How to read & grasp effectively

Have you ever wondered how do some people seem to remember so many stories, ideas, concepts ? This helps many of them become confident speakers, successful presenters & effective counsellors. I was struck by an interesting audio on radio & was trying to remember the bullet points about it, when it came to me that there must be some proven way to recall 'mentally bookmarked' things easily. I did some research & came up with few points on how to read / listen in order to grasp PLUS remember the interesting points about any text, speech or a presentation (I omit meetings for a reason, as the organizer may appoint a note-taker on purpose).

1. First, our purpose is to reduce the amount of written clutter around us (e.g. Notes that we need to take to recall ideas).
2. While we listen to a speech, or read text, make a genuine effort to identify KEYWORDS mentally. We may practice this art in inexpensive ways - read a n article in newspaper & identifying keywords. Then, with these keywords, try to build the body of the article yourself. Compare your write-up with original . You'll soon get better at choosing RIGHT keywords.
3. Now, the actual process starts. Revise your keywords & related ideas mentally, about everything of importance that you read / listen, once at these intervals - an hour later, 3 hrs later, 6 hrs later, 1 day later & if possible - 10 days after. Each revision session should take less than 8 minutes, performed at a quiet place, where you may focus easily.
4. For lengthy ideas, make mind maps, either with help of paper & pencil first & then remembering the diagram or just mental picture of involved entities. A mind map is a simple concept of picturing the main idea in the center, then branches growing out of it, to illustrate salient features, and sub-branches for examples or final points. Include your mind maps in the revision sessions described above. Check out an example mind map in the picture above (click the image for full-size).
   
5. Decide to succeed at your endeavor of learning the art of recalling useful ideas. A decision to be successful can push us to brighter & higher skies quite easily. It can expained scientifically also (See : http://an-shoo-thoughts.blogspot.com/2007/11/science-behind-prayer.html ).
6. An effective way to apply & strengthen this strategy is to target at reducing the number of magazines, lying around your house, waiting in a queue for your attention. Once you remember a useful article, do the same for the whole Mag. & you might have just 4 interesting topics to remember out of the whole magazine. Throw the Mag away once you're done with your 3-step exercise described above (Steps 2-5 ).
   
7. Your feedback is welcome. Please feel free to share your stories through comments on this page.