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Have a
reason
to remember
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Set a goal to have a great memory or for one
particular memory activity
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Identify what you wish to
remember. This may sound a basic point but the foundation
of remembering something is to know exactly what you need to
remember.
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Organise
what you need to remember. As you
organise what you need to remember, not only do you begin to
put it in form that will make it easier to recall, but you
also start the process of installing the necessary
information in your memory.
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Chunk
Up: This follows on from
improved organisation. Chunking up deals with grouping like
items so you can chunk up to a level of less detail. When
you remember the higher level you can be reminded of each of
the lower level items associated with that higher level
items. For instance a list of 20 grocery items you need to
remember may contain water, lemonade, orange juice and
milk. You could chunk up to the level of 4 items of drink.
Then remembering drinks will remind you that there are 4
drinks and you can remember each one.
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Engage all your senses. Your
key senses are seeing, hearing and doing. (While we know
that tastes and smells are brilliant for triggering recall,
using them to help you remember something usually takes a
higher level of organisation.) The more of these senses
that you can engage the stronger your memory associations
will be. Some examples of using the senses follow.
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Visualise.
To some extent the term
visualization is a misnomer because at it’s most
effective it is not just about what you see but about what
you feel, hear, taste and smell as well. Sit quietly with
your eyes closed and then see in your minds eye what it is
you need to remember. This works especially with other
tools.
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Sound
tools.
Examples of sound tools include rhythm, rhyme and
repetition. Alliteration and mnemonics will also enhance
your memory. Alliteration is involves the repetition of
similar sounds, such as the second sentence in this
section. Mnemonics are word based techniques and include
rhymes, acronyms and phrases
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Write
things
down.
There
is a magic about writing things down when it comes to
improving your memory. The act of writing recruits various
parts of your brain and engages more of your senses. You
have the feeling of writing, can see what you have written
and when you write typically you will find you have an
internal dialogue to help you determine what you write.
Through writing
you can organise and clarify what it is you need to remember
and the written word also provides a source from which can
later refresh your memory. You may write in different
colours to further ingrain some aspects of things you need
to remember. You may only write a small portion of what you
need to remember regarding a particular topic, just
sufficient to prod your recall of other information. Your
writing may be mixed with pictures or diagrams to enhance
your memory. Mind maps are a great example of this.
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Use
Diagrams:Diagrams
and Mind Maps are useful tools to help you firstly organise
things you need to remember and then provide a strong visual
cue. An example of how this may work appears on a page about
learning.
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Play
memory
games
and develop your own memory games or memory techniques
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Practice
