How to develop memory? 12 secrets that will improve your memory

Friends, hello everyone! There come times when memory begins to fail us. We cannot remember the names of new acquaintances or the thought we wanted to voice. Our attention becomes distracted. How to deal with such a problem? Today I will tell you how to develop memory and attention in an adult and a child. In a short time you will see brilliant results. And the exercises that we will talk about will turn out to be not only effective, but also very exciting! You will learn what causes inattention. And how to avoid them.

After studying the article, learn to concentrate on important matters without paying attention to distractions. Your performance will increase.

Do some arithmetic

When you have nothing to do in boring and long queues, try to start solving very simple arithmetic problems in your head. For example, multiply the number of legs of those red chairs by the number of flowerpots on the windowsill. Or count the sum of numbers on the license plates of cars passing by... This practice is actually an excellent memory training.

Memory development

Let's start with the fact that in any business it is important to set the right goal. Here we can highlight the following:

• memory training to remember a couple of faces at an interview or 10-20 faces at a conference;
• training to remember digital, visual and other information simultaneously;
• training for the sake of general mental tone or preventing age-related changes;
• training for participation in the world memory championship (and any cognitive competitions);
• training for the sake of general development of consciousness.

Remember what happened to you during the day

Before going to bed, at the end of the day, scroll through all its details in your head. What did you do throughout the day, what would you do to improve some aspects. Think back about your day. From now until awakening. Believe me, this is not an easy task! Ask the question: “What was the most effective decision I made today?”

Improving concentration and memory

Excellent methods that I tested on myself, now I can safely recommend to you. Just try it and, after a while, feel the amazing result!

1. Choose colors. It is highly recommended to avoid bright colors in the workplace. During long monotonous work, blue and green colors will save you. Red color should be avoided. It is stimulating and prevents a person from concentrating. Of course, you won’t be able to arrange your office to your liking. But it’s quite possible to add the necessary shades to your desktop. Don't forget about the bedroom. Its colors should be relaxing.
2. You name the colors correctly. Great workout for the brain. I remember we were into this kind of entertainment back in school. And it turns out that it has a lot of benefits. Take markers and write colors on a piece of paper, but in different shades of the felt-tip pen. It's not difficult to write. But reading them later is somewhat difficult. The task is very exciting. It helps develop memory and attention in both children and adults.
3. Avoid switching thoughts. We always easily jump from one thought to another. As soon as we sat down to work, we heard our colleagues talking, and our entire attention was already there. Or the smell of food came from the dining room, and what kind of business we can talk about. It is important to catch yourself in such moments and switch back in time. Tell yourself that after completing your tasks, you will definitely return to what distracted you. If, of course, it was important.
4. Learn to concentrate. A piece of paper and a pen will help you with this. Keep an eye on the second hand of your watch for two minutes. Then draw a straight line on the sheet for two minutes. Just draw. Don't think about anything. Did a thought pop into your head? We drew a loop and started drawing the line again. In a couple of weeks there will be noticeable progress. And the number of loops will be sharply reduced.
5. You work in a calm and comfortable environment. Try to do your business in a quiet room.

What else can you do?

Dear friends! The tips in the article are truly powerful, but you have an even more effective way to boost your attention. Have you heard about Wikium? If not, then this is a huge company of professional and charismatic people who teach people to train their brain, memory, attention, charisma and much more. On their website you can take online tests absolutely free and improve yourself every day. I train with them all the time and have even purchased several courses.

These guys, in my opinion, have no worthy competitors in this topic. So that someone would take it and teach all sorts of useful things in such a comprehensive way. But today the topic of our article is memory and attention, and therefore I simply cannot help but offer you a mega-useful online course.

The 15-day online course “Development of Attention” is a super-powerful program aimed at improving attention, from leading experts in the field of neuropsychology and cognitive psychology.

Also watch this video to understand what this training is and what it will give you.

Don't even try to cram!

Remember how at school/university we could memorize the information we needed to get a good grade? Forget about it. This technique does not help develop memory. Dull cramming is ineffective. It tires the brain, and it quickly stops responding to the information it receives. Better think about what you read. You need to not only learn, but also understand what you read.

