Don't Forget Your Memory

Remembering Things

I remember a birthday party I went to as a child. There was
a contest that involved looking at a table covered in 15
various items. After a few minutes, the things were taken
away, and then we each got a piece of paper and a pencil.
The object was to write down as many items as we could
remember. I struck out after seven or eight, but one little
boy got all 15 items, and won the prize.

Only years later did I learn why he was able to do that. His
father had taught him a simple technique that none of us
other kids knew. All you have to do is tie the items
together in an imaginative story. Imagine, for example, that
you want to remember a list of the following things: milk,
soap, forks, honey, and flowers.

Create a story, and see it vividly in your head: You are in
front of the bathroom sink, and you reach for the soap. The
soap dish is filled with milk, so you wash your hands with
that, then comb honey into your hair with a fork, pick up a
bouquet of flowers and smile at yourself in the mirror. Say
each item as you review this "movie" in your imagination,
and you'll remember all five things, even the next day.

Some Other Memory Tricks

Start telling yourself to remember. If you just learned a
person's name, for example, tell yourself, "remember that".
This signals the unconscious mind to rank this input higher
in importance.

Tell yourself why you want to remember something, and how
you will remember it. To remember a person, think about how
that person will be important to you in the future, where
you'll see them next, and anything you notice about them.
Clearly seeing the importance of remembering will help a
lot, and the additional associations (where you expect to
see the person next, for example) will set the memory more
firmly in your brain.

Have you ever forgotten where you set down your car keys?
You have probably tried retracing your steps, or at least
doing it in your imagination. This works fairly well, but do
you ever create the scenario beforehand, so you won't
forget? Try it. When you set down the keys on the chair, see
yourself walking in and setting the keys on the chair.
You'll remember where they are if you do this.

Create Good Memory Habits

Do you know what the biggest problem with memory techniques
is? Remembering to use them. No joke. Many popular methods
work, but if you don't have the habit of using them, you'll
forget to when you need them most. So if you take the time
to learn a technique, make a conscious effort to use it
until it becomes automatic.