It would certainly be wonderful if memory worked through osmosis – put the book under the pillow, sleep on it for the night, and all the words just seep through the pages and then foam in to the brain, and voila the entire book is memorized! Unfortunately, reality continues to persist, and memorization just doesn’t work that way. There are a number of effective methods on How to Memorize something, and there are simple techniques.
There are some very straightforward methods to help people memorize different items that can be helpful. One method for memorization is the following:
- Write the words that need to be memorized on a sheet of paper or flash cards.
- Highlight key words that must be remembered.
- Get in a quiet room (without kids, spouses, cell phones, computers, MP3s, or televisions to distract – one may have to travel to the Himalayan Mountains or a deserted island to find such a place, but these types of quiet places do exist) and work on committing the words to memory.
- Say the words aloud as they are read.
- Close the eyes and repeat the words.
- Continue reading the words, then closing the eyes and speaking the words until they can be repeated without looking at the sheet of paper or flash cards.
Another great method to memorizing a list of items is to put them in order that creates an acronym: Associating the acronym with the list is an effective way to memorize the list and recall it. For example, suppose the grocery list contains corn, asparagus, raspberries, potatoes, eggs, and tomatoes. Take the first word of each letter and it spells CARPET. Remember the list by applying the word “carpet” when going to the store. (Of course, for those not paying attention to the list, they may come home with calamari, anchovies, raisins, pumpkin, endive, and tapioca – all equally edible, but hardly on the original list!)
One memorization technique is visualization; and accomplished by putting the list into a picture. For example, to memorize the 13 American colonies is to start with a large bowl of Delaware punch (Delaware), and in the center of the punch is a Pen (Pennsylvania). Sitting on top of the pen is a Jersey cow (New Jersey) and sitting on top of the cow is King George (Georgia). King George has a ribbon in one hand that he just cut that was connected (Connecticut) to the USS Massachusetts (Massachusetts). On the bow of the ship stands Marilyn Monroe (Maryland) wearing a crown and sash from being crowned Miss South Carolina (South Carolina). In one hand she is holding a Virginia ham (Virginia). Beside her is a model of the Empire State Building (New York), and standing on top of the building is a Rhode Island Red rooster (Rhode Island) that is waving the North Carolina (North Carolina) flag from one wing and the flag of New Hampshire (New Hampshire) in the other wing. Getting that picture in the mind allows anyone to remember what the original 13 colonies are for many years.
Creating a tune to the words is an old standby technique to memorizing just about anything. Remember the old “A, B, C, E, E F, G” song when first learning the alphabet? Children have learned this song for centuries when they were first learning the alphabet in school. What’s great is that singing a tune also works for phone numbers, grocery lists, and the list of errands to be run. Remembering the list is easier if the tune is silly or a familiar tune. The sillier the tune, the easier it is for the words to be remembered.
One technique that kids learned in school for remembering long words is to create a sentence with the word. Take the word “arithmetic”, and make a ridiculous sentence, such as “A Real Iguana Thought He Might Eat Tuna In China”. Or the word “geography”, and make the sentence “Giant Elephants Of Gibraltar Ran Around Particularly Happy Yesterday”. It creates a silly picture and helps the person remember how to spell the word, plus they’ll remember it for a long time.
There are many techniques all over the world that helps people learn How to Memorize absolutely anything. Different techniques work for different people because some are more visual while others are auditory. Kinesthetic learners work well with a combination of visualization and auditory techniques. The brain works in mysterious ways for everyone, and it takes practice to learn which techniques are best.
Read our other article How To Remember for more tricks.
