“I remember here, I don’t remember here”: how to turn on your memory

Let me reassure you with the following scientific fact: there is no good or bad memory, only trained and untrained.

If you’re having trouble remembering names, giving presentations without using cheat sheets, or even just finding your car keys in the morning, it’s highly unlikely that it’s a congenital memory problem. No, you just haven’t been properly trained to use it.

Is it possible to measure memory?

In 2005, journalist Joshua Foer took on an assignment to write about the little-known world of mind athletes. Fascinated by what he saw at the elite memory contests, he wanted to know more about the contestants.

To his surprise, almost every one of those he interviewed admitted to having a poor or simply unremarkable memory before he began to learn and practice the principles of active memory.

Foer realized that the possibilities of memory are endless and can be developed in the same way as sports skills. Then he began to practice special techniques. A year later, he again came to the USA Memory Championship, but this time as a participant.

Foer took first place and took home a well-deserved prize. He subsequently wrote the groundbreaking book Walking the Moon with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.

How to activate memory?

It is not entirely true to think that your memory works like a container, a flash drive or a hard drive – if they fill up, they become unusable. Memory is more like a muscle, the more you train it, the stronger it gets – and the more information you can store in it.

The abbreviation MOM will come to the rescue, in which:

• “M” stands for “Motivation” (Motivation): We are more likely to remember things that are of interest to us. If someone tells you: “Hey, don’t forget to call tomorrow” – it’s not a fact that you will remember tomorrow that you planned to call this person.

  However, if he tells you: “Call me tomorrow and you will receive $ 5000,” you will not find a place for yourself, waiting for the cherished number to be dialed. You will probably remember information better if you have a strong motivation for this. So if you want to train to develop a stronger memory, figure out what will motivate you. The results are completely dependent on the motives, so bring something personal to the memorization process.

• “O” means “Observation” (Observation): Have you often forgotten someone’s name immediately after you heard it? It probably happened because you didn’t pay much attention to him. Maybe you’ve been looking around for someone you know. Or maybe they were still thinking about the content of a recent conversation. In most cases, when we cannot remember something, the problem is not in bad memory, but in insufficient attention. If you are really going to improve your memory capabilities, always focus on what you are going to remember.

• “M” means “Methods” (Methods): There are many tools on the Web and in specialized literature that you can use when you want to remember something. If you always “carry” them with you in your mental “tool box”, using them as needed, they will become an integral part of your nature.

Methods

Visualization

Your visual memory is extremely strong. By imagining the story in pictures, rather than simply assimilating the bare text, you will remember it much better. The thought process works with the help of visual images.

Associative thinking

This is the key to the power of memory and the whole process of learning: in order to remember new information, it must be connected in some way to something you already know. You’ve been doing this all your life, you just didn’t know it.

Do you have a song that reminds you of some special person? Or is there a scent that reminds you of your childhood? These memories are associations.

Why not use this knowledge and create associations consciously to memorize even more effectively?

Emotions

You better remember what you need if this information has an emotional connotation. Information on its own is easily forgotten, but when combined with emotions, it turns into long-term memories.

When information becomes adventurous, energetic, and humorous, we are more likely to remember it.

Sense of place

We are really good at remembering places – this skill was necessary even for our ancestors, hunters and gatherers. They needed to know where there was clean water, where there was fertile soil, and where food could be found.

Therefore, if you can bind information to a specific place, the chances of remembering it immediately increase.

Remember: if you are not very lucky with your memory, do not be upset. It’s not a tragedy – you just need to practice a little.

Source: Jim Kwik’s book “Boundless” (AST, 2021).