So far, we’ve talked about a few important concepts:
- How blindly doing things “faster” — in the case of “tool first thinking” — leads to more wasted time
- How Lean Thinking frees you from this trap
- A coherent workflow as a way to implement Lean Thinking
In this last page of the series, we’re going to close it with how YOU can turn everything you know by now into a coherent system.
Which means one thing…
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY MUST CONTRIBUTE TO MAKING INFORMATION STICK BETTER.
And in case you haven’t noticed yet…
This is still lean thinking.
Step 1. Lean Anki setup
The most important part here is recognizing Anki for what it is: a review scheduler.
If you fall for the tool-first thinking trap, you’ll start to optimize EVERYTHING inside in the hopes of doing things faster. But the most you’d save is maybe 3 hours per year.
YOU WANT TO SAVE HOURS PER DAY, NOT PER YEAR.
If you’ve already read my Anki Fundamentals series, you’re all good with this one.
But just to give you a quick checklist:
- Use one deck for each retrieval context (ex: 1 exam = 1 deck. NOT 1 topic = 1 deck). If you’re using this for work, then use ONLY one deck and make sure to not create silos of information.
- Stick to the Basic card type. Cloze cards have their place, especially when memorizing lyrics or poems. But you’re not “drowning in my workload” to memorize songs, are you?
- Copy and paste my settings. And don’t look back.
Step 2. Learn how to use the right active learning technique
This simply means learning before you even create a flashcard.
Why is that very important?
Simply because encoding information correctly makes you FORGET SLOWER.
Notice I didn’t say “you won’t forget it”.
Because frankly, there’s a natural process of your brain whose SOLE function is to FORGET unimportant information.
Making more connections is how you “tell” your brain that it’s important.
NOT taking verbatim notes that look like fine art.
NOT “speaking out loud”.
NOT re-reading them a thousand times.
BUT— this doesn’t guarantee long-term retention…YET.
Just remember that the more connections you can make, the slower you forget.
This is actually why the “perfect settings” don’t really exist.
BECAUSE WE ENCODE DIFFERENT TYPES OF INFORMATION WITH DIFFERENT “LEVELS OF PROCESSING”, DAMMIT!
Now, let’s move on to the practical part…
The best way to actively learn new information is to use what’s called elaborative encoding.
Which practically means making links.
Here’s a cheat sheet:
- For new alien words: learn the root words for complicated terms, especially their origins or functions
- For lists: use memory techniques before you make flashcards. Stories work best. But for LONGASS lists, use memory palace technique.
- For concepts: learn the cause-and-effect relationships, as well as the functions of each
- For formulas/problem-solving: learn the facts and concepts first, then solve ONLY THE HARD problems on your own. It’s a waste of time to solve “direct substitution” problems where the solutions are as simple as changing the variables.
Now, like I said, it’s equally important not just to learn actively like these…but also to make sure you’re reinforcing them over time.
The forgetting curve is real!
People who ONLY understand fail to remember the details quickly.
People who ONLY memorize can regurgitate fast but often blank out.
If you could master both, you’ll be an unstoppable learning machine. Not kidding! 🙂
Step 3. Master the BIGGEST time-saving skill of all—card formulation
Many people think that “creating flashcards” is probably the MOST time-wasting activity known to mankind.
They try to do it faster.
They try to automate the damn thing.
Like OH MY GOD I’M GONNA MISS MY SISTER’S WEDDING AND BE 95 YEARS OLD TOMORROW IF I MAKE ANOTHER FLASHCARD.
But that’s only because they don’t know how Lean Thinking works.
And second of all, you’re not creating “flashcards”. You’re creating QUESTIONS that test your understanding, not just recall.
Which means you are PREPARING FOR EXAMS since DAY ONE.
NOTHING IS MORE EFFICIENT THAN BEING MORE PREPARED THAN ANYBODY ELSE!!
Now, if you look at “Value”— what we’re aiming for is to get stronger retention for learned information.
So if you break down the actual process of creating flashcards…
You’ll start to realize that EVERY process of card creation is creating value—that NO AMOUNT OF THEIR PRETTY NOTES WILL EVER ACHIEVE:
- The intermediate processes of card-making is effective studying. This is especially true if you don’t look at the answer before typing in the answer field because you are already retrieving what you’ve learned.
- Making questions FORCES your brain to actively learn the material. You can’t make good flashcards about Physiology if you don’t look at the CONNECTIONS.
- Opens up opportunities for more relevant processing. Because you are the one learning the ideas before creating the prompts, you can add details that are relevant to YOU personally.
- For example, as you type your cards, you can think of memory techniques MUCH FASTER —and it’s crispy enough to remember that ONE idea that you keep forgetting. NOW you can remember it easily.
Just think about it this way.
When you’re using a review scheduler, quality beats quantity.
Why? Because when you schedule garbage, all you get is scheduled garbage.
So you can DELETE your shared decks now. (Unless it’s AnKing and your material perfectly aligns!)
Now, if this is the part that’s taking you a LONG time, pay close attention:
- The Perfect Flashcard™️ is the one that tests what you’ve already learned
- You don’t HAVE TO make cards for EVERYTHING
Your brain has the connections. If you did Step 2, you DON’T NEED TO CREATE FLASHCARDS FOR EVERYTHING.
Now, I’ll leave you with just a few tips here:
- STRUCTURE. Create cards using the same structure
- Question (front)
- Answer (back)
- Added context (back)
- CONTENT. Use “Why” and “How” questions more often. Conditional questions work great, too.
- Why is Citric Acid cycle important for…
- How does XYZ happen in ABC situation?
- When does XYZ trigger ABC?
