"To expect a man to retain everything... is like expecting him to carry about in his body
everything he has ever eaten."
ARTHUR SCHOI'KNHAUKR. philosopher
People tend to r e m e m b e r what's relevant to them. That's why a fashion designer can easily r e m e m b e r shades of color, w h y an in- ternational banker can recite e x c h a n g e rates, and why an astronomer can instantly recognize star patterns. In e a c h case, the subject holds meaning for them. B e c a u s e w e r e m e m b e r what's important to us, w e can e n h a n c e our m e m o r y by deciding whether something is, in fact, important. If it is important, w e naturally pay more attention. W e give ourselves the motivation to recall.
It's true that w e can't always decide beforehand h o w important something will be, or whether something will b e worth remember- ing. But at times w e can judge whether w e will need s o m e informa- tion in the future. Here are three ways to help you decide:
• ASK YOURSELF "What would h a p p e n if I don't r e m e m b e r
this? W o u l d it really m a k e any difference?" If it wouldn't, then don't bother remembering it.
• ASK YOURSELF "How soon d o 1 need to use this informa-
tion?" If you need it sooner, then it has a greater impact.
• ASK YOURSELF "Does anything else d e p e n d on remember-
ing this information?" A subject's real importance is measured b y its value relative to other subjects.
In the process of deciding whether something is worth remember- ing, you determine its importance. If you think something makes a
real difference to you and other people, if it carries immediate im- pact, it takes the top of the list. Giving a piece of information high priority automatically encourages you to pay more attention.
To keep your memory muscles in shape, it's helpful to develop the habit of paying close attention. For example, next time you put down your house keys or car keys, consciously experience setting them down, rather than just dropping them off thoughtlessly. If you place them on a table, look around you. See the surface on which the keys are resting. Ask yourself, is it dark or light? Is it smooth or rough? Is it high or low or somewhere in between? Look at the keys. Are the^ lying fanned out or piled on top of each other? Is the key ring lying flat or at an angle? Picture the keys in your mind. Touch the keys and the surface. What do they feel like? Engage all your senses. Can you smell anything? Is the air warm or cool? You never know what cue may trigger your recollection. In the beginning, it may take several seconds to build up your impression. Later, it takes an instant.
Similarly, during the next conversation you have, pay close atten- tion. The main reason we forget what we hear is that we are not really listening. Either we let our minds wander, or we focus on what we want to say ourselves. Being a good listener involves focus- ing our attention on what the other person is actually saying. Remember the saying, "The best conversations are those in which you focus on the meanings, not the words."
Remembering a person's name involves the same skills in remem- bering where you put things, and remembering what people say. When you meet someone whose name you want to remember, pay attention with all your senses. Listen to the sound of their name. Does it have a hard sound, like Dick or Greg? Or a soft, gentle sound, such as Michelle? Is the sound long and stretched out, like Jennifer? Or short and compact, like Tim? When you say the person's name — "Hello, Frank", "Kornell, is that your name?" — listen to the sound roll off your tongue.
Ask yourself if the name seems to fit the person. To decide, look closely. Does he or she appear strong and sturdy, weak and frail, hard or soft? What kind of body type does the person have? Notice
the person's hair, eyes, and skin color. Listen to the sound of the person's voice, as well as the name. If you shake hands, feel the grip and the texture of the skin. Can you smell a perfume or after- shave? Make a connection between your impression of the person and the sound of his or her name. Tim is the tall, bald man with the firm handshake, and the soft, lyrical voice. Chris is the short, dark- haired woman with round features.
CHAD?
TIP If you want to remember someone, pay attention to them.
Hooks
Can you recall the sequence of letters five pages ago? If you original- ly tried to memorize the sequence by repeating the letters by rote, you probably can't recall them very well. But if you tried to find a hook, a pattern, another meaning, you may have recognized that the sounds of the letters, O I C U R M T, form the phrase, "Oh, I ser you are empty." Once you know this, letters are easy to recall. In 1968, Alexander Luria, a cognitive psychologist, studied the remarkable memory of a Russian newspaper reporter referred to as S. Through imagery and association, S. could effortlessly remember astonishingly long lists of digits and names. To encode a grocery list, for example, he would imagine himself walking down Gorky Street and picture each item at a specific place along the street. He might place the eggs under a street lamp, a quart of milk in a foun- tain, and a pound of butter in a tree. To recall the objects, he would mentally walk down the street again, examine the landscape, and recite the objects that he saw. Curiously, he only made mistakes when he put an object in a hard-to-see place, such as the egg in front of a white wall, or licorice in the shadow of a building.
This memory technique, used by early Greek orators, is called the method of loci. First, you thoroughly memorize a familiar environ- ment. It may be your home street, your way to work, your kitchen, or your bedroom. Next you put the objects that you want to remem- ber into specific locations in the environment and so on Try to make the objects large and conspicuous. The more bizarre the picture looks, the better you'll recall it.
A similar technique can help you remember a list of abstract ideas. Say you need to give a speech or presentation. Translate the abstract ideas into visual images of tangible objects. If you need to make a point about profit, visualize a business graph. If you need to men- tion product distribution, picture a truck or train. If you need to talk- about a change in management attitude, envision a manager upside- down. When you need to recall series of ideas, recall the objects.