Anki Antics
19 March 2021
One of the most powerful tools in my Toolbox is Anki.
For those who haven’t encountered it yet, or heard me rave about it yet, Anki is Spaced Repetition software.
Spaced Repetition is based on research which found the absolute best time to revise something is moments before you forget it. Unfortunately you can’t exactly ask your brain “what am I moments away from forgetting?”
The way Spaced Repetition solves this dilemma is it regularly asks you to remember something (usually in the form of a Flash Card) and then asks you how easy it was to recall. If it was easy then you know you don’t have to review that card again for quite a while. If however, you find that it’s difficult to remember or you needed to reveal the answer then you can advise the Anki app and it will use this to choose when to schedule the card next.
Cards that you confidently recall repeatedly will be scheduled further and further into the future. I have a card about Growth Mindset that is scheduled for 4.7 years from now.
Anki was the secret to my success in my Trivia win and it’s how I aim to keep as much useful information in my brain as possible.
The biggest question with Anki is often What do I want to know forever?
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