How to Improve Your Memory? [20 Outstanding Steps]

Note: This is a must read article for Students, Teachers, and Parents and in General for everyone who wants to improve his/her memory power! Firstly, students can use this article for improving their memory power so that they can get better marks in exams. Secondly, teachers can learn the tips and tricks given in their article for memorizing notes and allied subject matters and teach their students in a much more proficient manner. And last but not the least, parents can learn these steps and teach the same to their loved ones.

We have often heard that many people face loss of memory or are very forgetful in their daily activities. Memory loss could be due to various reasons. We go around asking people and surfing to find better ways to improve memory.

What exactly is memory? Memory is basically the ability to store, retain, and retrieve information. Various studies have been conducted to understand the retrieving power of human brain.

Basically I am a person with not much a good memory for certain things and I really adore people who have a great memory power. I have noticed that some people are good in remembering numbers, while others are good at remembering events. Some people even have the ability to memorize the exact time, situation and the surroundings of a particular happening!

Good memory power results in good mind power and when both these go hand in hand, it helps an individual to stay focussed and thus increases the efficiency of a person both professionally and personally.

There are many methodologies that one could follow. It depends on one’s convenience and choice and interest that you get from doing such exercises and other simple procedures. A few simple procedures and exercises I shall share with you for attaining good memory within a short period of time.

Step 1: Write Down Things You Are Grateful For

This is a great step to take as a beginner and this would enable you to start thinking of the events of the day. During this process, you would find yourself being grateful for certain events that took place. By just taking the effort to note it down, it does make a difference. Come up with something new each day. This is one good way of improving your memory and when practised, would help to improve your focus of the events that took place and how grateful you are for such happenings in your life.

Step 2: Write a Paragraph of a Positive Experience

The day has many events happening. Before going to bed, make it a habit that you write down at least one small paragraph of a positive experience that you went through the day. Definitely, every day would have some positives for you. Maybe a smile, or a call from a friend to whom you have not spoke for sometime, something small also matters. While trying to recall the day and writing down the experience, it helps the brain to improve in thinking the event in an order and picking up pieces that made you feel happy and get you a positive feel.

Step 3: Exercise

There is no hard and fast rule that you should do a particular exercise. Anything that you enjoy and find comfortable is fine. Exercising not only helps in rejuvenation, but is also helps maintain a fit body. Having a fit body means that you stay healthy and when healthy, your brains also function well. Exercising is also the best way to circulate oxygen in your body and your brain needs good amount of oxygen to stay fresh and healthy.

Step 4: Pay Attention

Paying attention to your surroundings is one good way of improving your memory. It is a pathway to boosting your memory. When you try to pay attention, even the small things around you get noticed, the information is being listened carefully and thus is been understood in the right manner and in turn this would help you in the long round to correlate events, which may have taken place even long time ago.

Step 5: Stay Organised

A cluttered mind would not be able to recall things. Organise yourself. Following a pattern of maintaining your daily accessories or maintaining a diary, or having reminders or simply maintaining notes, would help you to plan things and help you to stay in order and when things are in an order, you would be able to focus more and this would help in increasing your memory power, when your mind is free and is in an orderly manner.

Step 6: Have a Proper Diet

Food is important by all means for you. Food not only fuels your body but also the contents in the right proportion help your brain cells to be active and energetic. Skipping meals is the worst thing that you could do for your body and brain. Try having small meals for 5-6 times, rather than the 3 large meals. Fuelling in between helps the brain cells to stay active. Having a balanced diet and with the right kind of food in the right proportions at the right time would indeed leave you back with not only good health but also help the small building blocks of the brain to function well and stay fit, thus improving your memory power for longer periods.

Step 7: Play Games

Games are not only meant for children. There are so many games out there that improve your memory skills. Playing with a child, not only improves his memory skill but also yours and spending quality time with them is also attained. There are great games like playing Chess, Scramble, Learning a foreign language, doing a crossword and many more exciting games that get your brain cells active and thus help in memorising things and events in an order. The brain should also be exercised for active functioning.

Step 8: Meditate

In today’s fast moving world, one needs to find time for oneself at least for a few minutes. Spending some time with yourself and relaxing for a short while, could really boost your brain cells. When you are overstressed, just take a break, go for a small walk and enjoy the fresh air. This pumps in more oxygen into your body and thus when circulated all through, you feel relieved.

Listen to music. This is one best way of relaxing yourself and letting you feel light and energised. There is no better therapy than music. Choose your best songs and listen, it eases your mood and thus help your brain cells from being stressed unnecessarily. Some people choose the traditional method of meditating and that is also a very good resource to keep your brain cells active and fresh.

