The more intense a memory is for individuals, the longer it lasts, but reinforcing and reviewing the content is still necessary to achieve greater retention over time. The term was coined by Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, in his book “Uber das Gediichtnis: Untersuchungen zur experimentellen Psychologie.”

Ebbinghaus determined that, one day after studying and not reviewing the content, up to 50% of the material read can be forgotten; two days later, the maximum remembered is 30%, and after seven days without reviewing the information, only about 3% can be recalled. His conclusion? Often, what is learned needs to be revisited and practiced to maintain it; otherwise, it fades away.

Why do we forget what we learn?

The brain decides to avoid overwhelming individuals with information. It selects topics of interest, what can be related to past experiences, or what has been reviewed repeatedly. Thus, the brain understands what is of great importance and should not be erased.

For information to be retained to a high percentage, two key factors are needed: quality learning and repetition.

Principle of the spaced repetition system

Following the same paradigm coined by Ebbinghaus, the best way to review information is under the principle of the spaced repetition system. This method suggests that the best time to revisit information is when you are about to forget it, at regular intervals.

Today, this task is very easy thanks to the presence of mobile devices. A click is enough to access information and review it as many times as needed. In summary, the more information is reviewed, the more it will be stored in long-term memory, and the forgetting curve will become less pronounced over time.

Schema Theory

But the information that is reviewed and to be memorized must have some meaning: be linked to our interests or past experiences. This is according to the studies of Frederick Bartlett, a British psychologist and a precursor of contemporary cognitive psychology.

This process is known as Schema Theory, which suggests that memories and thoughts are mental reconstructions based on factors such as social and emotional interests. Only in this way can a real connection be achieved with what is being experienced, as the information stored in the brain influences the processing of new knowledge we acquire.

Today, Mobile Learning is ready to address the challenges of learning and become the future of workplace learning. At Closelly, we use gamification, microlearning, and other methodologies to flatten the forgetting curve.

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Companies that have workers with low commitment to their work are less productive, affecting business results.

How can we increase the engagement of our employees? Marcus Buckingham, Business Consultant, Writer and management lecturer for large companies such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Disney, among others, tells us that to achieve employee engagement, there is no secret formula, but there are factors that can boost it.

Meet Barbara, the most productive worker in the world in the following video.

Let me tell you about Barbara:

Barbara is someone you’ll really want to know about because, in fact, she’s the most engaged worker in the world. I know because, as heads of the ADP Research Institute, we just finished this study of nineteen countries. We really wanted to know how high engagement is in different countries and what drives it.

As part of the research, we split, split and split the data and we found one person who is more engaged than anyone else in the world with their job, her name is Barbara.

Who is Barbara?

Barbara, that’s a joke, it’s not really a name, she’s a compound. When we find out the facts about this worker, we find that she is a manager or team leader in professional services. She’s been with her company for over five years, she works on a team, she has a primary job objective and she also has a sort of side job, she’s a blogger.

She works 80% of the time remotely and when she walks into an office, it happens to be her company’s headquarters where she will be for 30 minutes to an hour.

She is married and has no children, but she does have a pet, a python named Gregory. Well, I don’t really know what kind of pet she has, but what I do know is that she does.

Women are a little more committed than men, since professional service is more attractive than working in construction, but of all the things we know about Barbara, one of the most powerful facts is that she is a member of a team, a group of people who have agreed to work together.

It’s true that we like to walk through the world as if people are the same as each other, but if you look around you, you’ll see that surprisingly we are all very different.

Each person’s way of being is a wonderful thing to highlight, the quirkiness of a human being is the best bet, how do quirks come together?

In the service of something useful, the answer is this splendid piece of thousands of years old technology called a team, because if you say you are part of a team, you feel part of a group and you are twice as likely to be fully committed to the job.

Are there any other lessons to keep in mind?

In the world of work the two most compelling reasons for people to be involved and committed to their work is to give them the opportunity to have more control of their lives.

Twenty-five percent of all freelancers worldwide are self-delivered by the position of president. And the second reason that is the most powerful, full-time work gives us predictability and stability.

Instead, freelancing gives us the opportunity to do something we care about. To do what you love, you have to have some stability, some flexibility and creativity, so there’s something we could all learn from if we learned that Barbara is a remote worker,

That might be a little surprising, because we think of remote workers as somehow separate, but the data says that remote workers who feel part of a team are more engaged than face-to-face workers who are in an office on a daily basis.

Clearly, there is some value in working at home and having the creativity and flexibility that comes with having control of your time and activities.

How can I get more Barbara at a time when engagement levels are no higher than 15% of workers?

Eighty-five percent of people in the world work so, quite simply, people do get into a job. Our challenge is, once we get people to come and enjoy our companies, how do we make them engaged and productive.

We’d all like to have the most engaged person in the world working on our team, but you already have them! You just have to help them express that and put yourself in their shoes. The right fit is not anything about Barbara that is intrinsically in her person, but it is a set of things in her environment that each of us could help develop.

What brings out the best in Barbara?

Do you feel part of a team? And the team brings out the best in you, that’s how you get more Bárbaras.

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