If you are worried about not
being able to remember what things you came to buy to a shop or how many things
are scheduled for you next week, do not worry. This is not fatal. If you follow
these top memory improvement tips you will see you remembering skills
skyrocketing. These points will be a summary of most I have been writing about
in my short advice posts on the topic of memorization. So, here we go!
1. Taking interest and focus
on the thing
This is probably the most
important thing of all. Even if you never apply any mnemonic techniques this
can improve the work of your mind immensely. Even the worst pupils at school
remember the things they want to remember quite easily and forget those things
they are not interested in. If you started taking interest in something, stay
focused on it and you will double up the effect of you studies, work and etc.
2. Make the information
meaningful
I was very bad at maths at
school. Why? I did not understand. And because I did not understand it, it was
the most boring subject for me. However, if at some point I was able to grasp
one topic or another in the subject maths would become very interesting. So,
when you take up a text that has to be learned try to understand it, because
cramming won’t help you much.
3. Revise the material
This, of course, works if
you study for something. However, if you want to keep things in your long term
memory you will need to brush up your knowledge from time to time. There have
been a lot of studies done regarding intervals of memorization process. You
need to do revisions while information you are studying is still fresh (if you
are taking something new). If you do not, there are great chances that it will
be forgotten after one hour or twenty four hours.
4. Use repetition for short
term memory development
In my opinion, this should
not be the method that you use as your main one. I was born and lived in Soviet
era when I was a child. Cramming and repeating was probably the main strategy
how we learned things in those times. However, how much do I remember now?
Well, practically nothing! Yet, I must admit that if you need to remember a
thing or two for a short term it is probably the best route you can take – by
repeating (telephone number, address, names and etc.).
5. Learn how to form mental
picture
Mental picture is an
association that you try to build and connect it to the object, concept, idea
or a word that you want to remember. If one wants to learn the English word
bush, one can imagine George Bush Jr. (or senior) standing by a bush and
smiling (or doing some other stuff).
6. Use visual exaggerations
This is continuation of
previous point. As a lot of information passes through our brains every day,
brains tend to delete unimportant one at once. However, if something has
tremendous effect on our emotions we tend to remember this. The good thing
about it we can use it deliberately to improve our memory. Take the example
with bush and try to exaggerate as much as you can.
7. Involve humor in your
memorizing practices
Our brain is constructed in
such a way that it tries to reject those experiences and reminiscences that
cause us stress, anxiety and fear. So, if you start playing around with
mnemonic techniques and do visual associations you’d better make them positive
and as funnier as possible. You will see how easily you will remember things
then.
8. Use method of association
or journey strategy to improve memorization of lists
I like using this technique
while going to a shop and I have a pretty long list of items. In five minutes I
can remember around 30 things without writing them down on the paper. In order
to do that you need to single out 10 places (for beginning) around or inside
your house. It can be bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and etc. You then go around
your house (in your mind) and place the items you need to buy in the shop and
involving yourself or some imaginary figures in the process. Read my memory tip
for 25th of March to learn more on the subject.
9. Do mental exercises regularly
The main reason why people
start losing memory as they age is in the fact that they do not do mental
exercises. Our brain as well as our bodies needs activities in order to stay
active. For body it might be sport, for brains it will be crosswords, puzzles
and similar things.
10. Do physical exercises on
a daily basis
Our brains are not
disconnected from our bodies. However, they can be in harmony or out of it. We
need to train both in order for them to function well. So, pick up your
favorite type of sport and do it on a daily basis. Normal blood circulation is very important for
your brains, because blood carries oxygen to your brain and brings ‘food for
your mind’. Do not spend too much time spending sitting bend over your pc. Do
regular breaks, walk, and run, so that your blood could fully equip all your
body with necessary energy.
11. At the end of a day try
to remember everything you did
This will help to increase
your concentration, power of focus as well as memory. It might be a tiring
practice at first, but you can make it fun if you involve some imagination and
creativity there. Do not worry if you notice that some things have completely
slipped out of your mind and you have entirely forgotten. You will get better
with time.
12. Expand your imagination
The world as it is today,
because of imagination. It can be said both from positive and negative
perspective. Anything that becomes physical reality, it firstly because reality
in our imaginary minds. If you connect your memory and imagination you will
have a tremendous duo that will work miracles for you. Any technique you
practice should be inspired by a good doze of imaginative powers.
13. Concentrate on details
around the fact or thing you want to remember
No matter how brilliant or
geniuses we are, we do forget sometimes. Well, for some of us it happens too
often. Fortunately, we can learn to bring back the facts we forgot by taking a
few simple steps. You might want to remember the place you were at. There are
lots of details that can lead you to the fact that you forgot. Think about the
clothes you wore, the things you did, the topics you talked about, sequence of
things that you did there and then. Concentrate on details around the fact you
try to bring up in your memory.
