Don’t you wish you would remember more things longer? Maybe just long enough to get through the exams, or remembering something indefinitely so you can tell stories to your great grandchildren (if you live that long that is!). I will share with you exactly how to do that, by literally picking your brain.

Repeat and Familiarize with Your Short-Term Memory

To remember something for a short period of time, it’s best to repeat it and link it to something familiar. In “The Memory Book” by Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas, the most effective technique to remember something is to link every single piece of information (e.g. a word) to something you’re already familiar with.

If you need to remember 10 words, in specific order, you would have to visualize  in your mind that links the first 2 words together. Then the 2^nd and the 3^rd word. Then the 3^rd and the 4^th, so on so forth. Every subsequent word is linked to a familiar word, which is the prior word. So, as long as you could remember the first word, you could remember the rest of them.

I tried this technique with my friend and I was able to spill out 10 random words perfectly in the exact order. Grab the book and you’ll be amazed at it (link at the bottom of the post).

3 Steps to Retaining Long-term Memory

For long-term memory retention, repeat to remember. In “Brain Rules”, Medina stated that the following 3 steps will help you recall data long-term:

1) Think about the information within the 1^st hour after you learn it

3) Sleep well for the night and repeat the information after you wake up

2) Immediately talk to other people about it in great detail

I find these steps very helpful. I’d probably used them without realizing it, although not consistently. Having a good night’s sleep and then rehearsing the information in the morning works especially well for me.

For instance, history class was never my favorite back in the school days. However, to avoid failing the class, I’d make myself repeat the materials a few times, link them as a story afterwards (to make it more interesting), go to bed, then write it out after I wake up (rehearse).

I skipped Step 2, because as much as the history lessons were invaluable, I was never really interested in remembering all the materials no matter how hard I try. Again, you’re better off doing what you love instead of forcing yourself to do what you don’t like to do.

Step 3 also relates also to problem solving. Often, I had a lot of math problems to solve back in my college days and sometimes I could not figure out the solution after a long time staring at a question. I would usually sleep over it and in a lot of cases I’d wake up and solve the question on my first try. Naturally, the brain synthesizes information better when we’re asleep.

Vision is King

Finally, let me ask you a question: why do you think there’s a picture that follows every single blog post? Mind you, it costs $1 each on Stockxpert.com, but it’s well worth the money.

Why?

According to John Medina, the author of “Brain Rules”, you will retain more of what you read when pictures accompany the text. And out of all the 5 senses, vision is king because the brain prioritizes the sense of sight. So, to help you remember more of what you read in this blog, it’s crucial to put a picture for every blog post even if it costs a dollar.

If You’ve Forgotten Everything You Just Read, It’s Okay. But Remember This:

Next time you’re struggling to remember something, visualize it in your mind as images (2D or 3D), do it a few times (3-5 times would be good starting point), sleep over it, and repeat the process. I guarantee you will remember more than what you currently can (unless you’re a memory expert!).

Most importantly, have fun trying the techniques and steps!

Recommended Readings:

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School – A great book about how brain works and how you can take advantage of the patterns

The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play – I love the memory techniques taught in this book, definitely worth a read if you don’t want to be absent-minded all the time!

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