Four Must-Haves For Learning New Information

In order to learn, research points to four must-haves for embedding new ideas.

1. Attention has to be very high; multitasking dramatically reduces recall. The chemical processes to encode memories only activate when we’re very focused. 
2. People need to generate their own mental maps around new ideas. They can’t just watch or listen; effort is central. 
3. Emotions need to be high; we only remember things we feel strongly about.
4. We grow our memories, so spacing out learning is critical. 

These four elements — attention, generation, emotion and spacing — form the optimal learning environment.  This level of learning is necessary for people to recall ideas before we even get to the question of how to build habits.

Source: The Brain at Work by David Rock at Chief Learning Officer.