5 Easy Memory Hacks You’ve Probably Never Tried

Life is much better when you start living strategically. The good news is you can hack any area of life and do things better, faster and smarter.

One such aspect is your memory.

Who wouldn’t wish to improve their memory and start remembering anything with little or no effort? You can do that with some simple and unusual brain hacks.

1. Use story-based memory hooks.

One awesome trick you might enjoy giving a try is to use stories to improve your memory. Let’s see how this works and why it’s effective.

Storytelling is a powerful technique in communication, psychology, copywriting and many other fields. It’s proven to grab the attention of the other person, keep it for as long as it’s necessary, and make him take a certain decision or action.

What’s even better is that we can use storytelling in order to remember more. And the way it works is the same.

Accompanying important facts with a story based on them, or just a ton of information when studying for an exam, lets you remember it all with less effort. It makes learning more interesting too.

Of course, in this case, you’ll have to use your imagination and invent the story yourself. Over time, you’ll get better at this and it will take no time.

Some people who use this memory hack have mastered it to such an extent that in a few minutes, they already have a story involving the things they need to remember fast.

2. Understand mnemonics.

Another way to recall important information at any time is to use mnemonic devices.

Mnemonics are basically memory devices. Each such technique serves as a solution to retaining or retrieving information more easily.

The simplest example of mnemonics and how beneficial they are for memory hacking would be to remember something with the help of a song. It’s no coincidence that it’s much easier for somebody to remember the lyrics of more than 10 songs than it is to prepare for their next exam. That’s because sounds help us retain information and recall it when needed.

You also have Image mnemonics, where you sketch something in order to memorize it.

That’s possible with note organization, name mnemonics (naming a person or object with the first letters of each word from a list of items), using a model (such as a pie chart or pyramid), and more.

3. Take a shower.

While the concept that our best ideas come when we are taking a shower might sound illogical, it actually has a pretty good explanation.

Doing mundane things like showering that don’t require much brain power helps us remember more effectively. Additionally, taking a quick break after trying to remember something has a surprising effect on our brain.

Memory can be boosted by doing something monotonous right after studying, working on an important project, or else. You’re also more likely to come to an important conclusion or find the answer to something that will help you exceed.

4. Your associations should be weird.

A popular memory hack is to make associations between the information you need to memorize and things that are already familiar to you. To take this further, make it sound weird and your brain will definitely retain it for longer.

When something doesn’t make sense but is also unusual in an interesting way, we tend to spend more time thinking about it. And if it’s associated with facts you want to remember for longer, your chances of success are bigger.

5. Chunk everything down.

How you organize the information you want to remember is crucial. Most people make the mistake of looking at the big picture and trying to memorize it all at once. Which creates chaos in their head and they end up feeling overwhelmed.

A much better and smarter solution is to group big pieces of information into smaller ones, and simply focus on remembering each of these new sections.

There won’t be resistance in your mind or the desire to procrastinate as each group will consist of knowledge that takes little time and effort to be remembered.

Don’t forget that learning is a never-ending process. Instead of constantly complaining about your learning techniques, set some time aside to improve your skills, try new memory hacks, see what works for you, and then make it part of your usual routine.

Writing things down, reading them out loud, repeating the information to yourself as often as possible, sharing it with others to remember it better, are all things that will also give results. In fact, they are the foundation of becoming a strategic learner. But to double your results and save precious time, also make use of the memory hacks shared above.