Once you do this, you’ll notice the REAL Anki difference.
You “build understanding” before you even start your reviews.
Step 4. Optimize for reviews
Most people make the mistake of skipping here, and leaving out Steps 1-3, and end up wasting time.
So here’s what you need to know:
You can’t make a broken car go faster. It needs to work FIRST.
Now, if you did Step 1-3 correctly, here’s what’s going to happen…
- Your reviews will start to become more enjoyable (I mean, there won’t be any rabid fans if this didn’t happen)
- Your retention gets stronger after each review
- You’ll feel more confident in your memory, that you’ll be able to recall things when you need them (After all those reviews, it’s impossible that you don’t feel this way)
- Your answer times drop to below 10s per flashcard, especially if you’re making atomic cards that test 1 idea per card
If you start feeling this way, this is the signal that you can start focusing on optimizations. Such as:
- Spreading out your reviews throughout the day (trust me, this is game changer)
- Your hand placement when doing reviews
- Using controllers
- Using add-ons that pressure you to faster answer times
- Your retrieval technique
- Creating smaller questions, or editing questions along the way
The possibilities are endless, but don’t be fooled—these are really not the biggest levers you can pull.
Example: My Personal Anki Workflow That I Used for My Board Exams
So this might seem a little too complex, but this is actually straightforward.
Stage 1: Quality Inputs (Enabling Encoding)
I wanted to really crush it in my board exams, and our materials were the ff.:
- Textbooks (a TON OF TEXTBOOKS)
- Study guides
- Lecture notes and handouts
- Question banks (tens of thousands of questions)
Value added: Starting with complete, well-structured information (textbooks) instead of fragments (lecture slides) means less time filling gaps later.
Waste eliminated: Re-reading the same unclear notes five times because they never made sense in the first place.
Stage 2: Analytical Reading + Note-Taking (Deep Encoding)
Next, I wanted to extract the RIGHT information from my textbooks, and my workflow SHOULD feed into Anki. So what I did is to actually spend MORE MENTAL EFFORT extracting the relationships, and I took VERY LEAN NOTES.
I then created questions after that. It’s not yet atomic, but pretty good.
Value added: Extracting meaning and relationships, not just copying words. Your notes become a thinking tool, not a transcription.
Waste eliminated: Pages of verbatim notes that you’ll never look at again because they don’t actually help you understand anything.
Stage 3: Question Formulation (Testing Understanding)
Again, these aren’t “atomic questions”, but rather questions that simply tested my own understanding.
Value added: Creating questions forces you to identify what actually matters and whether you truly understand it. This is where you catch comprehension gaps early.
Waste eliminated: Discovering during the exam that you memorized definitions but can’t apply concepts.
Stage 4: Atomic Flashcard Creation (Optimizing Retrieval)
Disclaimer, I sometimes go to this step right away and skip Stage 3, but when I first started I didn’t have the skills to do that. So I had to use what my longer questions as “cognitive scaffolds” to create these atomic questions that are Anki related.
Value added: Breaking complex ideas into atomic, testable units that your brain can efficiently retrieve and strengthen.
Waste eliminated: Vague flashcards that test recognition instead of recall, creating false confidence.
Stage 5: Spaced Repetition (Anki Reviews)
Of course, we automated this with Anki. My settings don’t matter much.
But what mattered to me is that I had to make sure I didn’t make a poor quality card and that card got a LONG interval. So what I did is to create a good enough learning steps to filter out those cards.
Value added: Reviewing at good enough intervals determined by performance feedback.
Waste eliminated: Reviewing everything equally, wasting time on what you know while neglecting what you don’t.
Stage 6: The Compound Effect (Accelerating Future Learning)
I make it a PRIORITY to answer my reviews FIRST.
Here’s the brutal truth that I’ve heard NO INFLUENCER say publicly:
“Learning faster” DOES NOT MATTER if you can’t remember whatever the fuck you studied after 2 days.
Again, focus on VALUE rather than the SPEED.
Which means prioritizing reviews ALWAYS.
Value added: Reinforcing what you already know, and KEEPING progress rather than constantly restarting.
Waste eliminated: The death spiral of falling behind – where you don’t understand Chapter 5 because you forgot Chapter 2, so you have to re-learn Chapter 2 while trying to learn Chapter 5, while Chapter 6 is already being taught.
Stage 7: Reformulation (Continuous Quality Improvement)
You can’t make great flashcards from Day 1. Sometimes you outgrow your cards. Sometimes you just can’t have the great idea right away.
THAT’S OKAY.
You can edit them later, anyway.
And it’s always a good idea to have a feedback loop of some sorts for ALL other parts of your study system.
Value added: Identifying and fixing problematic cards improves the precision of your testing, making reviews more efficient over time.
Waste eliminated: Wrestling with badly-formulated cards that test the wrong thing or create interference patterns.
IMPORTANT: Each step builds on the previous one
Skip a step or do it wrong, and you break the value chain. This is why isolated hacks fail – they’re trying to optimize waste instead of building value in every step.
As Donella Meadows defined it in her book, Thinking in Systems:
A system isn’t just any old collection of things. A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way that achieves something.
It’s the way the parts perform together that determines the performance of the system, not on how they perform separately.
If you reached this point, thank you SO MUCH for reading!
But we’re barely scratching the surface. There’s a LOT more we could talk about when it comes to unlocking your full learning potential.
So if you’re new here and this resonates with you, welcome home! If you still haven’t joined my world, I invite you to to sign up for my newsletter and hear more from me. 🙂
You’re free to check out my programs as well where I apply this concept all throughout. See if they interest you as well.
In any case, I appreciate you reading my work 🙂
To smarter studying,
Al Khan