Features of human memory

1. A person remembers better information that aroused emotions in him and painted a picture in his head.
   Why are works of fiction and funny stories easily remembered, but professional literature or text with many numbers is problematic? The pictures we present form reference neural connections. Once you read “Quiet Don”, you will perfectly remember what Aksinya looks like, because Sholokhov described the heroine in detail on more than one page! Has it ever happened that you accidentally stumbled upon a film, but you realize that you already watched it several years ago? Some moment is so memorable to you that the neural connections are still alive.
2. The general property of our body was formulated by the Russian biologist P.F. Lesgaft: “What is not exercised disintegrates.” A skill that is not used or information that is not repeated is removed as unnecessary. To retain the necessary data, it needs to be repeated and the skill needs to be trained.
3. To keep your memory sharp, you need to study all the time.
   The maximum decline in our intellectual abilities occurs in the period from 22 to 25 years (after graduation from university). At this time, we stop learning, and if we use the brain for 20 years only for familiar tasks and limited functionality (as often happens at work), then the previously developed neural connections are abolished. All this leads to sad statistics: according to a study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the education of most people in Russia after 25 years of age almost disappears. We need to move away from this practice and learn something new. It is also useful to do familiar things with your left hand (if you are right-handed).

Learn several foreign languages

It's nice to come to Italy and imposingly say “Buongiorno!” to a passing waiter. And then catch the admiring glances of those with whom you arrived. Is not it? But it has long been known that learning foreign languages ​​contributes to the development of good memory . And it's also very interesting! So why not take advantage of this?

These are effective memory training techniques. But there is something else interesting. Memory is inextricably linked with the correct and good functioning of the brain. This means that stimulating its work can improve memory:

1. Regular exercise to increase brain activity and improve memory;
2. No to gray everyday life! What is remembered well is what does not fit into the framework of everyday life. Try changing your surroundings, adding some bright colors, going to the store along a new route... You don’t have to radically change your life. Just add something new to your daily routine, and your brain will work with renewed vigor;
3. Add new habits . For example, tidying up your desk in the morning is a great start to a productive day!
4. Meditation and relaxation force the brain to switch and relax. This means that he will perform new tasks with double energy;
5. Music has a magical effect on our brain. It has been proven that people who play music have better memory and analytical abilities;
6. Teamwork. Brainstorms have proven their effectiveness more than once. And now scientists have proven that decisions made as a team were more accurate and faster. They attribute this to the fact that during communication, information is more easily perceived and assimilated. So solve problems together!
7. The brain absorbs and sorts information while we sleep . So don't ignore this process.

Influencing factors

The fight against any disease begins with identifying the root causes. What can have such a negative impact?

• Severe stress and fatigue.

If you spin like a squirrel in a wheel and don’t give your body a rest, it will definitely suffer from it. The system will fail. You will feel the unpleasant consequences of this. Endless worries and negative emotions will have a negative impact on any person.

• Hormonal disbalance.
• Psychological or physical disorders.
• Lack of sleep.

This is one of the most popular causes of attention problems. The brain is forced to process a huge amount of information every day. At the end of the day, he needs proper rest and eight hours of sleep. However, many people neglect this. They don’t take it as something serious, they sleep 3-4 hours a day. And when problems arise, they grab their heads.

• Hunger.

It's all pretty simple here, but I'll explain. Surely, you have encountered the unpleasant sensation that arises from constant disruption of your eating schedule. If not, that's great! If the answer is yes, then you are familiar with the consequences of various diets and fasting. I didn't go on any special diets. But, due to being busy, this point and the previous one applied to me. The body stopped receiving not only the necessary time to sleep, but also the necessary vitamins and minerals. I began to eat rarely and little, because I always had no time. And after significant weight loss, I felt all the “charms” of such an attitude towards myself.

• Increased anxiety.

You know, it’s like the thought that the iron is left on at home. It becomes impossible to think about anything else. So it is with excessive anxiety. There is only room in the head for worries. Your attention does not switch to anything else. You cannot set yourself up for work and do it well.

More factors

• Physical pain.

With constant headaches or severe pain in the joints, people cannot switch their attention to anything. There are only unpleasant sensations in my thoughts.

• Medicines.

