Do more with less memory

Chapter 5 Seven exercises to improve memory (2)
Get into the habit of making analogies to anything you encounter in your life, and never forget to stop and think: "Wait a minute, this reminds me of..."

In fact, what an object can remind you of is nothing more than a familiar thing in your memory.When you say "this reminds me of" something, you're actually recalling it, repeating it over and over so that it sticks in your mind.

So, by making associations like this, you kill two birds with one stone: you not only gain new knowledge, but you also reinforce existing knowledge.

2. Pairwise associations
Our brain works like this: Once a certain thought, image, or memory appears in the brain, another thought, image, or memory that is closely related to it will naturally appear.On the one hand, it may be because we are used to these two things always appearing together, and on the other hand, it may be because logically one derives from the other (called a logical pair).

Pairs of things are everywhere in our lives.For example, time often appears in pairs (such as 12:15); there are other information (such as the flight from Beijing to Shanghai)... learn to remember things in pairs, so that you can reduce the number of times you have to memorize number of things.For example, when making a shopping list, write: newspaper-match (“To light the fire, I need some paper and matches”); Notebook-pencil (“To jot something down, I need a notebook and pencil "),wait.

Logical pairs are as follows:

Parts and Whole: Nose to face.

Result and cause: Suffering from a cold and a cold.

Opposite and relative: hot to cold; girl to boy.

3. Chain reaction.

Through the above exercises, you will find that it is easy for people to associate pairs of things together.That is to say, people often associate a known thing with an unknown thing and remember them in pairs.In the same way, people tend to associate the pair with other things—what is associated with the known in each pair is often the known in the other pair.Associating all the time in this way, a long chain of things is formed.

As long as the rememberer can recognize two factors in each pair of things, this chain reaction mechanism can make the rememberer associate infinite things.This memory method is especially effective when remembering a group of things.For example, various characters or objects in a certain painting, students in a class, a series of words or sentences in a text that you have to remember... When evoking the existing memory and existing knowledge in the brain, Utilizing this chain reaction of memory methods is also very obvious.

To master this memory skill, you'll have to do some real practice: systematic practice several times a week.

Find a group of words or characters from a newspaper article or a page of a book.First find out some kind of connection that can form a chain of things-be sure to start with the things you are most familiar with and most likely to associate.

At first, you can choose ten kinds of things, and carefully find the connection point between each thing and the next thing.What is it to repeat the previous join point every time a new join point is found.After connecting ten things in the same chain, recall what the chain of things just formed looks like: this chain can automatically unfold one by one in your mind.

When you can successfully perform this exercise many times, you can start increasing the number of things in the chain.If your brain has been able to associate quite sensitively, you can continue to other exercises.But remember to come back to this chain reaction exercise every once in a while.

The world around us is composed of all kinds of different substances: human beings, objects, sentences heard or read, various movements, sounds, lights... However, in this complex world, We find our way so easily because we categorize all the things and activities that concern us all the time.

The simplest example is that for anything, we must first judge which things are very important, which things are secondary, and which things can be done while relaxing and enjoying life.

The "20 Questions" game best reflects people's ability to classify.This game requires two people to complete at the same time.

One player in the game comes up with an object for the other player to guess.The other party could ask less than 20 questions about the object, and to these questions, the person giving the object could only answer "yes" or "no."

If you're the one asking the question, you tend to start asking questions in a certain order, categorizing the guessed object: "Is it an animal, plant, or inanimate substance?" If the answer is an animal, continue categorizing:

"Is it a land animal or an animal that lives in water?" If it is a land animal, go ahead and categorize: Does it have feathers, down, or scales?If it has scales, is it big or small?If it's small, does it have legs?If you don't have legs, you've found your answer - it's a snake!Although you don't know anything about this matter at the beginning and don't know where to ask, but through the classification method, you can get the correct answer when you ask less than 20 questions.

This is a very fun and rewarding game.Therefore, play this game with your friends whenever you have time, and set the difficulty higher each time.

