The Secret to Having a Powerful Memory

Artificial intelligence will likely never be a match to the computing power of the human mind. A computer, even with artificial intelligence, can’t write a poem that moves us, improvise the words to a song that invokes love, or tell a good joke that has us on the floor roaring in laughter. Most of all, it cannot match the memory capacity of your mind once you know the tricks that professionals use.

According to a study by Pennsylvania State University, humans use only 10% of their brain capacity to reason, draw inferences, and create new knowledge out of old. Even the most sophisticated super computer cannot come close to matching the brain’s speed and accuracy in performing such complex tasks especially the task of memory.

How does someone remember your name having only met you once?

How does one salesperson remember the entire presentation while another struggles to remember only half of it?

How many times a day do you ‘squeeze’ your memory for names, numbers, dates, lists, facts, figures, presentation agenda or content, directions, addresses, and so forth?

The answers to these questions are simple….

People remember the things they like to do….

Plans and processes that have personal meaning are easily and permanently entrenched in memory.

Favorite music, the scent of certain flowers or perfume evokes powerful and persistent memories….

Trauma can also ensure that minute details are easily remembered.

The secret to a powerful memory is this:

Memory works by association and by building on prior knowledge.Here are some quick tricks to sharpen your memory:

1. Know WHY you want to remember something, and HOW you’ll remember it. To remember a person, for example, ask yourself why they’ll be important to you in the future, imagine where you’ll see them next, and connect that to anything you notice about them.Seeing the importance of remembering really helps, and additional associations (where you expect to see the person next) set the memory more firmly in your brain.

2. To really help your brain stay young, challenge it. Change routes to the grocery store, use your opposite hand to open doors and eat dessert first. All this will force your brain to wake up from habits and pay attention again.

Drive or walk a different way to wherever you go. This little change in routine helps the brain practice special memory and directions. Try different side streets go through stores in a different order anything to change your route.

3. Exercise reduces levels of a stress hormone called cortisol. Elevated cortisol levels can shrink an important part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory and learning.

Studies show that exercise may help prevent Alzheimers or dementia, or at the very least, significantly delay its onset. Exercise also releases powerful chemicals. Recent research at the University of Illinois shows that the brains of healthy but sedentary folks ages 60 to 80 years old actually increased in size after exercising aerobically for 45 to 60 minutes, 3 days a week at a moderate clip.

Both the white matter and the gray matter increased in volume!4. Keeping your memory sharp can be fun.

When you have no pen or paper, and are making a mental shopping or to-do list, remember it with some outrageous mental pictures. For example, you need to buy glue, toothpaste, vegetables, and chicken, you might picture your foot stuck in glue, a toothbrush in your mouth, vegetables sticking out of your trouser pockets and a chicken sitting on your head.

The wilder the mental picture, the more likely you will remember it. Imagine the apples hanging from the trellis, tomato splattered on your kitchen cupboards.

There are many more such tricks but try these for starters.