14. Have enough sleep
If one wants to keep good
memory, one also has to get enough sleep. You may have noticed how your
concentration weakens when you have slept less than you need to. I remember,
when I was at school, I would learn poems or other things that had to be
learned by heart and I would most often did it in the evening, just before
going to bed. This is the best way to learn some piece of information, because
when you sleep your memory will process the information and it will be fresh
for you to use in the morning. If you do not sleep enough, brains do not get
enough time to process the data that you have collected throughout the day, to
say nothing of the rest that your body needs.
15. Develop healthy
relationships
We need friends. People have
to socialize and healthy relationships have a tremendously positive effect on your
mind. They boost your self-worth and influence your memories in a positive way
too. It will also reduce stress that damages your brains and give more space
for positive feelings. Relationships have a lot more good consequences on your
body and brains. But this is not the topic of the post. Hope to talk on that
later.
16. Laugh a lot
What a weird advice! It
isn’t! This increases the power of your immune system, produces vitamin C and
expands capacity of your memory. I hope you see now why comedies are so good
for you. Some people even go to special laughter clubs. You don’t have to do it
if you find natural ways of making fun. But if you don’t, give a try and find
this kind of club around your place. Most testimonies about this kind of
activities are positive.
17. Cope with stress
I have already mentioned
about damage that stress does to your brains. Stress is a memory killer and
you’d better learn how to cope with it before it does too much harm to you. Learn
to direct your thoughts on something peaceful. Thoughts cause emotions after
their kind and this is the main method of self control. Shift your focus from
problems to solutions and from fear to courage. I hope you have noticed how
difficult it is to remember something in stressful situations. Why? Because,
stress brings pressure and constraint and our brain refuses to function in such
environment. Well, you may learn how to cope with that and handle any stressful
situation and remember what you need at that particular time.
18. Organize material you
are learning
Mind hates chaos. It wants
to see order everywhere. You would be shocked having found out how well
structured your mind is and how all mechanisms of the brains work in unison to
help you live in this world and not to get lost. Our heads are like big
computers that we have to learn to use. Mnemonics is one of the sciences that
help us to achieve it. Master it and you will become the master of the world!
19. Rehearse information you
are learning
You cannot record
information on your long term memory unless you rehearse the information from
time to time. Long term memory works pretty slowly and it takes a lot of time
for information to get there. However, when it finally gets there, it stays
there forever. So, set aside some where during a week or a month (depending on
your time schedule and needs) and rehearse the things you have been studying
and learning recently. You will surely enjoy the results.
20. Teach somebody the
things you want to learn yourself
And all students said:”amen
and amen”. I would do this during my school and university exams and I was
surprised by the effect of the practice on my memorization capacity. It was
given such a tremendous boost. Even if you know the thing, it will go over your
mind again, but with much stronger force. I wrote in one of my posts how my
literature teacher (at school) used to say that she learned the subject of
accentuation while she explained it to us.
21. Involve your senses and
emotions in memorization
This point can contribute to
the one about imagination development. Five senses can be awoken by means of
imagination when one associates the things one wants to remember with other
things, people, places and etc. When you are memorizing a lot of things try to
create an imaginary environment where all of your senses would be involved. Try
to see the colors of things, smell them, touch them and even taste them. Of
course, it will all happen in your mind.
22. Listen to classical
music
Another crazy tip? No,
scientists have proven the use of classical music, especially Beethoven, on our
memories. I know it can be disturbing at
the time of studying, but you can do that during short breaks that will help
for information to sink in. I do not know why this kind of music helps, but it
does. If you want to ask me about rock, well, it will create more problems,
than benefits. Good reason to quit listening to heavy metal and rock, huh?
23. Drink coffee
Good news for coffee lovers!
All coffee addicts crave for a cup of coffee in the morning, because it
stimulates their brains. I have a friend in medicine industry and she tells me
that most doctors and surgeons drink black coffee or diet Cola a few times a
day. Why? Because it contains caffeine, which helps our brains to function
better! You should be warned that artificial stimulation is not good and have
negative long term results. However, a cup or two a day will definitely do you
good and improve your memory functioning.
24. Use chunking to remember
numbers
This technique (chunking) is
good not only for numbers, but also for other things. You might put things in
categories (chunks) while going shopping in order not to forget what you want
to buy. In case of numbers, if you have a long number (let’s say 16 digits) to
remember, you’d remember it much easier if you divide it in four chunks rather
than trying to cram the number as one unit.