For example, you can come and guess a person.If you just asked the names of everyone you know, you will definitely find that you haven't found the correct answer, but you have asked 20 questions!So you have to be good at categorizing goals, like, “Is this person a man or a woman?
Is it middle-aged or old?Is it a family member, a friend, or a public figure? ” and so on. If the answer is a public figure, is he still alive or has he died? Is he an artist or a politician... Of course, this requires considerable classification skills. Because although there is no clue in the first place, the Every question you ask can go deeper into a certain category of things, so as to follow the vines and finally find the correct answer.

Sorting ability is crucial, because this method is like a chain of clues, with the help of which you can call your own memory.So do this practice as often as possible.You can even play this "20 always" game alone every so often.

But pay attention, if you find that this clue cannot be extended automatically during the game, it is because a certain branch in your classification has broken.For example, after you think of the category of vegetables, you should continue to think about whether the vegetables should be root vegetables, stem vegetables, or green leafy vegetables, etc., but your thinking may turn to the cooking method of vegetables. .

So you have to make sure that the categories you list are useful to you and can find the right answer for you.

When we want to remember something complex—for example, a landscape painting, the fresh air around us when we went for a walk one evening... In this case, classification is often difficult and affects our memory. Not too big and too direct, or at least just using the classification method is not enough.However, one thing is certain, we need to organize all the information in order: the brain can only function more effectively when it receives orderly information.

In this case, the biggest trick is to gather all the information and organize it into groups so that they are organized.When you bring these together into an organic whole, the information in these small groups forms a multi-layered structure—and it is much easier for the brain to process this multi-layered structure.The brain will classify them, put them in its own warehouse, and accept instructions to call out the information whenever you need it.

The most prominent example of this is "roster shifting"-transplanting a completely different roster into a story, especially a story about oneself.For example, suppose you plan to take the following items home this afternoon: shoe polish, coat hangers, newspapers, peanut oil, ballpoint pen refills, light bulbs, and fish food.To remember these, it is very simple, you just need to make up a story of going home like this in your mind:

"As soon as I get home, I'm going to hang up my coat (hanger) and read the newspaper (newspaper). By the way, the light bulb next to the chair is out (light bulb) and the light is not good. Speaking of light, I have to turn the I’m going to move my fish tank around (fish food). After that, I’m going to make myself a salad and omelet (with margarine). When I’m done, I’m going to remember to write a letter to my mother (ballpoint pen refill ). Also, iron the clothes you will wear tomorrow morning and polish your shoes (shoe polish) before you go to bed.”

Retell this story to yourself once or twice, and a shopping list will automatically form in your mind.

From now on, ban yourself from writing down any list: shopping list, things to do, meeting agenda... the night before write down all the things that should be done the next day - especially the "little things" like phone calls Make up a structured and layered story, and retell it before going to bed and after getting up the next morning.

At the beginning of such training, I may still occasionally forget a thing or two.But don't give up on that, and don't turn back to your notebook.Slowly, you will find that the mechanism you have trained will automatically become a habit.

As with the previous exercises, train this brain function at your leisure.At first, take a random book or newspaper and choose 10 words from it.Write these words down in a notebook and think about them.Add a few words to these words and connect them into a short story.

For example, suppose you now have 3 words: speak, sleep, and imagine.You can combine these 3 words into something like this: "My parents were asleep when I wanted to talk. So I can imagine how I'm feeling tonight."

You can also make up a long story to include more words.This is a real exercise in training the mental alertness.

Don't worry that such a story might be a bit far-fetched.Because the more far-fetched or absurd things are, the easier it is to leave a deep impression on the brain than ordinary things.

These memory exercises can really help you recall the information you want to remember very clearly.However, if you want to keep this information in memory for a long time, then relying on these highly targeted training is not enough.

To maintain long-term memory, you need to keep repeating.

