The Secret To Remembering Names, Lists, And Why You Walked Into The Other Room
How many times have you forgotten where you left your cell phone or struggled to remember the name of the person you just met? (Photo: Stocksy/Kelly Knox)
Short of having a photographic memory or keeping a personal stenographer on hand at all times, it can seem impossible to remember everything we need to in life. And it doesn’t help that as we get older, our memories seem to fade even more.
But one man who claims to have a bad natural memory has found a way to remember things so well, that he says he can recite back every word in the day’s New York Times crossword puzzle — from memory.
Barry Reitman is the creator of the memory training system “Memory Shock,” and has taught courses on how to improve memory to the New York Police Department and at several colleges in the New York area. His approach is based on two factors: focus and picture. “You have to focus on what you want to remember and that actually helps develop your natural memory,” Reitman tells Yahoo Health. “Then, picturing is where it gets wacky, and the wackier you visualize something, the easier it is to remember.”
Have trouble remembering names? Or do you frequently forget why you walked into the next room? Reitman let us in on some of his top tips and tricks for remembering:
How To Remember: Names And Faces
“I know I just met you … but what’s your name again?” (Photo: Stocksy/Jovo Jovanovic)
You’re at a work function and are introduced to some important people, but five minutes later you can’t remember if that man you met was named Harry or Paul. “Remembering names and faces scares everyone,” says Reitman. “We are visual animals, so we can see the face of someone and recognize them, but we can only hear the name. So, if we could see the name and not just a nametag — but really see it and attach it to the face — we would remember it.”
Related: Closing Your Eyes Helps You Remember Stuff
Say you meet a woman whose name is Beatrice. Come up with a word association (i.e. beehives) or pick a facial feature (i.e. her hair buns) and visualize that image on her face. After meeting three people in a row, stop and review the names before going on to meet new people. “If you picture something in an outrageous way, like extra-tiny or huge or silly, it makes you remember,” says Reitman. “You will now see that person’s name when you see their face.”
How To Remember: A List In Order
Never forget something from your to-do list again! (Photo: Getty Images/Thierry Dosogne)
Whether you’re at the grocery store or trying to recall everything you have to do that day, remembering lists of things can prove to be challenging.
Barry has two strategies that can help. For the first, associate silly images of the items you need to remember with a body part that also corresponds to a number.
It works like this: Assign every body part a number — so your big toe is No. 1, your knee is No. 2, and so on, all the way up the body. Then, assign the image of each thing you need to remember to each numbered body part. So if going to the jewelry store is the first thing you have on your list of chores, picture a watch on your big toe (that’s the part of the body associated with No. 1). You then move up the body with your list.
The second strategy involves linking items on your list: Envision the first item on your list in a silly way, and then add on to that image. So, if after the jewelry store you need to buy birdseed, you’re going to visualize a watch being worn by a parakeet. If you need to pick up your computer next, simply link it to parakeet by picturing something like the bird typing away at a computer. The nice thing about this method is you really only need to remember two items on the list at a time.
How To Remember: Where You Left Your Cell Phone Or Keys
Sometimes it seems as if keys have legs. (Photo: Stocksy/Eduard Bonnin)
Losing your keys, cell phone, or any other item vital to daily life can cause immediate panic and anxiety. You frantically search your home or purse and can’t believe you’ve forgotten where you placed the darn thing.
Related: The Surprising Reason We Forget Things (Plus 4 Secrets To Remembering)
"If you’re going to drop your keys on the kitchen counter, desk, or hall table, picture dropping them in a glass of milk on the kitchen counter and watch it splatter," says Reitman. "By picturing them in an unusual circumstance, it forces you to focus on where you put them and be able to picture it." This works for any object — when you place it down, visualize it doing something outrageous in that spot. You’ll never forget where your personal items are ever again.
How To Remember: Why You Came Into The Other Room
“Why am I here again?” (Photo: Getty Images/Thomas Barwick)
It’s an all-too-familiar scenario: You’re in your living room, when you look at your watch and realize your favorite TV show is coming on. You need your glasses to watch, which are in the kitchen, so you get up to go there, but trip over the dog on your way in. Then you see someone left the milk out on the kitchen counter, so you put it away — at this point, you’ve completely forgotten why you came into the kitchen in the first place.
The key here is to not forget what it is you needed to begin with. Before you even get up to go into the next room, apply the two-part system of focusing and picturing. Stop before you get up, which helps you focus on what you need to remember. And then employ visualization, which makes it easier to remember the important item or task.
So for this scenario with the glasses, stay put in your seat for a moment before you even get up to retrieve them in the other room. “Instead, take your glasses in your mind’s eye,” Reitman says. “Put them in [the] microwave and watch them burst into flames or melt. Now, no matter what happens to throw you off, you’ll see the microwave and remember you came in for you glasses instantly.”
