Memorization Made Easy - 5 Simple Ways to Improve Memory

Are you having difficulty in remembering names, faces, figures, and events? Do you envy other people who remember facts and dates with exquisite detail? Well, you can stop feeling envious now. Yes, it's true that some people are gifted with the uncanny ability to remember just about anything they want. However, that doesn't mean you don't have to resign yourself to a life of poor memory.

There are ways to improve memory and sharpen your ability to store data efficiently-and to remember things fairly quickly. Having a sharp memory is always useful to us. We can function better with our everyday lives when the mind can be relied on to recall important information.

We have 2 types of memory: the short-term and the long-term memory. You can think of them as 2 doors with the first one leading to a small waiting room; and the second door into a very large storage room.

Waiting rooms are places where people stay temporarily and storage rooms are more permanent. Therefore, anything that goes inside the first door, but not into the second door, will be lost in the overwhelming flow of information that is all around us, making memorization difficult.

To prevent this are 5 simple memory techniques that will help sharpen your mind and push information from the waiting room to the more permanent, long-term storage room:

1. Concentrate.

Pay attention to the data that you receive so that you can digest the information better and faster. Focus your attention while processing facts and figures so that you can take in as much as you can.

2. Make a connection between the new data with something you already know.

The process of association is very powerful. Use it to connect what you want to remember to something you already know or feel deeply about. You can even connect it to something entirely unrelated.

For example: say you are asked to buy diapers on your way home from work. You may connect this errand to 'babies' or 'telephone.' After 4 hours, you're driving the car and see a baby being strolled by a woman crossing the street-or a telephone stand. You mind will associate the baby or the telephone with diapers which will trigger you to remember to buy the diapers.

3. Repetition.

Songs and commercial jingles are easy to memorize because they are repeated over and over on the radio and television. Repeat the information inside your mind again and again. Think of repetition as overcrowding the waiting room to the point where there is no other place for the information to go but into long term storage.

4. Organize.

You not only need to push memory into storage, but you need to organize the storage room well so you can find and recall the information as quickly and efficiently as possible. Think about your bedroom for a second. When it is messy, it is impossible to find anything under all that mess. But when your room is clean and organized, it's a breeze to locate items. So whether you need to remember lists, facts, or complex ideas, find a method of organizing data that makes it easy for you to recall and retrieve information quickly.

5. Practice Recalling.

When people think of memory, they think strictly about memorizing and shoving information into storage. However, an important part of memory is about recalling, which means being able to retrieve all that information from storage. So if you want to really sharpen memory, learn to practice recalling information you want to memorize.

You can practice recalling by taking what you just memorized and resting your mind for 5-15 minutes. Then try to recite what you memorized. If you are successful, do this step 3 to 4 more times; each time giving yourself a longer break in between. You might take a bath or read a book before going back to recall what you memorized. If you are still able to remember the data after three times, this means the data is residing in the part of the brain where it will likely stay long-term and where it will be easily accessible.

If you fail at correctly reciting the first time around, don't worry. Go back and use the above memory techniques and try again. It is okay to fail the first few times. Just regularly apply this simple memory technique whenever you need to impress a thought in your mind.

These are the pain-free, easy ways to improve memory. Performing these simple steps frequently will help you sharpen your ability to recollect all that you desire. Indeed, practice makes perfect.