Knowing facts makes you good at trivia. Knowing when to use them makes you wise.

A fact on its own is just stored. What turns it into something useful is recognizing the situation where it applies, which is a separate skill that nobody tests you on. Plenty of people can recite the thing and still miss the moment in front of them that calls for it. Retrieval and recognition get learned separately.

When you learn something this week, spend thirty seconds on where it would actually come up. Which situation, which decision, who would need it. That habit is what moves things out of storage and into the part of you that runs in real time.