#memory techniques

- Break things into chunks (splitting things into 3s tends to work best for me!)

- Repeating things back to yourself in your head (either for immediate recall, so like saying something over and over in your head as you walk from one room to another to keep it ‘at the front of your memory’, or linking it to something else to trigger recall later, so repeating the thing you want to remember and the description of whatever you’re using to trigger recall so the words are intertwined in your head, and so that thinking of one makes you think of the other.)

- Linked to that point, picking the thing you’re linking it to carefully can make the repetition more helpful - if you make the recall trigger an object that you usually keep in a set place, moving that object can be a good way to ensure that you’ll trigger the thought of what you needed to remember. Moving the object so it’s somewhere obviously different means you know you’ll think of it when you notice it’s misplaced in the future, and the repetition of the two things together hopefully means that thinking of that object also makes you think of the thing you were trying to remember?!

- Adding detail to the thing you need to remember can be handy, as you’re padding out something that might have been easy to lose in your memory into something bigger and hopefully more memorable, but there’s a fine line between “adding enough ‘mentally sticky’ details that remembering the thing is easier” and “diluting the thing you need to remember so much that you can’t remember the main point”. I guess it’s about trying to identify which bit of the thing you need to remember strikes you as most interesting, and seeing if your thoughts about that part can help you to remember the whole thing later.

- Mnemonics might be helpful? The internet has better explanations and examples of what they are if you’re not sure, but the version i’m thinking of is to do with linking words that have the same first letter and making a memorable phrase out of those words that triggers recall of the linked words (it was used a lot by teachers when i was at school to memorise things like the order of the planets or formulae for maths)

- Memorising things to the tune of a song you know can be handy, or turning the things you need to remember into a song themselves. Nursery rhymes can be a good base for trying to remember things, as they’re often things that have been repeated to you from a young age so they’re hard to forget. 

- Another one that the internet can probably explain better than me is ‘Peg words’, but in short, it’s a technique where you pair a word that rhymes with a number on a list with the word you’re trying to remember. So, if you have three items you need to remember, think of a word that rhymes with the numbers ‘one’, ‘two’, and ‘three’, then pair each rhyming word in your head with the name for one of objects that you need to remember.

- Trying to interact on a more meaningful level with the thing you’re trying to remember in general is pretty handy! Making links between this and something that’s already in your head, and attaching it to a context, is something I find useful to give me more chances to remember it. An example of making links between a new thing you’re trying to remember and something you already do could be when you’re trying to add a new thing into a routine. 

- Pairing a new task with an existing one hopefully means that doing the existing one will remind you to do the new one - if making that initial link is difficult, making a note in the place that you do the usual thing might help to get it into your memory to start with, or repeating the names for both tasks together in your head so thinking of one makes you think of the other.

- Routine in general is something i find helpful for remembering things! I’m hugely more able to remember things that I’ve put in context with other things than I am to remember a standalone thing or fact. To get into a new routine, i find it handy to take a couple of days to make a note of all the things you want to incorporate, then put them in order based on the other tasks (e.g. if you’re getting ready in the morning, ‘putting on makeup’ /then/ ‘washing your face’ undoes the ‘putting on makeup’ step, so you need to think about how each thing could impact the steps before and after). Once I know the routine I want to keep, writing it down and sticking it in an obvious place (so making it visual information too) helps me to get it into my head initially, and setting alarms on my phone for the different tasks can help as well if i need more prompts about when to do things.

I often find that making the thing I’m trying to remember more enjoyable or scheduling in ‘rewards’ makes me remember it better, I guess because there’s extra motivation for it? Positive mindset can make you feel more motivated too, so trying to frame the thing you’re trying to do as beneficial or fun, rather than having to reluctantly drag yourself through a new thing.

- Using a bullet journal has helped me hugely! I use a monthly spread and daily spreads that I plan further in advance (I tend to set up a week’s worth of daily spreads on a sunday for the week ahead, as anything further in advance is too long for me to make sense of - the exception is putting appointments into my monthly spread so I don’t forget about future things!), plus running lists to note down things I want to do before i’m at a point where I can slot them into my daily spreads neatly. I also carry a diary and write appointments in there (that I then copy over to my journal), as I don’t carry my journal with me and also like having somewhere a bit messier where I can book things in before putting them into a neat planning spread.

- I’ve tried to make the spaces I spend a lot of time more ‘user friendly’ by leaving post it notes and pencils within arms reach. That way, a lot of the obstacles from an executive functioning perspective are taken out of remembering, as there’s no searching for something to write on or things like that. I guess you could just use your phone, but i find it a lot easier to remember things i’ve physically written down, plus i can just stick the note into my planner if i want to make things easier. Writing something down probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to most people, but if you struggle with things like sequencing tasks, and that difficulty leads to lack of motivation to do them, putting shortcuts in to make small things easier means you can focus your mental energy on things that are more important.

The different things work for different sorts of remembering, but hopefully having a bank of things to try might help if you’re struggling to stay on top of everything you need to remember! It might be handy too if you want to try new mental techniques to do so with a backup of having things written down too, so you’re exercising and trying to train your memory whilst also making sure that you’re not going to get caught out and forget something important.

Also, if you’re worried about your memory or it’s affecting your ability to do everyday things, it’s worth talking to your doctor about! There are some physical things that can impact your memory, so if your trouble remembering is concerning you, ruling things like that out might put your mind at ease and maybe help you figure out where your difficulties are coming from. 

Hope you’re all doing okay!