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.