If you’ve ever heard yourself utter the words “I’ve got an awful memory” then don’t worry- there are things you can do to improve your memory and we’ve gathered the best tips and tools for working on memory retention.
Give It Meaning
If you’re learning a new or confusing concept it can be harder to retain so you need to make the information meaningful – try summarising the information in your own words which will not only imbed the lesson but also prove that you have understood it.
Organise It
If you have a disorganised filing cabinet it makes it impossible to find anything, the same is true of your brain – by organising information into similar categories in your head you’ll find it easier to recall the relevant information.
Chunking the information into bits can help to – instead of trying to remember all of the dates on a timeline, split it into sets of 3 or 4 that are related. The smaller sections of data are easier to remember and therefore recall.
Visualise It
The brain is far better at recalling images than words so when learning information try to create a mental image of the information either through a story board in your mind or through drawing out a visual summary that you can then absorb.
This works especially well for processes so you can see where the relationships exist.
Associate It
Connecting or associating ideas with a strong trigger can work wonders when trying to recall – you can use an image, word, event, place, smell, person, situation or an object. When you connect a new, unfamiliar concept to a familiar thing the brain is more able to remember it because of the familiar element.
Review It
The worst thing you can do is learn something then put it aside and ‘forget’ about it, by taking time to frequently review or recall the information you have learnt. Every time you do this, you are reinforcing the memory in your brain.
Talk About It
Talking about a concept or set of ideas helps to reinforce not only the memory but also helps you to ensure that you understand. Debate or discuss with anyone who will listen to help you reinforce the ideas in your head.
Sing About It
As children we are taught a lot of things that are put to music or at least to a rhyme – do you remember the rhyme for remembering the colours of the rainbow in order? You can do the same with more complicated ideas – setting them to music or creating rhymes to remember processes or date sets.
