Texting. Email. TV. Internet. Cell Phones. We live in a world flooded with information. With so much data coming at you, how do you remember the important things? Here are 10 quick Tips for Improving your Memory and Study Skills, borrowed from the fantastic ARISE Brain Food Series.
- Create a concept map when studying confusing topics. Being with the main ideas and then expand into supporting facts or ideas.
- Remember to look a person in the face when you meet them for the first time and notice features: dimples, freckles, eye color, hair style or glasses. Link those features to the person’s name. During an introduction, make eye contact and repeat the person’s name, “Hello, Mary. How are you?” When it’s time to part, look the person in the eye and repeat their name: “It was nice to meet you, Mary.”
- Challenge your memory. Look at a group of numbers for 10 seconds. Cover them up and try to recall as many as you can. Your brain is a muscle. It needs a workout to stay in shape.
- Make up rhymes or songs to remember facts.
- Rely on all your senses to recall things. Picture the information, speak it, hear it…remember it.
- If you have to remember a speech, write down the main points on an index card. Keywords are helpful reminders. Good speakers talk to their audience; bad ones read.
- Use a dictionary when you read and look up words you don’t know. Identify and concentrate on important facts.
- Test your memory by writing a brief summary after a reading exercise. Stand up and read it out loud. This will help organize your thoughts and reinforce the material.
- Eat plenty of protein; it helps your brain work at its best.
- Be patient. Breathe. Give your memory a chance. Tension affects your ability to recall.