A Russian journalist named Shereshersky never took or made notes. He could listen to long speeches and recall them line for line. He simply used basic memory principles in everyday life.
Did you know that if you were shown 1000 pictures very quickly, you could with 99 % accuracy; pick those that you have seen before even if they are mixed in 100 new pictures.
Memory techniques are not new; they have existed since the time of the ancient.
Memory is simply a mental activity for recalling information that has been received or experienced. Memory involves three process 1) Receiving 2) Retaining 3) retrieving data, just like computer processors. Like most things, memorizing something is a decision. The brain has an incredible capacity to hold information/data, potential is most times not maximized because most people are lazy, don’t bother or simply don’t want to task their minds. The exception leader should however have the capacity to memorize things. This ability separates the rice from chaff. It spells out an outstanding leader. There are basic and advance memory techniques (mnemonics). The latter is very sophisticated and powerful, but requires a lot of time and effort to be mastered. Strategies for receiving, retaining and retrieving information:
-Reduce distractions: Choose a quiet location.
-Start studying earlier so you have time to rehearse stored information.
-Read with a purpose.
-Take breaks between studying different topics. New memories can interfere with other recently learned information.
-Organize information: Separate them into meaningful groups.
-Deeply process the information: Meditate on it, think about it over and over. You can reverse the learning curve by RECALL. The number of times you recall something from short term memory to long term memory. For example, take the information, about five minutes later, go over it, an hour later, do the same thing, 3 hours later. 6 hours later and 3 times a day for the second and third days. By then it would have been moved to long term memory.
-Use your sense and creativity to enhance storage and retrieval. For example if you are going to the grocery store to buy tomatoes, just imagine that you tripped over a basket of tomatoes and your bum landed on the floor messing up your white kaftan. Now, that is horrific! You’ll most probably laugh at that thought, but most likely will not forget tomatoes.
-Numbering or counting things is also an aid to learning. It helps to check yourself to see if you remember all the items. Use humor! Make up jokes using facts and figures, you need to recall.
-Writing things down can help remember things. It is a form of rehearsal.
-Remembering things by where they are placed is an effective way to trigger memory.
-Peg/Association system. Start by using a structure of something you already know as framework for pegging items. We will incorporate a little bit of exaggeration because the more bizarre and silly things are, the more we take note and remember them.
Let try this. To remember a short list of different things, we’ll use body parts as pegs. You want to remember: Car, Periwinkles, Shoes and Pawpaw.
Put the car on your head, imagine a car on your head and you are trying to keep still so it does not fall off. Imagine suddenly you wake up and your face is in a bucket of live periwinkles crawling around your face.
Tie the shoe strings together and flip them over your shoulder.
Squash the over-ripe pawpaw between your fingers and watch the mess it’s making.
Now sit down and think about these bizarre things. You will see that you can remember the list without going back to where you wrote them. You can use this method to remember a list of things you want to do. Finally employ the help of diaries/day planners, PDA’S, alarm clocks, timers, post it notes and of course assistants. You can chunk the information into smaller numbers of units.
There are factors that significantly affect your memory.
Negative Effects
-Drug and Alcohol
-Fatigue can affect your ability to take incoming information or retrieve stored information.
-Stress and tension feelings of anxiety and/or depression can affect the ability to assimilate or store information and retrieve information.
-Some medical conditions and drugs used for treatment can also affect your memory.
Positive Effects
-Exercise and good health are associated with better brain oxygenation.
-Diet surely plays an important role in memory enhancement, antioxidant for example are unknown as immune boosting properties. They are also key brain boosters, because they improve the flow of oxygen through the body by fighting free radicals.
-Eating foods that are rich in fiber and nutrients also help to resist and combat disease that can affect your memory.
-Some of the best foods for memory enhancement include: sweet potatoes, black currants, blue berries, watermelon, cantaloupe tomatoes, Red cabbage, Straw berries, and Olive oil.
More tips
- Pay attention to what you are learning and decide to remember it.
- Storage seems to increase if we pronounce the names of the items aloud.
- Teach someone else what you have learnt. You are reciting and understanding it some more when you teach.
- Make notes and remember the 7 items is the maximum your short term memory can hold per time.
- Go over what you want to buy, people you want to see and so on. Whatever the list might be you will get used to using it and get better at it.
QUOTE FOR TODAY
“Nature gave men two ends… one to sit on and one to think with. Ever since then man’s success or failure has been dependent on the one he used most.” – George R. Kilpatrick
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