Some medications can have a detrimental effect on concentration. I recommend that you carefully study the instructions before use. There are medications that indicate after what time you are allowed to drive.

• Situation.

It's no surprise that environments filled with distractions can take a toll on us. In an office where equipment is noisy, managers are talking with clients, outside the window they are repairing the road or mowing the grass, it is impossible to put together the thoughts in your head.

• Clutter in the workplace.

If your table looks perfect: everything is neatly folded and put away in its place, then the eye will not focus on anything. When documents, stationery and colorful sticky notes are scattered everywhere, it will be difficult to concentrate.

• Internet.

The most popular factor. What do we do when we sit down to work? Right! Every time we get distracted by our smartphone. Either a notification from the application, then a message, or a call. And how then will you complete at least one task efficiently?

Friends, most likely, while reading, you have already realized the reason for these consequences in yourself. Next we will figure out how to get rid of them. And don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to always stay up to date with the latest news.

Exercises for memory development

After you've worked on your imagination, it's time to move directly to memory. I suggest two effective exercises.

Couples

For example, you need to remember the word pillow, which in English is pillow [pilou]. Now choose a phonetically similar Russian word, for example, saw. Link two images (saw and pillow).

Imagine a huge white soft down pillow being cut by a saw. Of course, all the fluff flies through the air and everything around turns white. Keep this picture in your head and repeat out loud three times: pillow, pillow, pillow.

If the word is long, divide it into two small ones, for example, the word constellation can be represented as a horse and cart. The main condition is to create the most vivid connection between the images, which will not need to be remembered (the picture itself will appear in your head). Next, it is advisable to switch to material that will be relevant for your work as quickly as possible.

Chains

The second exercise is called “Chains”. It involves memorizing words using a vivid, made-up story. This way you can remember your shopping list.

For example: bread, oranges, sausage, washing powder, light bulb. Imagine a fresh half of bread that you took from the counter. You are about to put it in the basket when you notice that there is an orange peel sticking out of the bread pulp. You pull on it and pull out a whole orange. Now you cut it, and inside is not an orange, but a sausage, but not everything is all right with it either. From the white veins in the meat, washing powder begins to pour directly onto the floor. You look at a mountain of powder on the floor, and a light bulb is on inside. The funnier and more unusual your story is, the faster you will remember the elements of the chain.

Expanding your memorization capabilities

You cannot train your memory in one lesson, even if it is part of the most popular and expensive course taught by a certified psychologist.

We offer effective ways to develop your thinking processes at home and completely free of charge.

Feelings

The method of co-feelings allows you to build memorable associations. To do this, you need to learn to connect all five senses. For example, create associations for the word “airplane.” How do you see it? What do you hear? How do you feel after the touch? What taste do you feel? What's the smell?

In this way, you can learn to more acutely perceive and remember new data more reliably. It is difficult to forget something that caused the activity of several senses at once.

Training attention

Attention is something without which it is impossible to achieve maximum memory. In the era of information overload, it is simply necessary to be able to focus on what is important. The following exercise is suitable for those who are looking for how to train memory and attention for one minute a day.

Set your stopwatch to 60 seconds. Make marks in the figures as shown in the example, strictly one by one. Repeat the exercise every day until you can cross out everything correctly and meet the deadline. If you wish, you can increase the difficulty level and increase the number of figures. Print as many copies as you like and make the actions automatic.

Memorizing texts using pictograms

Pictograms surround us everywhere. These include smartphone icons, road signs, and brand logos. Pictograms are an excellent means of memorizing any text that needs to be stored in memory verbatim, no matter if it is a verse, a quote or a definition of a term.

A clear example of the use of this technique is in the book “100% Memory” by E. Dodonova.

So, in the first picture we see an excerpt from E. Yevtushenko’s poem “The Third Snow”.

This is how the author of the book depicted these lines using pictograms.

Thus, every person, young and old, can learn to quickly memorize by drawing pictograms as their own imagination dictates.

Even those who don’t know how to draw can draw pictograms, because you just need to draw a schematic icon for each word.

