Easy memory tips and techniques for improving memory quickly.

Another example - You go to a phone booth and look up a number - but the phone’s broken. You need to run across the street to another phone booth, but you can see there’s no phone book in it.

So what do you do? You repeat, repeat, repeat that phone number to yourself while you run across the street. (of course these days you would probably whip out your cell phone, but you get the point.)

Association is one of the most important ways we store memories. You form mental connections with other ideas and sensations. Think of how often you say things like “That perfume reminds me of”That song takes me right back to…The taste of that pie makes me think of…

The more senses involved, the more vivid the memory
For example, I think of a happy swimming race memory when I was a child.

I visualize the bright water splashing, the flailing arms and legs of the racers, the parents leaning forward in their deck chairs, (sight)

I hear the sounds echoing around the pool room as parents clapped and cheered us on (hearing)

I relive the feeling of my arms and legs pounding against the water (touch)

I smell and taste the tang of the pool water (smell and taste)

It also helps that this was an exhilarating experience, and enjoyable to remember.

Babies exploring the world are a perfect illustration of this learning and memory consolidation process. A baby will use taste, touch and smell very deliberately to find out about something. Think of the warnings you see on toys: “not suitable for age under three” “may put in mouth and swallow”. They are there because the manufacturers understand how babies learn and form memories.

No more coming back to the house because you forgot your glasses, keys, cell phone etc.
Now here are a couple of memory tips borrowed from professional organizers. They are simple and easy, and they work to improve your memory and help eliminate with those irritating dashes back into the house because you forgot something again.

Designate a convenient place to drop things you need to take out the door every morning. Every time you come in the house, put those keys in the same place. No more calling out “Has anybody seen my keys?” as you try to rush out the door in the morning.

Designate a convenient place for other items that constantly irritate you because you can’t find them. I store my cleaning tickets in the side pocket of the car so I always know where they are. No more searching through piles of papers when it’s time to pick up the cleaning

These techniques are so simple that it is easy to dismiss them. But remember, if professional organizers use them and recommend them, they must work. And they do. Just trying them for a week will make a believer out of you.

Make a mnemonic. A mnemonic (pronounced “kneemonik”) is just a word we use to help us remember the first letters of items in a list.

Most of us learned the mnemonic HOMES in school to remember the names of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

Can you make a mnemonic of the things you regularly need to take with you when you leave the house?

Arrange the items you need in an alphabetical list. I repeat this alphabetical list to myself each time I am about to leave the house:Comb, credit cards, keys, lipstick, money, phone. Then I chant them to myself.

Silly? Maybe - but now I can get out the door with the things I need the first time.

These are just a few of the memory tips for improving memory. You'll find plenty of others in books about memory, or online.