5 Methods to Memorize Quickly
You may be on the lookout for improving your memory as you might keep forgetting things on a busy day. Sometimes, forgetting dates or events can cause monetary loss if you miss the last date for making payment or if you forget the wedding of a friend or family member.
Most often it is laziness and inability to make an effort to remember that is responsible for forgetting important things. It is important to keep your mind clutter free and keep it focused on the task at hand.
Here are 5 methods to improve memory power
1. Listen Carefully
Knowledge comes from good observation and listening habits. It has been found that children who listen attentively in the class room need fewer hours of study before the examinations. They are also able to recall what was taught the previous day much easier. When listening is done to understand rather than to respond, the recall would be much better. The next time you meet someone, try to listen attentively to what he or she says before responding- this way you will be grasping more of what was told.
2. Taking Notes
When attending a meeting, listen carefully to what is being said but occasionally note down the main points in a notepad or paper which will enable you to recall the important topics discussed. It also helps to note down phone numbers, names of people, or certain important numbers. Good listening skills combined with the practice of jotting down important information enables you to improve your memory power. Children who have difficulty with spellings are told to write the word several times to remember the right one.
3. Use Mnemonics
Use of mnemonics has been found to aid memory. Children learn the rainbow colors by remembering the abbreviated term VIBGYOR which stands for Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. They are formed by the first letter of each word to be remembered. In media classes, trainees are taught to remember ‘four wives and one husband’ or 4 W’s and 1 H.
It stands for What, When, Where, Why, and How. Every news story must satisfactorily answer the five questions if it is to be useful to the reader. Some people also use music mnemonics by arranging what they have to remember in the tune of a popular song or lyric
4. Chunking or Breaking Info into Parts
When it comes to remembering numbers or a large group of words, breaking them down into equal parts will help you recall better. If your mobile number has ten digits, the best way to remember is in the 4-4-2 format. For example-999 -4545-02 is easier than trying to memorize the whole number. The same applies to remembering sentences. It is the same for remembering car registration numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.
Closely allied to chunking is organizing information into categories. If your spouse told you to buy five different things- try to organize into different categories- such as vegetables, grocery, cosmetics or fruits and memorize the number of items in each category. Visualize each of them for better recall. For example, rice, orange, milk, biscuits or if you are going to the same supermarket regularly, remember the shelves where they are placed so recall will be quicker.
5. Remembering Through Association
Sometimes the best way to remember some name is to associate the name and the corresponding image of them. For example, the names Honey, Rose, Frank or Mark can be visualized that way. By visualizing information, the recall will be better according to psychologists as our brain is organized to better process and store visual information.
