Comments on: How to Jog Your Memory

on 11/22/2005 I've found that if you use the new persons name in a sentence when you first meet them, it will set it in quite well. If you only see these people once in a while after that, it helps to use their name in a sentence once in a while. For instance instead of just saying "Hello" Say "Hello Joe Schmo". If you don't use the name though, you will forget it. It may seem a bit weird, but it works. While working at a Cub Scout camp, I was able to learn and use 50 kids names a week.

on 11/22/2005 To help remember a phone number, use a web site like phonespell.com to see possible letter combinations - it's much easier than coming up with them yourself.

on 11/22/2005 Something that tremendously helps me to remember phone numbers is to pretend to dial it (on a real or imaginary key pad). The more senses you involve in a memory, the easier it is to reconstruct it. Pretending to dial puts the physical pattern of the button presses in your brain, in addition to the digits themselves.

on 11/22/2005 It is said that the best way to remember an anniversary or the birthday of a loved one is to forget it once.

on 11/22/2005 Once you have written it down, read it out loud. Now that you've seen it and heard it you somehow, remember it. This really works.

on 11/22/2005 Purchase a perpetual calendar (one that does not link a particular date to the day of the week in any given month), preferably one with blank lines next to each day of the month for plenty of space to write in. Enter all the birthdays of your friends and family. Hang the calendar somewhere in your bathroom, along with a pen on a string. The benefits of this last step are twofold: First, you will always have plenty of chances to scan the calendar and see whose birthday is coming up. Second, when you have visitors, they will have the opportunity (should they use your bathroom) to fill in their birthday date, in case you have forgotten to mark it. I learned this idea in the Netherlands, where apparently it is a common practice, and many types of very pretty birthday calendars are available (expressly for this purpose) and sold in shops all over.

on 11/22/2005 Good spellers see a picture of the word in their heads and compare it to what is written down, they can see if it is right. Bad spellers try to either remember the sequence of characters or guess the spelling basing on the phonetic sounds. I have found now that taking a picture of names, numbers, etc. is a much better strategy for remembering them. It helps if you make the picture bright and colorful.

on 11/22/2005 Visit http://www.phonespell.org. There, you can enter in phone numbers, and the server comes up with mnemonic devices to remember the numbers by. It works great!