Are your attempts to memorize a certain verse frustrating you? If you’re like me, you don’t really mind putting in the effort, IF you are making measurable progress. If not, here’s how to refine your approach.
Does the lack of progress reveal you are incapable, a dummy? Or are you doing it wrong?
Please be encouraged: YOU ARE NOT A DUMMY! Your mind is a one-of-a-kind, miracle created by God! You can do this!
However, you may need to refine your approach.
Say you memorize or review a verse, and after a half dozen tries, making various mistakes, you finally get it 100% Perfect. Is your mission is accomplished? Not exactly.
You have just recited the verse both correctly and incorrectly. Trouble is, your brain will remember ALL of your attempts. They will become confused in your mind, because practice does not make perfect.
Practice makes PERMANENT.
If you stop now, chances are you will make some of the same mistakes the next time you review. Why? Because you have PRACTICED them!
Back in grade school, I was invited to play my flute in class. I was still a beginner, playing in public for the first time. I chose an ambitious piece to play, imagining how impressed my buddies would be if I could pull it off.
I soon discovered I didn’t know the piece as well as I hoped.
I got nervous. I made mistakes. With every mistake, my audience became uneasy. I realized I’d been kidding myself. I wasn’t prepared.
When I find verses that seem to defy my attempts to memorize them, it’s usually due to imperfect practicing. I admit it: I have caught myself deliberately ignoring my mistakes because I want to imagine I am further along than I really am.
I always get better results when I SLOW DOWN, making every effort to practice correctly. Until I overcome the last bit of fear and hesitation, the verse is not yet completely memorized.
When I am having trouble, I may even start from the beginning, patiently reading the verse aloud slowly several times before reviewing it.
Yes. Even with a verse I thought I’d already memorized.
This diligent work pays off.
Good musicians know that when it comes to practicing, the slow, clean, precise way is the best way! Sacrificing accuracy for speed produces sloppy results.
Then, if there is the least bit of uncertainty about how well I know a verse after I finally get it 100% right, I try to repeat it perfectly a second time.
You might call this the “200% technique!”
Learning studies show that those who practice what they memorize one more time after learning it remember the material significantly better and more durably over time.
So when in doubt, after reviewing a verse successfully, review it again. The 200% technique works.
This is not such an extreme practice. Some world-class athletes do not consider they have mastered a particular skill unless they can execute it perfectly TEN TIMES in a row!
While I never want to be obsessive or perfectionistic in memorizing Scripture, I find that when I am able to be honest and humbly admit my mistakes, I make better, faster progress mastering those difficult verses.
I welcome your questions and suggestions.
God’s speed,
“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.”
