| A Quick Word Helps to Remember | | | | It's silly and childish - but that's the |
| | | | point, it's silly enough to be remembered. |
| Do you have a list you have to remember | | | | Think the story through and the key words - |
| quickly? Take the first letters and form an | | | | cat - melon - onion - glass - horn - come to |
| acronym. | | | | mind. |
| | | | |
| For example - you have to remember to send | | | | Of course, it's unlikely that you'll ever |
| Fred, Lisa, Ethel and Andrew cards. Yes, | | | | have to remember a list of words such as |
| their first initials form the word FLEA. | | | | this, but the point is not to be afraid to |
| Imagine itching (your head?) because you have | | | | create the absurd. It works. |
| a flea - you know the first letters of their | | | | |
| names. | | | | Longer Lists |
| | | | |
| Going to the supermarket? Bread, butter, | | | | What if you have an extremely long list of |
| ketchup, onions, tuna, olive oil- BBKOTO. | | | | items to remember? Try breaking it down into |
| | | | more suitable sub-chains and apply the same |
| Not too promising? Try rearranging them - you | | | | rules as above. Better still - see if you can |
| have TB BOOK. Think of a book going through | | | | organize the list better, put similar or like |
| the last act of 'Camille' - dying of | | | | items together. Are you able to form acronyms |
| consumption. Silly? Yes. But remember - the | | | | from any of the items? Can you separate the |
| sillier the better, it will force it to stay | | | | list in such a way that the acronyms form |
| in your head. Now you have all the letters. | | | | words and then you can combine these words? |
| | | | Remember, the more ridiculous the thought - |
| If you don't have enough letters to form a | | | | the stronger the impact and the better it |
| word - try to find one that comes close. | | | | will stay in your memory. |
| | | | |
| PROMPT for PRMT, FAULT for FLT and so on. You | | | | It helps if either the acronyms or the |
| already know the items you're have to | | | | associations you create can form mental |
| remember, what you are trying to do is create | | | | images. What you can see in your mind is very |
| a reminder - once your memory is jogged, the | | | | strong and the stronger something is, the |
| words will come back. | | | | better you can play with it and the easier it |
| | | | will be to remember. What may be difficult at |
| When you are devising the acronym, remember | | | | first will come with practice. |
| to picture the items visually in your head, | | | | |
| visualization is a strong memory technique. | | | | Sketching the Details |
| | | | |
| Forming A Story | | | | Visualization is a very strong skill. Try |
| | | | thinking in pictures and forms. When you have |
| If you have a longer list of seemingly | | | | to remember directions - use a series of |
| unrelated items, that automatically becomes a | | | | arrows to lay out the route. If you have to |
| good candidate for a story. | | | | remember the blood flow in the body - |
| | | | wouldn't it be easy to lay out a diagram of |
| For example: | | | | the heart, lungs and other organs and then |
| | | | add arrows to point the direction? Wouldn't |
| -Glass | | | | that be easier to remember than a simple word |
| | | | description? Associate a certain shape with a |
| -Horn | | | | certain organ and then it becomes even more |
| | | | vivid. |
| -Cat | | | | |
| | | | Relate the Facts |
| -Onion | | | | |
| | | | If a piece of information doesn't relate to |
| -Melon | | | | you, then try finding something about it that |
| | | | does. For example, the human body has 60,000 |
| These words may be unrelated, but that is the | | | | miles of blood vessels. Kind of hard to |
| point - you can combine them easily with a | | | | believe? Think that that means ten round-trip |
| story that will be outrageous enough it will | | | | drives between Los Angeles and New York and |
| stay in you head - change the order if | | | | it will take on meaning. |
| necessary - | | | | |
| | | | Do you have to remember the physical |
| A cat is playing with a melon and all of a | | | | dimensions for a room or a field? Compare it |
| sudden it's repelled by the smell of an onion | | | | to something you know already. If you're a |
| that was used to season the melon. The cat | | | | sports fan, chances are you can picture the |
| got all excited and ran away - racing through | | | | size of the playing field. How does that |
| a glass window and landing inside a big | | | | compare to the space you are trying to |
| French horn. | | | | remember - bigger smaller, would it fit into |
| | | | a football field - how many times? |