“Following Along” vs Learning

You haven't learned unless you're able to consistently reproduce the information you consumed and use it to solve problems.

People often think “following along” is the same as learning – like, if you can follow along with a video, book, lecture, whatever, without feeling confused, then you’re learning.

But if you define learning as a positive change in long-term memory, then you haven’t learned unless you’re able to consistently reproduce the information you consumed and use it to solve problems.

This doesn’t happen when you just “follow along,” even if you understand perfectly. It’s the act of retrieving information from memory that transfers the information to long-term memory.

If you don’t practice retrieval, then the information quickly dissipates. It stays with you only briefly – just long enough to trick you into thinking it’ll stick with you, when it’s really on the way out the door.