Building your memory bank involves improving your listening skills, concentration and focus. When your senses receive information and pass it along to your short-term memory, where it is encoded and then moved along on your memory channel how well you paid attention in the first place will determine if it keeps moving on to long-term memory storage. Once saved, memory can then be brought back when you want to.
- Get it right the first time. Bad or broken thoughts do not get past short-term memory. Your brain only processes one thing at a time (even though they do it very fast), so if you have multiple interruptions or distractions while you are trying to learn something you will never remember it. It’s almost like the wrong information gets stuck in your head and starts to back up all the data you have learned after that. A person’s name is their prized possession, and everyone would like to think that what they say is interesting enough for someone to ask for them to repeat it. Don’t be afraid to ask someone to repeat his or her name, or what he or she was saying.
- Pay attention and develop a connection with them. When trying to remember a person, look them directly in the eye as you study their features. As a matter of fact, try to get a lock on their features as they are approaching you in order for you to pick up something that stands out. Try to associate something familiar with their face, like a nose shaped like a banana. Listen to what they have to say and ask questions. Look them directly in the eyes so they know you have their attention. When you develop a personal rapport with them you are more apt to remember more about them later.
- Use association. For example: If you want to learn a person’s name – such as a woman named Ruth Nile, associate the word “Ruth” with baseball (Babe Ruth), and the word “Nile” as the river in Egypt. Then picture in your mind Babe Ruth floating down the Nile.
- Practice the technique known as chunking. Most people only remember between 7-9 items in a string at a time. If you break a series of things to remember into smaller “chunks,” it is a lot easier to remember (a phone number for example: the number 5557864532 is a lot harder to remember than 555-786-4532). The number was broken down into three chunks of 3 numbers, 3 numbers and 4 numbers (3-3-4).
- Sign up for a memory training course. Everything you learn adds more brain cells and strengthens the connections you already have. Taking a seminar or class in memory training will not only give you the tools you will need for success, it will add more to your brainpower. You can learn how to make a speech without taking notes, remember the names of potential clients as well as the ones you have, and help you to organize your life to avoid small memory lapses that can turn into big mistakes (like forgetting your anniversary). It also will help to build your confidence — and that definitely will give you a leg up on the competition.
About the author:
Ron White is a two-time U.S.A. Memory Champion and memory expert. As a memory speaker he travels the world to speak before large groups or small company seminars, demonstrating his memory skills and teaching others how to improve their memory, and how important a good memory is in all phases of your life.
Sources:
Ask.com – 10 Ways Psychology Can Improve Your Life: http://psychology.about.com/od/psychology101/tp/applying-psychology.htm
The PhantomWriters.com — Good Memory Equals Greater Success: http://thephantomwriters.com/free_content/db/j/good-memory-equals-success.shtml
The Memory Book, by Harry Lorayne & Jerry Lucas
