Highlighting books helps learning, but you need to do it differently?

When I am reading to learn or for self-improvement purposes, I love the art of the highlighter. I agree with statements like if I am not highlighting every few pages, then a book is not worth the time. So I buy highlighters in bulk (mostly cause I misplace them). 

Some people highlight for the moment. Thinking that highlighting helps immediately cement the thought into the brain or for an undefined future tracking important information they think they will revisit on a mythical someday. 

But I love to highlight for an immediate And intentional future. I will highlight something, wait a few months and then pick the book back up and read just the highlights. I do this all the time. It’s my process. 

Why because? That is how my brain (and likely yours, too) works. My brain responds better to forgetting and relearning than trying to memorize in the moment. It’s called spacing and adds a lot of value to retaining and recalling. Giving your mind time to forget something and then learning it again creates pathways. Pathways create ease of recall. It’s amazing. 

Reviewing my highlights leads me down a path of inquiry. Why did I highlight this statement?  What was I thinking/experiencing at the time? Why was this so important it was worth the highlight? 

Having a chance to review the highlights and piece together why it was necessary, how I thought I would use it in the future, and how I might have used it in a recent situation had I remembered the highlighted information makes me want to remember the information more the next time. In part because I missed the opportunity to do something better because I didn’t remember it. An emotional bond is formed and the pathways get deeper and recall easier. 

This process of reviewing, pondering and reconnecting has an amazing effect on learning. It even helps me make connections between books. Like how in No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings talks about Freedom and Responsibility as being keystones to Netflix success, but Jim Collins used those exact words as differentiators in Good to Great (his insight was over a decade earlier). I figured this out when reviewing highlights, but not in the moment. 

When reading to learn, figure out your own process for spacing out the learning so you can create pathways and create more value out of your learning investment.