Developing creative thinking

A person who strives to think effectively is probably interested in how to develop innovative thinking.
There's nothing complicated about it. To begin with, it is important to want to work on yourself, because desire is already the beginning of the path. Creative thinking is the ability to see something new in the ordinary, the ability to get out of ordinary situations in an unusual way, often more effective.

• Consider any situation from different angles.
• Write down or remember any thoughts that come to you, this will help improve your decision-making speed in the future.
• Remove patterns from your life: in thoughts, actions, work moments. Patterns make our thoughts monotonous, memory, creativity, and individual way of processing information stop developing.

Often the speed of decision-making is influenced by internal fears and uncertainty - am I doing the right thing? We'll have to get rid of them. By the way, fears can also affect memory, preventing a person from remembering traumatic events. The bolder a person acts, the faster he can learn to think outside the box.

How to develop memory in a child

When working with a child, you need to take into account his age. Until the age of 12, all exercises should be done in a playful way. For example, you can play association selection: arrange a competition to see who can select the most different images and associations for one word. You can also play complex chains (for example, 20 words) at speed.

It is advisable that one of the parents demonstrate memorization techniques by his own example, explaining exactly how he remembered it (through what associations). Especially useful if objects are difficult to remember (for example, numbers). You need to create a figurative alphabet for the numbers (understand what you think each number from 0 to 9 looks like). For example:

• 0 resembles a donut;
• 1 - crane;
• 2 - swan;
• 3 - bow with a stretched string;
• 4 - inverted chair;
• 5 - seahorse;
• 6 - lock;
• 7 - braid;
• 8 - snowman;
• 9 - balloon.

By creating your own figurative alphabet, you can learn dates by making a chain and making up a story. For example, the date of the Battle of the Ice (1242) can be remembered like this: imagine a large crane with a swan sitting in the cabin. He hooks chairs and throws them down, where another swan catches them.

To differentiate between the two swans, you can wear different sweaters or caps on them. As you practice, you can lower the unit, because most dates start the same. The chain can be reduced to three elements. As a result, the child himself will begin to come up with associations and remember much faster.

Unsplash

Auditory Memory Training

Despite the fact that the famous Russian proverb states that “it is better to see once than to hear 100 times,” auditory memory can sometimes be no less useful. Thus, without auditory memory it is difficult for musicians, actors, politicians and even intelligence officers to achieve success. To understand how important auditory memory is, remember that listening to a lecture is remembered better than just reading a textbook or viewing slides.

The peculiarity of auditory memory is that, unlike visual impressions, which are perceived more quickly, memory often retains well-remembered auditory impressions better. Below are some techniques and methods that will help you learn how to effectively remember auditory information.

Exercise 1: Reading aloud

Reading aloud is undoubtedly one of the most effective exercises for developing auditory memory. It is reading aloud that helps to increase working vocabulary, improve diction, intonation, emotional coloring and brightness of speech. Reading aloud helps us better remember the auditory components of the material we read.

You need to read aloud slowly, at an optimal conversational pace, observing some technical nuances:

• pronounce words clearly, expressively and with placement;
• pronounce the text not monotonously, but as if you were expressing your own thoughts (telling).

If you read aloud for at least 10-15 minutes every day, then within a month you will notice obvious results in both your speaking abilities and your auditory memory.

Exercise 2. Poems

Memory training does not have to be limited to any specific exercises. Make it a habit to memorize a short poem every day, or at least every week. Try to delve deeply into its meaning, think about the techniques that the poet used.

When learning a poem, you will repeat it either out loud or silently, using your articulation apparatus. The more repetitions you do, the better your memory will remember the poem. Over time, you will train your memory and begin to memorize verses as a result of much less repetition.

In addition, the poems themselves are often used for long-term memorization of any abstract information. You can see the applied use of the method in some materials on our website, which describe the principles of memorizing information such as:

• Numbers after the decimal point in Pi;
• Multiplication table.

Exercise 3. Eavesdropping

When walking down the street or while on public transport, try to hear and retain in your memory a fragment of a conversation between strangers. Then try to reproduce to yourself what you heard with the right intonation, and also mentally imagine the faces of the people who said it. This exercise allows you to learn to comprehend text fluently by ear, and will also allow you to be more attentive and sensitive to the tone of speech.

Statistics Full screen