The Best Know Techniques To Improve Your Memory
But, you will say, how am I going to remember in the morning that I have a memory system, that I have filed a memorandum list, and that I am going to do all these things today? In short, how will I remember to remember? There are a few techniques to improve your memory which I’m going to share with you!
Here is where our first key word serves a double purpose, for few of us are fortunate enough not to have to awaken in the morning to the overture of an alarm clock. Even if the alarm is not set, your first conscious act is to glance at the dial to see what time it is.
Even then, you rarely jump out of bed immediately. You stretch, scratch, yawn—and begin to remember. This is the simplest, most favorable time to review your plans for the day. But if it doesn’t work for you, you will find any other regular daily act useful for the purpose.
Businessmen, I find, usually like to review their lists the first thing upon arriving at the office. One executive, who attended my classes and uses the system constantly to remember the endless details of a large publishing business, makes it a habit to run through his list each morning when he takes off his hat and hangs it on the hat tree. Another does it in the subway, a third in the elevator on his ride to the twenty-second floor.
You can employ these techniques to improve your memory at your most convenient time, but make it the time of some definite act you perform regularly, so that it will become a fixed habit.
Some people “unhook” their files as soon as they reach the office, writing down the list on a memorandum pad, where it can be seen. There is no reason why you shouldn’t do this, if it makes you feel safer, although it isn’t necessary if you check yourself several times a day to see if you are carrying out your schedule. This memory system, however, is presented for nothing more than your own convenience, so please use it in the way that best suits your own habits.
At this point I should like to answer another question students frequently ask: If key word number one on today’s list means “Buy a can of green paint,” and tomorrow means “Pay the telephone bill,” won’t I get the two confused and buy green paint both days instead of paying the bill on the second?
No. These are temporary lists, and the beauty of it is that you drop them as soon as you are through with them. Notice that these lists are only to be remembered from day to day; they are merely impressed upon the mind strongly enough to last twenty-four hours. There is no quicker way of dismissing them than to mark the items, as accomplished, “finished business,” and never think of them again.
