Successful Memory Techniques In A Week

How to Improve Memory In Seven Simple Steps

Jonathan Hancock, Cheryl Buggy

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781473609600
• eBook ISBN: 9781444159127
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Skills
• Index: Business

An effective memory is crucial to anyone who wants to advance their career.Written by Jonathan Hancock and Cheryl Buggy, leading international memory experts, this book quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know to in order to recall whatever you need to in the workplace.The highly motivational 'in a week' structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points, and at the end there are optional questions to ensure you have taken it all in. There are also cartoons and diagrams throughout, to help make this book a more enjoyable and effective learning experience.So what are you waiting for? Let this book put you on the fast track to success!

You’re approaching the halfway point in your week of memory training, so pause to consider any changes you’ve noticed already. Have you found any opportunities to use the memory techniques for real? By putting them to work you’ll embed them in your learning and improve your thinking habits. The more they pay off, the more you’ll want to hone your skills further.

Keep an eye out also for any of your existing strategies that work. Notice when you tie a knot in a handkerchief, go to a particular place to help you remember, run through the alphabet until one letter kick-starts your brain… Now you can also think about why these behaviours work, and what they tell you about your memory. If they work, keep doing them; otherwise, replace them with the tactics you learn as the week goes on.

And celebrate your successes. It’s easy to underestimate the skill involved in scoring full marks on one of the memory tests, or the achievement of remembering things you’ve struggled with for years. Pat yourself on the back every time you prove you can use your memory well. Enjoy the learning challenges you’re given – especially the things you now choose to do with your developing memory skills.

Recapping your learning

One of the best things about the sort of learning described in this book is that it cuts out wasted repetition. Once you’ve created pictures and stories to remind you of a set of information, you never have to start again from scratch.

You can quickly recap the material even if you haven’t used it for months, simply by reminding yourself of the key images – and every time you do so you’re strengthening the memories, rather than just learning the same material again.

Spend a few minutes now recapping some of the information you’ve learned so far in this book, the images and stories that allow you to recall:

• the ten-item shopping list, beginning with chocolates

• the list of 20 words beginning with television

• the list of 20 words beginning with grass

• the first ten U.S. presidents since World War Two

• the dates of:

– the Gunpowder Plot

– the death of Ovid

– the Battle of Waterloo

– the ruin of Pompeii

– the birth of Henry VIII

• the dialling code for:

– Newcastle

– Liverpool

– Oxford

– Peterborough

– Birmingham.

You’re able to remember any kind of information by making it memorable, and so far you’ve learned more than 70 distinct pieces of information.

Practice makes perfect – so try memorizing the first ten numbers in Japanese. Don’t be tempted to think that this is too difficult. The technique is one you’re well used to by now. You simply invent an image-reminder for the way each number sounds, then link all ten together.

1 ichi

2 nee

3 san

4 she

5 go

6 roku

7 nana

8 hachi

9 q

10 ju

Image ideas:

1 and 2 – itchy knee

3 – sand

4 – sheep

5 – ‘go’ sign

6 – rock

7 – bananas

8 – a sneeze (it sounds like ‘hatchoo!’)

9 – a queue

10 – juice

Perhaps you imagine yourself…

…rubbing your itchy knee in the sand, when a flock of sheep rushes at you, knocking you flying across the beach. You try to get rid of the sheep by holding up a large sign saying ‘Go’, but it’s no good: they’re all settling down for the day on rocks by the shore, and opening up their picnic boxes – which are all full of bananas. Unfortunately, sheep must be allergic to bananas because they all start sneezing – ‘hachi!’ – and form a long queue a...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• About the Author
• Contents 
• Introduction
• Sunday: The right frame of mind
• Monday: Your amazing brain
• Tuesday: Think like a genius
• Wednesday: How to remember anything
• Thursday: Learning to learn
• Friday: People skills
• Saturday: Lifelong learning: your personal memory improvement plan
• 7 × 7
• Copyright