got overrun with gunk. His grades weren’t all that great, either. It didn’t help his ego that I managed to get really good grades with minimal studying. I always felt bad for him, but at the time I didn’t know how to help him. Now, however, I would give him a few pointers, starting with making him aware that he doesn’t need to encumber his brain by stuffing it with every piece of information.

When it comes to the broader tasks of dissecting and ingesting massive amounts of information, such as a whole
chapter in a textbook or an hourlong lecture, learning how to pluck the good from the bad takes practice, as well as trial and error. Sometimes you’ll find that it’s quite easy to distinguish between what’s important and what’s not. Other times it won’t be so easy, and you’ll have to take the long road before you realize where those shortcuts are. My roommate stayed on that long road for far too long. If you ever find yourself stuck on the long road, endlessly trying too hard to retain important information, then it’s probably time to stop and take a step back. Remind yourself that you don’t need to know everything, that there are hidden clues to differentiating the pivotal from the pointless, and that it’s okay to give yourself permission to let certain details go. Also remind yourself that it’s impossible to shove all that you encounter into your brain, which craves order and extra space. In a lot of ways, the skill of forgetting is the master key to all of the previous skills I’ve taught you. I mentioned at the start of this chapter that forgetting allows you to become an expert at mental organization, but it also provides the foundation upon which you can truly master the arts of focus and concentration.

Even though the exercises in this chapter don’t seem to relate directly to note-taking, studying, cramming an entire year’s worth of history into your head for a final exam, or preparing for a hugely important presentation at work, they will subconsciously help you build your mind’s “muscles” for discarding information that you either don’t need or don’t need anymore. The following are some additional tips to consider.

Remember, to a large degree the art of memory is the art of selecting what to remember in the first place and forgetting the rest. Don’t treat everything the same. If you fall into this trap, your brain will fall into a trap as well, because it has only so much active space in which to work with information. Another way to look at this is to consider the fact you have only so much time to do a certain number of tasks. Your brain likewise shares these limitations. Just as you would prioritize your to-do list in everyday life to maximize your time and optimize your energy, you need to help your brain figure out how to prioritize its mental tasks and make the most of its power.

As you dig into your textbooks, playbooks, business materials, and notes, make choices about what is most important to learn. Imagine that you are going to create a test on the material and consider the questions you would ask.

When reading, look for chapter previews, summaries, and review questions. Pay attention to anything printed in bold type. Also notice visual elements—tables, charts, graphs, and illustrations. All of these are clues pointing to what’s important. During lectures, notice what the instructor or presenter emphasizes. While at practice for a hobby or sport, focus on what your coach or teacher requires you to repeat. Anything that’s presented visually—on the board, on overhead projections, or with slides—is also key.

When listening to a lecture or presentation, notice what nuggets of information are given more than once. (Hint: find patterns in the delivery of the material that’s meant to be retained.) This may seem like obvious advice, but I watch
people treat material that’s repeated over and over again as equal to what’s mentioned only briefly one time. Again, don’t make the mistake of treating everything the same! I realize that we all as humans want to be treated equally, but when it comes to information we must discriminate!

We covered this in
chapter 2
, but it bears repeating as it relates to forgetting. The data already encoded in your neural networks is arranged according to a scheme that makes sense to you. When you introduce new data that you want to recall, you can remember it more effectively if you associate it with similar or related data. Avoid creating associations with data that you don’t need to remember.