Memory
How to Improve It
Len Horridge, After University,
Len worked at Philips and 3M before
joining a start-up consultancy and
then left to form his own company,
The Skills Exchange. Here, he is
involved in training and consultancy
with specialism in interpersonal skills,
such as communication, presentation,
public speaking, time management,
meetings, sales, management, and
so forth.
Horridge_EI_164201.indd 1
Len Horridge
Abstract: Most people have had the experience of find-
ing themselves halfway up the stairs and thinking, what
was I going upstairs to do? This is often thought to be the
problem of age but it actually isnt. This article looks at
the problems involved including what memory is, how
it works, why we forget, short- and long-term memory
and how to improve our memory, remember names with
hints, and tips on retention.
Key Words: memory, forgetful, names, short and long
term, retention
Introduction
What do we mean by memory? Well, heres what the dic-
tionary says:
Memory: the power to remember; something remem-
bered; memorable (adj.) worthy of being remembered
Remember that last description, it is VERY important.
As the quote below shows:
The secret of a good memory is attention, and at-
tention to a subject depends upon our interest in
it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep im-
pression on our minds. Tryon Edwards (18091894)
Memory is a strange thing. We all have memories, some
more distinct than others and some people have better
recall than others.
Much research has been completed on memory but,
like all brain functions, very little is really understood
yet. However, enough has been found out to improve
our memories or, as we should really see it, our ability
to recall.
You, no matter what you think, have a perfectly fine
memory (unless you have suffered some kind of physi-
cal trauma which has affected your brain); all you are
lacking is the ability to make it work for you in the most
effective way possible.
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 Memory
But, yes, we know you forget things. We
all do. It is NOT an age thing; those of you
with teenagers will know that they, too,
forget things (the halfway up the stairs
syndrome) as do all human beings. But we
all recall what we want to recall, normally
at the right time.
So, why would you want to improve your
memory?
Well, you may want to be able to recall
facts and figures in meetings, be able to tell
your customers prices and conditions of
purchase, or recall what you are doing next
week without recourse to your diary.
It could just be that you want to win a
quiz, you want to make sure you never
forget that birthday of your son/daughter/
spouse ever again, it could be that you want
the impact of remembering names.
There are many reasons, many of which
you cant remember at the moment, but
you will.
Simply, we have staggeringly good
memories.
Unfortunately, we either dont believe
that we do OR we just dont practice us-
ing our memory enough to get it working
effectively.
We do NOT get worse at remembering
as we get older and, with some simple sug-
gestions, we can get better and better at re-
membering key things.
However, we cannot (indeed should not)
expect to remember everything.
In a nutshell, we are much better at using
our memories than we ever really believe.
The mind is a wonderful thing but most
of us are not trained enough to use it to its
full capacity.
Memory is one that we can improve by
firstly understanding what it is and how
it works and then practicing certain small
tasks to constantly improve. Memory can
be thought of in the same way as we think
of flabby bodies; if we want a better looking
body, we work out. So, if you want a bet-
ter memory, youve got to give it a regular
workout.
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But we will also show you certain short
cuts to help you get there quicker.
If you remember, that is...
There are certain questions that people
will always ask about memory and the
three most common, with our answers, are:
1. Can I really improve my memory?
An unqualified YES to this. We all
have amazing memories and the trick
is how to get them performing to their
optimum. Of course, we cant remem-
ber EVERYTHING and few of us have
a genuine photographic memory, but
most memories are much better than
we think or believe. The key is knowing
how to improve them.
2. Am I too old?
Noan answer given to everyone of ev-
ery age. Often the excuse people give
is Its my age but it isnt; we keep our
faculties until old age in most cases, as
long as we train our faculties each day.
But dont we lose brain cells as we get
older? Well, even if we lose 10,000 brain
cells a day from birth, the total number
lost by the time we are 80 would be less
than 3 percent. Surprised? Most people
are by this fact. We use age as an excuse
for certain disabilities which are un-
founded by the truth.
3. Why do I forget?
Lots of reasons but better to turn this
around. Why do I remember? Cer-
tain events are etched into our minds:
September 11th, birth of children, sport-
ing events, and the like. Why? Because
these are memorable and different to
everyday events. We forget other things
because they are simply NOT memorable
or because they are routine. But we re-
call things (pin numbers, etc.) through
regular use. By making things memo-
rable and by regular practice, we can
remember more.
Understanding Memory
Memory is best described as a way of ac-
cessing things we already know.
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 Memory
You have memory of events, names,
phone numbers, activities, etc., and a cor-
rectly functioning memory lets us access
these swiftly and efficiently.
We dont know enough about it yet
(there is much research going on today
about how we remember but, as yet, this
has not managed to get far enough into
the brain to know how it fully operates)
but we have a great storage ability in our
brain and therefore a phenomenal ability
to remember things from our past and our
present.
The brain is the nub of the nervous
system, made up of 100 billion (approxi-
mately) nerve cells or neurons. Each cell is
connected to 10,000 (or so) others. How we
make these connections makes our mem-
ory good or not so good.
Its best to view your brain as a large
computer that stores information which
you need to access when you need to use it,
making these connections, made through
synapses. Unfortunately, most of us are
not very good at first saving that memory
or, if we do that, indexing that memory cor-
rectly so we can access it.
To getall technical on you, the area of the
brain that appears to be linked with mem-
ory is known as the limbic system. The
limbic system is a complex set of structures
that lies on both sides and underneath the
thalamus, just under the cerebrum (and if
Ive lost you now, dont worry). It includes
the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, and
the amygdala, to highlight but three names
you wont have to remember after this. It
is primarily responsible for our emotional
life and has a great impact on the forma-
tion of memories.
If our limbic system is working and is
used regularly, our memory will be fine.
But we can improve it.
The key is often NOT remembering but
storing the information in a way we can
readily access. Thinking this way will im-
prove your ability to recall facts, figures,
names, and places immediately.
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However, we all retain far more of the
information that we are exposed to, so it is
highly unlikely that we will ever need to
access all of that information.
Why Do I Forget?
Well, maybe you dont.
Maybe you just decide to remember the
things that are key to you and to ditch the
rest.
This is a good policy!
People have a belief that they forget
too many things but, in reality, we all re-
call much more than we will ever need;
the skill is to recall what we want to recall
when we want to recall it.
Your memory is probably very good and
it is just that you THINK you are poor at
remembering when, in fact, you are much
better than you may think. Is your focus
purely on the things you forget rather than
the things you actually remember?
Negatives and Positives: WhyYou
Remember The Negatives
Maybe, just like most people, you find it
easier to concentrate on the negatives, i.e.,
what you cant do, rather than the posi-
tives, what you CAN do. Youll be amazed
at not only how many people feel this way
but also what you DO and CAN remember.
As long as you program yourself to
believe this, your memory will improve
and you will remember all the things you
want to.
You will do this by being positive about
memory rather than negative, and this ap-
proach will help you stop beating yourself
up for the things you think you should
remember.
An interesting fact to challenge your
beliefs and assumptions here: the World
Memory Champion, Tatiana Cooley, a
27-year-old administrative assistant, who
triumphed by being able to recall se-
quences of numbers, lengthy poems, and
other feats of memory, admitted to being at
a loss in her real job without Post-It notes.
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