6 Ways to Increase and Enhance Your Memory

1. Concentrate. If you're not focused on something, you won't remember it. Have you ever read a passage in a book and then realized you don't even know what you've just read? It's because your mind has wandered and you weren't concentrating on the material. Focus on what you're doing, and your mind will store it away.

   Curiosity is as much the parent of attention, as attention is of memory.

   —Richard Whately,
   author

2. Apply associations. If I have three or four things I have to do first thing in the morning, I do the one-sun, two-shoe exercise with them before I go to bed. Then when I get up in the morning, I can easily recall the tasks I need to accomplish.

3. Memorize something every day. The brain is a muscle, just like all the other muscles in the body. Use it or lose it. Exercising your memory keeps it strong.

4. Stay organized. Many times when I'm feeling overwhelmed, it's because I have so much "stuff" around that I can't focus on what is most important. Then I know it's time to clear off my desk, file those papers, and do those small tasks I've been putting off until tomorrow. When I'm organized, it's much easier to remember the key things I'm trying to accomplish.

5. Write things down. When you go shopping, you're always better off if you make a list and take it with you. You don't necessarily have to write down every item you want to remember. You can write "veggies," for example, and know that you have to buy carrots, broccoli, potatoes, and onions. You can use the same shorthand when you go into a meeting. Write yourself simple notes that will help you remember the main points you want to cover, and the most important questions you want to ask.

6. Use cadence. If you're trying to remember a list of items, set it to music or make it into a rhyme and you will remember it much more easily. Or use acronyms, which are words formed out of the first letters of a series of words you are trying to remember. A popular acronym is "Roy G. Biv," which is used to remember the order of the colors of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). Another technique is the acrostic—a phrase or sentence in which the first letter of each word functions as a cue to help you recall the words you need. For example, I learned the sentence "Mary's Velvet Eyes Make Johnny Stay Up Nights Pining" to help remember the order of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.