Step 9: Choose Variety of Programmes

Your brain thrives on variety and mixing up various methodologies, leaves a great impact. Doing the same routine chores would make your brain bored and thus you would loose the charm in continuing the task for a longer period. Mix up your routines. Try meditating for some days and then for a change, play games for some other days and so on. In this way you do not get bored and your brain would happily accept the sudden changes and this in turn would help the cells to be active all the while, improving your memory.

Step 10: Associate Events or Numbers

Memorising numbers is in fact a trouble for many people. It just does not stick to their minds. However if you associate it with something that you like, chances of recalling are more. Like for example, if the telephone number of your friend is 12345 write it down as one, two, three, four, five and then try making a link either using the first letter or the last letters or any way that you choose so that you remember it and do not tend to forget. Similarly, you could do such exercises for matters that you tend to forget. Make a story or a phrase or anything that keeps the number in your memory. Be creative.

Step 11: Motivate

There is no other better medicine that motivation. Keep motivating yourself. The positive vibes around you makes you feel better and when you keep motivating yourself, you start to thing better and the “CAN DO” attitude falls in you. Rather than thinking or saying to yourself that you cannot focus on numbers or that you are forgetful, keep saying that you have a great memory and you could see the difference for yourself. Listen to motivational talks and keep the positive energy in and around you always. It could work wonders.

Step 12: Visualise Events

Your brain has great powers of imagination and visualising things. When reading a book or listening to anything, visualise them. Pictures leave back greater effects than words. When you visualise, you tend to see things in your way and in this way it stays in your memory for longer periods, rather than just reading and letting it fade away over a period of time. This method is especially helpful for children, as it helps them in memorising contents related to the topic they have studied for longer periods.

Step 13: Reduce Stress

Being stressful is in no way going to get you any achievements. Instead, it has only negative impacts both physically and mentally. Stress cannot be avoided, but could be reduced and tackled effectively by the way you take things in life. Practice yoga or any deep breathing exercise, when in a critical situation, rather than stressing yourself, try breathing deep and this helps you to think better for better solutions.

Step 14: Make Better Pictures in Mind

We have seen that most of the time, when we meet new people, we tend to forget their names and sometimes even fail to remember their faces. One good exercise to improve your observation is to take an unfamiliar photograph and observing it for a few seconds. Then turn over the photograph and try recalling the picture and describe the photograph. When done repeatedly, it improves your observation skills. Always chose different photographs each time. With regular practice you would find yourself being able to remember fine details more effectively than before, even with shorter glimpses.

Step 15: Sleep Well

Sleep does play a major role in memorising things. When your brain cells are tired, you cannot recall anything that you really wish to. A good night’s sleep is the key to active brain cells. According to a study at the Harvard Medical School, a good night’s sleep of about seven to eight hours helps in improving your short term memory and long term relational memory.

Step 16: Appreciate

Appreciation works and brings in a positive vibe. Write a letter or send an email to someone whom you know, letting them know how much appreciate them or thank them for something they have done for you. This would help in building good relationships and the giving and taking compliments makes you feel good and boosts your brain cells helping you remember things more easily.

Step 17: Tailor Information

All of us are different and hence each one of us has their own ways of remembering things. Tailor information according to your style. For example, the same information is absorbed by different individuals in different ways.

Some may find reading a way of analysing and understand the matter, while some others find an audio hearing of the same matter more grasping, while a third set of people may find interacting with the information by some means for better understanding. Therefore choose your way of understanding and this helps with more lingering impressions in your mind.

Step 18: Focus on the Basics

Sometimes the information that we need to understand may be a bit too elaborated and this may leave us confused. To get a better understanding, focus on the basics of the information and then build your way from there. In this way you tend to remember better than trying to take it the original way.

Step 19: Repeat

Try repeating the information for several times, so that sticks to your mind. When you rewind the information, the chances of remembering are more and the tendency of forgetting becomes less.

Step 20: Learn Lifelong

There is no particular age for learning anything. What happens usually is that, after schooling, we tend to develop a slow pace in learning things, understanding that it was during school days that we need to learn the most. Well learning is a never ending process and the more you learn, the more equipped you are. Keep your brain active and feed it with more information’s. The more you activate your little brain cells, the better they stay.

By implementing these simple steps, one could help to improve their remembering ability many folds and this could be developed for a lifetime through proper implementations. Having a good memory is a greatest gift. Nurture your brain cells in the right manner with proper exercising; pampering, resting and you could experience the difference for yourself.

Go ahead and improve the power of your brain. It is really fantastic.