Sometimes you just need a fairly short memory journey for simple little memory applications, such as remembering shopping items, or lists of things to take to the gym, or a daily to-do list. It might seem a bit over-the-top to use a long memory journey, so I’ve been thinking of the idea of mini memory journeys. You can make them as short as you want, and they can be very useful for memorising short lists that crop up from time to time.
Here’s an example of the type of memory journey you could come up with, and use again and again for these types of things. As always, base the journey on something you’re already familiar with, and in this case, for this example, I suggest you use your own desk.
You’ll want to populate it with things that are on your desk most of the time – that way it’ll be easy for you to memorise the journey, and you won’t have the problem of having something on the journey that was only on the desk the day you listed the items.
Here’s a list of the kind of things you might have on your desk, but naturally you will want to use things that are actually on your desk.
desk lamp – water bottle – phone – diary – highlighters – headphones – planner – keyboard – computer base – computer monitor – post-it notes – paperweight – framed picture – binder – magazine rack – external hard drive – glasses – router – mouse mat – mouse – USB stick – stapler – speakers – coffee mug – folder – pen/pencil – eraser – kindle – ear buds – printer – sticky tape – ipod – scissors – letter rack – books – dictionary – notepad – disks – envelopes – paperclips – – calculator – lip balm – pencil pot – multitool – rubber bands – extension lead – toothpicks – pot plant – ornament – printer paper
For most purposes you’ll probably want to limit the journey to 20 stations, maybe even just ten. And because you work at your desk regularly you’ll find it very easy to recall the list. Specially if you list the items as you see them, looking from left to right (or the other way, if that suits you better). I think it goes without saying that this will work better if you keep your desk fairly tidy, but even if you don’t, and even if you just imagine how your desk might look, you could still create a decent memory journey out of it.
Once you’ve put your list together and made a careful note of it, study it and memorise it over a few days, till it’s rock solid in your memory. Then, whenever you need to memorise a short list at a moment’s notice, just link the things you need to memorise to the things on your desk memory journey.
Remember the importance of weirdness!
Remember the importance of creating your images in such a way that you’re more likely to remember them than forget them. For example, if you’re fed up getting to the gym and finding you’ve forgotten your sweat towel, make a list of the items using your desk journey, and when it comes to the sweat towel, imagine it draped over your phone (for example) and smelling really foul because you’ve used it half a dozen times and never bothered to wash it. Imagine it looking really grubby and imagine it smelling really nasty and you’re not likely to forget it next time you’re heading off to the gym!
Seeing it looking grubby and sniffing the nasty smell coming off it engages different parts of your brain. And if you also imagine picking it up (really carefully, because it really does stink!) and putting it into your gym bag, then you’re bringing touch and feel into play along with sight and smell. The more senses you employ in your memorization, the more likely it will be to ‘stick’ in your mind.
Won’t I be stuck with the last list I made?
What I’m talking about here is making lists that you don’t need to remember longterm. I mentioned the gym bag list, and that’s longterm, in that you’ll want to remember that one so you can refer to it every time you’re getting ready to go to the gym. But generally you’ll probably be using this mini type of journey for things that have a very short shelf life, such as a shopping list. And because you create a mental shopping list and then go and do the shopping, and that’s the end of it, you won’t be revisiting it time and again and reinforcing the memory, so it will fade pretty quickly.
So this journey, using your desk, is probably best kept for short-term lists, that way each on will ‘overwrite’ the last one without any problem.
Create lots of them, they’re all over the place!
As always, with memory journeys, it’s best to have several available. And this applies to short ones just the same as long ones. So feel free to create quite a few short journeys (10 to 20 stations) and you’ll have them available for some more long-term memorization (but only for fairly short batches of information). And remember, your journeys don’t have to be confined to buildings, they can be anything. Like your desk. Or your shed or garage. Or your kitchen. Or the interior of your wardrobe. Or a bookcase. Anything that allows you the opportunity to create a series of stations where you can hang things in order to remember them.
And if you have several of them (carefully noted, of course, in detail), you’ll be able to dedicate some of them to memorising lists of items you want to use longterm.
Bottom line: memory journeys are incredibly useful, and you should make full use of them. Create a whole bank of them to help you memorise lots of stuff. And sometimes little mini journeys are all you need.
Memory journeys only work if you use them!
Remember to keep a careful and detailed list of all your memory journeys, and if you want to make sure you get the most out of them, be prepared to spend a few minutes every once in a while mentally going through them. You’ll be strengthening your memory of each journey, and if you’ve already attached items to a journey you’ll be reviewing the entire list of data.