HOW TO
DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY
MEMORY ISN'T ABOUT STUFFING YOUR HEAD WITH
FACTS; IT'S ABOUT HONING YOUR CREATIVITY. HERE'S HOW.
Ever wandered into a
store and quickly realized you’ve forgotten what you need? Or been introduced to
someone and forget their name by the time they walk away?
Don’t worry; you’re
not alone. A 2007 survey conducted at Trinity College in Dublin found that one-third of
British people under age 30 can’t even remember their own phone numbers.
Although this forgetfulness happens to the best of us, if you’re one to blame
your "bad memory," you should know that your refusal to train your
memory is the reason it’s gone awry.
In his book, How to Develop A Super Power Memory, memory training specialist Harry Lorayne
says "there is no such thing as a bad memory" and that "there
are only trained and untrained memories." Although there are a number
of science-backed strategies when it comes to making connections and
enhancing your memory, when you really think about the underpinnings of a
strong memory, it has everything to do with creativity.
.
Basically, saying that
you have a bad memory is like saying you're not creative.
In the book Moonwalking With Einstein, author Joshua Foer (also a
record-holding memory champion) writes about his quest to improve his own
memory by studying "mental athletes." At one point, he writes about
Tony Buzan, an educational consultant, who says the following about memory:
In our gross misunderstanding of the function of memory, we
thought that memory was operated primarily by rote. In other words, you rammed
it in until your head was stuffed with facts. What was not realized is that
memory is primarily an imaginative process. In fact, learning, memory, and
creativity are the same fundamental processes directed with a different focus.
If your ability to
remember something and create something both rely on your ability to associate
information with meaning, then the two uses the same part of your brain. Think
about it this way, what is the best way to remember someone’s name? We’re often
told to use mnemonics to memorize larger pieces of information, such as a
verse, a formula, a list, or a name.
But to enhance your
memory, instead of coming up with devices that have no association in your
brain, pretend you’re working on a creative project and come up with a story
about the names, list, or whatever it is you’re trying to remember. These
exercises might sound ridiculous and time-consuming, but they actually train
the brain to get better. Like every other function in your body, the brain is
no different when it comes to training to get stronger and healthier.
Dale Carnegie’s leadership training program teaches professionals to associate names with a
personality trait, occupation, or even a visual cue to help you tell your
story. Carnegie says:
Paint a mind picture of the person whose name you wish to remember
doing something that reminds you of the person’s name. Have the face and body
of the person you wish to remember in the picture so that, when the picture
comes to mind, you get both the face and the name.
The better your
visualization—the more creative you are—the deeper ingrained that memory is in
your brain.
According to Luca Lampariello who speaks over 10 languages, context is king when it
comes to building memory. Our brains don’t remember isolated facts. Instead we
remember the stories—the context—behind those facts. When you look at random
pieces of information, it makes no sense in your brain, but when you attach a
story to it, your brain is more likely to retain that information.
Studies say humans remember pictures and images more
than they do text. Creativity is all about coming up with these visualization
techniques to be the foundation of your memory mnemonics. When you’re learning a new
language, try to come up with visualizations
for the new foreign word you’re learning. When trying to remember a list—even
something as boring as a shopping list—come up with a bizarre story to help you
remember that list. For instance, think of a long hallway and have different
items on that list pop up during your walk down the hallway in strange ways.
The point of memory techniques is to take the kinds of memories
our brains aren't that good at holding on to and transform them into the kinds
of memories our brains were built for. [They create] memorable images for your
palaces: the funnier, lewder and more bizarre, the better. When we see in
everyday life things that are petty, ordinary, and banal, we generally fail to
remember them . . . But if we see or hear something exceptionally base,
dishonorable, extraordinary, great, unbelievable, or laughable, that we
are likely to remember for a long time.
Think back at the
strongest memories you have and there’s a good chance those memories are linked
to some kind of strong emotion or feeling. For instance, you probably have a
memory of a time when something really funny or really exciting happened. Those
emotions are exactly what made the facts surrounding that time or day
memorable.
A study from 1969 found that when it comes to
memorization, motivation is not a factor. Instead, it's feelings and senses
that make the difference. In the study, researchers James Jenkins and Thomas
Hyde gave two groups of students the same list of words. One group was
instructed to memorize the list for an upcoming test and the other was told
there would be no test. Additionally, one group was told to make a mental note
when the letter "E" appeared in a word while the other group was
asked to determine whether the word was pleasant or not to them. The
researchers found that telling students they have an upcoming test didn’t
affect their memorization skills, but asking them to determine pleasantness in
a word allowed them to make associations with it and hence, had a larger impact
on their memory abilities.
Lastly, once you have
it all down, don’t forget that you need to repeat, repeat, and review. There is
no point in learning something new if you don’t repeat it and get it into your
memory.
There are a number of tricks you can follow like eating berries,
exercising, drinking coffee, and meditating—all proven to help you enhance
memory—but when it comes to the bedrock of training your brain and defeating
forgetfulness, memory training comes down to unlocking creativity and your
ability to turn all of life into a string of bizarre stories.
BY VIVIAN
GIANG
http://www.fastcompany.com/3048850/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/how-to-dramatically-improve-your-memory?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fast-company-daily-newsletter&position=6&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=07232
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