7 Tips on How to Improve Your Memory ...

This is the oldest trick in the book. Literally! So, if you have a lot of text you to memorize, try using markers to highlight important things and make certain paragraphs and bulletins stand out. You see, a brain is like a computer – it stores information using a certain criteria and if there is no specific criteria all your “files” will end up in the same “folder”. Now, that may not present a huge problem if there’s only 2-3 files or things to memorize but as the number of information increases, so does the effort needed to pick the needed one out of the stack. Highlighting the crucial things or definitions red, examples and further explanations yellow, and other potentially useful things green, could help your brain color-coordinate data, narrow down the search to a specific “folder” only, and come up with a complete answer in a very short time.

Our brain remembers images better than plain words so the best way to take the most out of your memory is to find a way to combine these two. Doodle! What is the first thing you think about after reading a certain text? If your text has something to do with planes draw a tiny plane. Make up your own symbols and construct a simple formula that has all the elements of the text you need to memorize. You can also frame the important paragraphs or draw stars and exclamation points next to them.

Here’s an interesting game to help you develop your own, magical, foolproof, photographic memory – a room full of things, that’s how I like to call it. Select 10 items and write them down making sure you don’t have only one piece of each kind. For example, 4 pencils, 13 bobby pins, 2 lamps… Than try to visualize yourself placing each and every item in one room. You can put two pencils on the coffee table and the other two next to the computer, for example. Repeat the process until you find a good place for every item on your list. Ask a friend to help you by writing down the location of your items and, when it’s all done, ask him/her to quiz you. You have to remember how many pieces of each item you had and where did you put them. Repeat this until you get it right and then start playing the game again with 20, 30, 40 or even 50 items.

Focus on the page layout before you start reading its content, and then observe the layout again while thinking about the things you’ve just read, close your eyes and repeat the process. Congratulations! The little camera in your brain has just taken a mental snapshot of the page so, the next time you are supposed to take an exam, give some sort of a speech or pull off an important presentation, all those pages and pages of text will flash in front of your eyes and you will be able to literally “read” the book again. Only, this time, the book will be in your head.

Taking interesting, easy tests could help you figure out which information your brain stores and which ones are being discarded as “unnecessary”. Let’s say you have a colleague that talks a lot about his family – can you remember their names, age or a recent story that involved some of them? The last magazine article or book you’ve read – what was it about? How much do you know about celebrity world, global/regional economy or political issues? Don’t give me that look, these things are all over TV, magazines and even Internet so you must have heard or read at least something. There is a reason I’m asking all this and that is to determine which information you tend to forget – the ones you read or the ones you hear.

Here’s something I’m sure a lot of students find useful – repeating aloud. You see, most of our vivid memories do contain both audio and visual elements. It’s the combination of those two elements that makes a certain event or information easy to remember. You know…”Paying attention and listening what the teacher is talking about will help you do your homework faster.” Actually, that’s totally true! A staggering 30% of everything you know comes from listening! So, definitely find a quiet place and don’t feel embarrassed to repeat or even read aloud.

We have no problem remembering things that have happened to us because, in those cases, one thing leads to another. Right? With names and phone-numbers there is no pattern, logic or “a chain of event”. After all, a phone-numbers is just a random string of digits. But what about the names? Well, you know how the only reason you’ve remembered a person’s name is its amazing resemblance to one of your relatives? That’s called association. If you meet George and he looks just like your cousin George, you will remember his name. So, try this the next time you meet people. Find something that could help you link a new info with the old ones.

Now, tell me – How many of you ladies has photographic memory? Do you think having good memory is important? You know… photographic memory is not only inherited, it can be developed later in life too. You live and you learn. Simple as that.

Top Photo Credit: LA & OC Foodventures