Improving Your Memory (13 page)
Read Improving Your Memory Online
Authors: Janet Fogler
17
Did I or Didn’t I?
Most people, probably, are in doubt about certain matters ascribed to their past. They may have seen them, may have said them, done them, or they may only have dreamed or imagined they did so.
—William James
We do many daily tasks so automatically that we don’t pay much attention to them. If you worry about whether you turned off the stove, shut down the computer, or locked the door, you can use the technique of self-instruction.
Self-Instruction: Give Yourself Verbal Instructions about What You Want to Remember.
We do some things so automatically that it is easy to forget whether we did them. If you often ask yourself, “Did I remember to do that?” this technique is for you. As you lock the door, use self-instruction. If you say out loud to yourself, “I am now locking the door,” you won’t have to get out of bed later, to check.
This technique is powerful because it focuses your attention, which makes it much more likely that you will remember that you did indeed do the task. Here are situations where using this technique can save needless worry.
Did I?
Turn off the stove/iron/coffeepot/heater/computer
Lock the door
Make the phone call
Charge the cell phone
Adjust the thermostat
Order the book at the library
Reserve the conference room at work
Take my medicine
Turn off the basement light or front porch light
Book a table at the restaurant
Close the garage door
Water the plants
Stop the mail/newspaper
EXAMPLE
Dhara: I travel a lot for work and often, after leaving on a trip, I would ask myself whether I had remembered to adjust the thermostat for an empty house. In a book on memory, I learned that I should say out loud, “There. I just turned the thermostat down (or up).” I gave it a try and now I always add something like, “Good. I won’t wonder if I’m sending money up the chimney while I’m out of town.”
ASSIGNMENT
For the next week, use self-instruction whenever you perform a task that might cause you to ask later, “Did I do that?” At the end of the week, notice whether using this technique was helpful.
18
Remembering More Than One Thing
Memory, my dear Cecily, is the diary that we all carry about with us.
—Oscar Wilde
Have you ever gone to the store to buy three items and only remembered two of them? This chapter describes helpful techniques for when you have several items to remember.
The Story Method: Devise a One-Sentence Story That Will Connect Things You Want to Remember.
The story method is the process of making up a simple yet vibrant sentence connecting items that seem to have no connection. Many people resist this technique because it strikes them as either silly or complicated. We believe that if you give it a try you will find it amazingly effective. This technique can be used to remember such things as
• Two phone calls that you need to make when you get home
• Three things you want to tell your daughter when you call her
• Three items you need to pick up at the hardware store
• Two books you want to get at the library
In the following two examples, you may also need to use environmental change in addition to the story method.
EXAMPLES
You wake up in the night and start thinking of what you need to do the next day. You want to remember that you need to call your dentist, return a rug to the department store, and buy filters for the furnace, but you don’t want to get out of bed to write a list. You make up a story connecting these items by visualizing your dentist using a rug to keep himself warm because his furnace broke down.
Now you need to change your environment in some way to remind yourself in the morning that you have created this story. How about moving your book from the night stand to the foot of your bed? Or putting your extra pillow on the floor?
You have to go to the cleaners and post office before you go home. You might make up a story about putting your pants into the mailbox and the chaos that would follow. How will you remember that you need to stop at all? How about moving your watch or ring to the other hand? Or you could put a note on your car keys or a rubber band around your wrist.
Make up a one- or two-sentence story connecting the following items.
1. Getting a duplicate key made, picking up a birthday cake, and going to the bank
2. Shopping for stationery, cologne, and a broom
See |
Chunking: Chunk Individual Numbers into a Group.
It’s difficult for most people to remember long numbers. When you are trying to remember a group of numbers, look for ways to combine them. This technique can be used to remember such things as
• Phone numbers
• Street addresses and zip codes
• Social Security and driver’s license numbers
EXAMPLES
You want to remember a local telephone number, such as 313-663-4735. You probably already know the area codes in your community and can group the seven numbers into four chunks, 66-34-7-35, which are easier to remember.
A driver’s license or Social Security number has standard groupings, such as 343-49-4296. This number may be easier to remember if you change the “chunks” into 3-43-49-42-96 or 34-34-94-29-6 or 343-494-296.
Memorize your driver’s license number or Social Security number by experimenting with chunking the individual numbers. Analyze the sequence to see which way of chunking makes the most sense.
First-Letter Cues: Group the First Letters of a Series of Items.
This technique involves using the first letters of a list of words to form either another word or a meaningful sentence whose words begin with the same letters as the words on the list. Although this technique is hard to describe, it’s easy to use. The following examples will give you the idea.
EXAMPLES
If you want to remember the names of the five Great Lakes, you can take the first letter of each lake and create the word HOMES (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).
Suppose you want to remember the name of each of the presidents from Nixon to Obama (Nixon Ford Carter Reagan Bush Clinton Bush Obama). You can take the first letter of each name and form a sentence that has meaning to you. Examples are:
Nine furry cats ran by curious baby owls.
or
News from cereal reviewers: Be cool, buy oatmeal.
You are driving in your car and think of four items you want from the grocery store but don’t want to stop to write them down. You need beef, apples, a lemon, and milk. The first letters of these four items can form the word “lamb,” which will serve as a memory cue. If the items do not form a word, try making a sentence with matching first letters. For example, if your list is soup, chicken, soap, and lettuce, you could create the sentence “Soapy chickens like soup” (or “Soupy chickens like soap!”).