Perhaps you are still a student and want to improve your memory so you can do better for tests and exams
Or maybe you grew up being told that you are forgetful or have a poor memory, well… think again
Your memory can be strengthen, my friend, and you have come to the right place!
As much as I will like to share how hypnosis can improve your memory, I won’t be talking about that today
Instead I will share some memory techniques which you can learn and implement to improve your memory
Read to the end for a couple of bonuses!
Of course, such memory techniques may require some time and practice
Which also falls back to two main currencies in this world – time and money
If you spend time, you save money
And if you spend money, you save time
Anyway, these three memory techniques have grown with me since young
And I have adapted them along the way to suit my style too
You don’t have to do that, just learn the basics and improve upon them
And the more you use such techniques, the better your memory!
Ok let’s jump into these three memory techniques
1. Build A Memory Palace
A memory palace is a room or a house which contains various items (of your choosing) in order to represent, store and recall pieces of information
You can set different rooms to represent different aspects of your life
Like your bedroom might be regarding your friends and family, while your living room might be all for work
You might also set certain paths in your memory palace and the items along that path will be what you want to remember
It’s a powerful memory technique because you are familiar with your room or house, so any new items added will stand out
To start small, use your room and slowly add more items for what you want to remember
Gradually you can build it up to an entire house, or a palace!
It’s quite versatile but you can set your own “rules” or structure if it helps you
Personally, I like to make things a bit more quirky because you remember interesting stuff better than boring ones hahahaha
Say I want to remember the chemical formula for rust which is Fe2O3 but it’s so boring to just blindly remember it, isn’t it?
So I might create a 3D timelapse hologram of Mars with liquid methane rivers reacting with an oxygen rich atmosphere to turn into H2O and CO2, then the water and oxygen reacts with the iron soil to get Fe2O3 or iron oxide
And this little image is floating in one corner of my memory palace
That’s how I might make something quirky and memorable, which you can too to improve your memory
You can watch this video to see how fast the recall was when we only took a minute or two to remember the words
Surprisingly, this is something which I don’t use often hahahaah
2. Elaborative Encoding or Association
I just call it by association actually, but new terms keep coming up every day *shrug*
Essentially, this method is to link pieces of information together in a meaningful way
Whether you want to link old pieces of information or a new piece to what you already learn prior
The main thing is to create a strong link or association, that (ideally) includes a depth of learning
This builds up your memory in a much stronger way because you just need to recall one piece, and due to the strong associations or links, the rest of the information can be recalled easily as well
For example, when I was in secondary school, I found a way to combine all the physics formulae due to having a depth of understanding for the formula and whatever information pertains to it
Like force equals to mass times acceleration, however since acceleration is change of velocity over change of time etc etc it will take a while to explain
But back then, the moment the physics examination start, my first few minutes is writing all the formulae starting with F=ma
Why?
So that when I do the exam, instead of thinking to recall the formula, I just refer to the formula page
Now I know, you might be thinking, isn’t it easier to remember all the formula on its own?
But if you forget one formula, that’s it
Even if it seems a bit longer, because I know F=ma then all the formula will come out
If you want to advance this further, you can bring information across other disciplines
Like the above example of chemistry linking with astronomy
If you are able to apply one subject and form an association to other areas, or real-life examples, your memory will definitely improve
3. Mind Mapping or Grouping
When I was young, I call it grouping cause I group the information together in funny ways
But grouping might not fit right either hmm…
Anyway, as you might know, mind mapping is useful in laying out information and form connections (or groups)
However, I don’t draw it out or write it out
I do everything in my mind
Because personally, I find the 2D space not enough for forming the connections or groups
You can call it 3D or 4D or even Holo Mind Mapping if you want lol
There was once I was helping my first numerology master at an exhibition and a chiropractic company send their staff to me for numerology reading
In my mind, I can see a card for their face, name, and date of birth, as well as position
However, I can also see the groups in terms of who is friends with who
I can also categorize by the age or the year they are born, or perhaps look at groups where it is by the month they are born in
On top of that, whatever they are sharing with me, will appear as little bits of information along the relevant connections or lines
The more connections or groups you have, the better the memory
Of course, this can combine as a technique with associations as well
Bonus 1: Trust Your Unconscious
Fun fact, your unconscious mind stores all the information
Whether it is what you see, hear, feel, taste, etc etc
I am serious, it stores everything
The trick is that, how to recall the information
While the above techniques can help to make things more interesting so that it is easier to recall
Trust is equally important
Because if you don’t trust that your unconscious mind has stored the information for you, then how can you trust the recall?
You got to trust yourself and your unconscious mind!
When my lung burst and I had the chest operation, I couldn’t carry my laptop without experiencing pain
Much less my bag of notes and books
So I decided to rent a locker and put my stuff there, and just walked into lecture without any writing materials
I decided to trust my unconscious to remember everything that happened in lecture
And I did
It’s like I stored it like a video recording and able to playback
On the other hand, my poly classmates who took notes, couldn’t remember stuff
I feel like it is because they have a backup, so it is ok to forget, which makes them more forgetful and unable to remember things
Can you imagine that they came to visit me in the hospital, yet forget I was in a hospital?
HAHAHAH
But you don’t have to take my word for it, go ahead and test it
See if you are able to remember more things when you don’t have a backup
Because honestly, I believe that
And if you need to test it to believe it, by all means go ahead
As long as you get to learn something and improve yourself
Bonus 2: How To Exponentially Improve Your Memory
You might have noticed already, but I combine my techniques to improve my memory
For example, back in JC, I entered a Chinese Chess team competition, and we played 7 games each in a team of 4
However, back then, I could remember all 28 games of chess, who versus who, not only the start to the finish but also possible variations and routes my player or the opponent could have played
In my memory palace (which I seldom use), all chess information is in a single board of Chinese Chess
Upon entering that chess board, the visual memory of that competition will appear
If I were to select my team player A, versus say B school player C, a game-like interface will appear, where both players will be at the extreme left and right, with a color code for the respective red or black/green chess they are playing, and in the centre is the board
I also remember the board in picture format, so the next picture might be 20 moves later, and when I focus on the start picture to the next picture, the following 20 moves will appear
Of course, the number of moves might be different in between pictures because perhaps the picture might be the start of a couple of variations, of which I will have pictures of those variations at another 15 or 20 moves later
The final picture is the end of game, when it is a checkmate
Each of these pictures of the chess board is like the mind mapping or grouping, while the game interface is the association or the elaborative encoding
Anyway, that’s just to show one of the ways I work
The point is for you to consider combining memory techniques to exponentially improve your memory
How To Improve Your Memory More
I only shared these 3 techniques because these are the main that I use for my own memory
There are other ways you can improve your memory with other techniques such as mnemonics, spaced repetition or even active recall
I don’t use those techniques though
Except maybe if I need to remember something for a short while
That’s just me
Feel free to explore other memory techniques so you can strengthen and improve your memory for your studies, work, or just for fun!
The most important if any, is probably the memory combination because whatever you decide to focus on, when you combine those techniques together, your memory will surely improve by leaps and bounds
Alright, share this with someone who might need a boost in their memory, and I’ll see you again! š
