10-Second Tom is No Bueno

If you recall from the movie, 50 First Dates, there was a scene when Lucy (Drew Barrymore) meets 10-second Tom at the hospital. Well, recently I have found myself not being able to remember things very well – actually it has been going on for quite awhile now (kind of embarrassing).  I have confided to my friends of my concern that my inability to recall the simplest things – even in short-term aka “10-second Tom” syndrome – has been a source of personal frustration. I surveyed a few websites and came across some thematic tips and suggestions on things we can do to improve memory retention:

1. Pay attention to the things you are trying to remember in the first place – if we simply pause for a few seconds every once in awhile and actually trying to register the information, we enhance our ability to remember. When a person introduces him/herself, repeat his/her name by saying, “nice to meet you [name].” This apparently increases the like-hood that you’ll remember that person’s name by 30%.
2. Be selective in what you choose to remember – don’t overburden your brain with useless, over-tedious information. Remember the important information and big ideas
3. Create associations and use mental images to help you remember – I plan on attending a career info session this week with Dell, I need to apply for an internship position, I have to call local t-shirt vendors to get quotes for an organization, as well as blogging for another org. So for this particular train of thoughts, I visualize that I am sitting in front of a Dell computer, typing (as in blogging), with a phone in in one of my ears placed against my shoulder, and I’m doing the Hook’em Horns sign. If that seems odd to you, great. That’s the fun part of it. By trying to come up with a mental image, I am reinforcing the retention part of trying to remember things…
4. Repeat, Recite, and Review – pretty self-explanatory
5. Write it down! – get into a habit of keeping a notepad to jot things down; this diffuses your brain’s burden of having to remember everything 

Some more advance tricks:

1. Engage your emotions – tie your need to remember to a goal of yours (for a sense of accomplishment) or connect it to some other emotions i.e. Create humor out of the things you are trying to remember
2. Use your environment – when you place your tie and jacket next to your bed to remind yourself to dress up the next morning, you are using your environment to help you remember; or whenever you use landmarks to help you with directions on the road, etc.
3. Overlearn – this goes off the assumption that you have plenty of time…which is not always the case, so I’d like to think of it as learning through variety; think of different ways to interpret the same information

Most articles also emphasize the importance of a balanced diet and exercise. One last piece of advice that was a common theme: practice, practice, practice! Remembering, like all things we do, requires conscious effort on our parts in order for us to see desired result.