25. Categorize things you
want to remember
This, as well as chunking,
could be a good alternative for remembering long lists using journey technique.
If you have a list of 20 products on your list you might be willing to put them
into categories such as: fruits, vegetables, milk products, meat, confectionery
and etc. As your brain loves order it will have much greater chances to
remember the list in this way rather than trying to recall it if the list was
organized randomly.
26. Search for patterns in
things you are learning
This is good when you want to remember
numbers, memorize passwords, figure out how to get to certain places, recall
names. I would not use it for memorizing lists though. As has already been said, brain does not like random.
It works in synonyms, patterns, structures or any other thing that has a
clearly cut order. Let us say you have to remember your password which is 5591.
Do you see any pattern here? You should! It is 5+5=10 and 9+1=10. So, you have
two tens here. Your brain grasps that you have two tens in the code and much
easier recalls what the password is next time.
27. Use mnemonic devices
that you like most
It is obvious that not all
mnemonic techniques and devices are good for you. We have our own tastes and
styles and this is also reflected in the way we remember things. For some it
may be a journey technique that they will adopt for most learning and
remembering situations, others will use acronyms, yet others will simply invest
an imaginary story or make a few funny associations to evoke reminiscences.
Find what you like and what fits you most.
28. Have a habit of taking
notes (good for sensory memory development)
I know that some people
become so advanced in their mnemonic skills that they can remember whole
lectures without taking any notes. However, taking notes is good for improving
your short term as well as sensory memory. When you forget something (a name,
password, code) try to write it. If you have ever written it, you have much
bigger chances remembering it by writing rather than trying to recall the thin
in your mind. Why? Because, your sensory memory fixed the action of writing
that particular thing and most probably you will remember it quite fast.
29. Be positive
Being negative stops you
from going forward in developing your memorization skills. It is a road block
for any kind of achievements. You have to monitor your progress and be happy
about the slightest advance in the field. This isn’t a sprint and instant
results are not always there. So arm with patience and keep on improving your
memory bit by bit. And finish negative self-talk, it is useless.
30. Chew a gum and eat
chocolate
I hope you understand that
it is not the main strategy for your memory development, but it is still in my
list. If you read on the subject you will see that chewing a gum and eating
chocolate is quite good for your brains. It increases your heart rate, which
helps more oxygen to get to your brains.
31. Use acronyms
What is an acronym in the
first place? It is a word that we form of the first letters of the words we
want to remember. These coined words may have a logical meaning or they may not
have one. It depends on your needs. As brain remembers better something that is
knows I would advise you to form meaningful acronyms. So ALFA could be an
acronym of Adults learning facility abroad. Well, sounds kind of weird, but if
it helps to remember, why not? Play around with it and see how it works for
you.
32. Use rhythmic sentences
Why are poems much easier
remembered than some historical dates or algebra formulas? Because the former
rhymes and the latter doesn’t! Of course, this is not the only reason, but one
of them. Try to make them funny and brisk. Do not try to be perfect, you are
not going to be a poet, it is your memory I am talking about. An example: If
you come to me, I will try to see if I am really free to go on a shopping
spree”. Now you know what I mean.
33. Lead a healthy lifestyle
Smoking, using alcohol and
other kinds of substances is a big ‘NO’ if you intend to retain good memory now
and in the future. Young people do not care about their health now, but if they
are not careful (with the above mentioned things) they might have serious
implications both for their physical and mental health. You should be aware of
various terminal diseases that you may end up with if you continue using those
addictive chemical substances. Furthermore, these have terrible effect on your
brains. So be wise and stop before it is too late.
34. Take up new hobbies and develop
more interests
This is another reason why
people memories get worse with age. They have too few interests and hobbies. If
you do the same job day after day or read the same kind of materials or watch
movies you get from dumb to dumber. Your brain has to expand and you can
achieve it by expanding your views. Become wider, read more, go out more,
travel more, meet more new people, and take more new courses. That’s what I
mean. This will have very good influence on your brains.
35. Put your life in order
I have already said that our
minds hate disorder. They cannot work with it. Therefore, I would encourage you
to set your thought life and house in order. It will be much easier to remember
things then, because there will be some kind of structure in your life that
your brains recognize and use to recall things when you need them most.
Ok! I suppose I have
finished with my memory improvement tips and exercises. I assume these will be
enough for you to become a world memory champion. Joking! These will give you a
good start on your way to a perfect memory where you will be able to remember
whole books, speeches, thousands of items in your lists, hundreds of names and
countless telephone numbers. Continue reading other posts on my blog. Hope you
will find the material useful.