Memory Skill Tips

"According to a 2010 article in Scientific American, the memory capacity of the human brain was reported to have the equivalent of 2.5 petabytes of memory capacity. As a number, a “petabyte” means 1024 terabytes or a million gigabytes, so the average adult human brain has the ability to store the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes digital memory."*

The human Brain however, typically only remembers approximately 20 % of what you have learnt. To build up your memory you need to improve your short term memory to pass it along to your long term memory.

Below are some takeaways from a course I recently had the opportunity to attend.
(Please share your techniques in the comment section.)

·      Repetition

·      Spaced Repetition – If learn something today - repeat a day later, a week later, and then a month later your

·      Exaggeration – exaggerate the event into something bigger or smaller (e.g. you generally do not remember your work commute unless something happens such as witnessing an accident)

   Images play big role in memory –associate an image to what you want to remember

·      Focus – Don’t multi-task e.g. How many times have you lost your keys/ phone in your home? Often the reason is you are doing multiple things when you put your keys/ phone down somewhere

Mnemonic: Brain Shortcuts
Associate image with what you would like to remember   
 
Acrostic: Take first letter of each word to make a full sentence
 e.g. Oceans: I Am A Person
India, Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific

Acronym: Take first letter of words, use to make a word
e.g. AWOL - Absent Without Official Leave

Rhymes: Make up a rhyme (The “3 Rs” — rhyme, rhythm, and repetition)
 e.g. How many days in each month
Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November, all the rest have thirty-one.

Remembering Names:
·      Listen: Pay attention, and focus on the name and not on what you are going to say (pay attention).

·      Repetition – repeat it to yourself, and say a few times while talking to the person

·      Associate the name with something - Create a connection e.g. your best friend has the same name

·      Link the name with the face --- what stands out e.g. they have a dimple in their chin

Memorizing Speech, Script or Song:
 
Repeat Repeat Repeat
Say it out loud a few times, do not stop when make a mistake  --Try and remember between longer and longer periods (e.g. 1 day latter, 5 day later etc.

Record it – Play it back repeatedly in the background when doing mundane tasks etc. Try recite after you have listened to it many times.

·      Write it down a few times
·      Try and learn it backwards. It makes you concentrate on each line in isolation.

Remembering Passwords:

·      Password Phrase Method
Have a phrase that has numbers or words that are phonetically similar
Create a sentence you can remember, then use the first letters and punctuation of the sentence.
E.g. Hi my name is John, my daughter loves to dance!
Password: HmniJ,mdl2d!

Phrase could be something you associate the password with.
E.g. you work for a marketing company
I am in charge of the Arizona Tourism campaign, and I love my job!
Password: IaicotATc,aIlmj!

“Memory is the treasury, and guardian of all things.” Marcus Tullius Cicero

Presentation Tips: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-wife-says-article-boring-what-your-thoughts-ryan-joffe/

Good luck!

Additional resources:
http://www.mempowered.com/
http://www.learninginfo.org/
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/how-to-improve-your-memory.htm
https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/improving-memory
*https://www.cnsnevada.com/what-is-the-memory-capacity-of-a-human-brain/#:~:text=As%20a%20number%2C%20a%20%E2%80%9Cpetabyte,2.5%20million%20gigabytes%20digital%20memory.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanjoffe/