How screwing up helps you to memorize

For a long time I thought that if I tried to play from memory in front of my friends before I was ready, it would result on me becoming self-conscious for ever after.

Turns out I was wrong.

Scientific American Mind cites a study "which showed that trying and failing to retrieve the answer do help in learning," because "students who make an unsuccessful attempt to answer a test question before receiving the correct answer remember the material better than if they simply study the information."

In other words, next time that you have to memorize a script or a play, start to do it in front of people early on when you're gonna screw it up, because that will help you retain it sooner and better, rather than start later and repeat it for yourself in a row a thousand times, because it won't work as well.

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