The Smartest Way to Go From 'I Read That Somewhere' to 'I Know This'

Build a mental library that actually shows up when it counts—with 5-minute habits that work.

You just finished a book that lit your brain on fire. Or maybe you walked out of a workshop thinking, This changes everything.

Two weeks later?

Nothing. Nada.

You vaguely remember that it was great, but not the part that would’ve actually helped in today’s meeting. Or when you were writing that proposal. Or trying to explain the idea to a friend.

This isn’t just annoying—it’s a waste of time and energy. And no, it’s not your fault.

You’re not bad at remembering (I explained the forgetting curve in here).

You were just never taught how to learn so you can remember (unless you’re a student in Estonia).

I wasn’t taught to remember either.

I was a first-gen student who thought hating school was just part of life. Later, I became a teacher hoping to fix the system… only to realize the system was the problem.

Even when I left the classroom, I kept seeing the same pattern: People learning like crazy—books, courses, coaching—but unable to use any of it when it actually mattered.

So I turned my frustration into fuel.

I read 50+ books on how humans learn. I experimented with tools. And I kept circling back to one question:

Why do we invest time learning—reading books, taking courses, attending workshops—only to forget so much when we actually need the knowledge?

That question changed everything. Because what feels like a "bad memory" is often just a missing system for making knowledge stick.

Here’s what I wish I had learned a decade ago.