You should often find time to repeat all the exercises we have covered, including associations, groups, short stories with plots, etc.Be sure to play this game like a miser with his gold coins.

Every time you recall the content of the exercise, you can add a little something, a little association, so that the whole content has a new look.

In short, no matter at any time, as long as you have free time, you must actively carry out this new training: tell others the stories you have assembled, and put the storylines you imagined into practice... For example, some people learn car driving.He first bought a book and learned the relevant theories of car driving. If he often drives a car while learning these theories, he will consciously apply these theoretical knowledge to practice.

Every time he used it, these theoretical knowledge became deeper in his mind.However, if he has never had the chance to practice it after memorizing these theories, even if he spends a few days in a row memorizing these theoretical knowledge thoroughly, he will definitely forget it completely after 6 months.

If you've practiced a skill over and over again at some point in your life, you'll find yourself remembering it vividly, even after years of reusing it.Therefore, always recall, often use the various skills you have mastered, and never forget them in life, never forget everything.

But how to repeat is also an art.Repetition is by no means a mechanical and boring review.An actor once said: "When I first enter a role, I will use his voice to sing, use his posture to dance, eat according to his eating habits, and breathe like him..." In the experience Repetition in roles like this never bores him!He just feels relaxed and happy like playing a game.

The purpose of storing large amounts of information in our brains is to be able to accurately find them when we need them.If you can't do that, then your memory bank is just a heavy baggage on your back.But if you do it right, you can make the most of what's in your bag, so you must learn how to get it out of your bag when you need it.

Sometimes, we jump to conclusions and say, "I can't remember it. That's okay! It's been a long time since I haven't used it, so it's no wonder I forgot it." And stop searching for the information in our heads.In fact, scientists have proven through experiments that we really and completely forget far less than we think.

Quite often the opposite may be the case.The older some memories are, the easier they are to recall.As we said before, whether it is someone's personal experience or professional knowledge, no matter what kind of memory content, every time we recall it, it will leave a deeper imprint in our brain.These imprints have been deepened with repeated memories over the years, and finally formed an indelible imprint.These imprints are almost on the same level as our consciousness in the brain, allowing us to reproduce them effortlessly.

No matter how good our memory is, we need to constantly use systematic recall methods for training.These methods interact with memory cells in the brain to further enhance the brain's memory function.

Chain of memory is a good way to remember.There is no doubt that you have been using the memory chain method unconsciously when recalling certain things.For example, one day you can't find your car keys anyway.You have searched all the corners, but you can't find the shadow of the key.At this time, you calm down: "Let me think about it, when I came back last night, I held it in my hand... No, because I took out the door key to open the door at that time.

To open the door, I would definitely put the car keys in my left pocket.right!

That's right!However, I forgot that there was a small hole in the jacket pocket.It must have fallen into the lining of the jacket!No, the lining of the clothes is not connected to the hem of the jacket, so it must have fallen on the ground at the door... But, if it fell on the ground, I would have heard the sound... Maybe it didn't fall on the ground, I was there The door, it probably fell on the door mat. "

So you run to the door, don't you, your key is lying on the door mat!
Using this method of associating from one thing to another can allow you to quickly search for what you are looking for in your brain.The real "key" here is your ability to find the right starting point.

When you are free, set yourself some tasks, and use this method of association to reproduce some slightly more complicated memories.This kind of game can be very interesting at times, because as you follow along a problem, many other memories may suddenly come together inadvertently.

Maybe you never knew before that there are so many things in your memory that you never thought of.Obviously, all of these recollections leave a deeper imprint on your mind and enrich your memory bank.You know, the richer the brain's memory bank, the easier it is for you to associate things, the more subtle the things you associate, and the longer the information you want to remember will be stored in your brain.

Likewise, the more things you can associate with the same thing, the faster you can find the thread that connects the memory you're looking for.

The richer the memory, the easier it is for the memory bank to further enrich itself, and the more proficient you will be at mastering the art of memory!
(End of this chapter)