Do you suffer from short term memory loss?

If the answer is a loud and clear "Yes I do!" then I have some news for you….

It might not be a memory problem…it just seems like one.

Let me explain.

In my work helping people improve their memory and develop their skills to be able to remember and recall just about anything they want, I am often confronted by people who are convinced that their short term memory is not working very well.

Now there are medical conditions and injuries that affect people's recall of recent events, but though I do get the occasional enquiry from people suffering from those, the majority of my work is done with normal healthy people.

This post is not about those sorts of challenges because I am not qualified in those matters, I merely help people by showing them a variety of memory improvement techniques that I have found work for me.

So when I am approached by someone who claims to have a problem with their memory, I always try to get to the bottom of exactly what it is they are struggling with (identifying the problem is a good two thirds the way towards a solution).

What I have found is that someone who is struggling with their memory often cites occasions where they have "forgotten" where they have put their keys/wallet/bag/car (yes even the car!).
More on Short Term Memory Loss - What Causes It?

I get e mails constantly from people who have successfully used different ways to help them remember all sorts of information. Of course many of the e mails are from students who are struggling to remember all sorts of wierd and wonderful things. It is always a delight when I hear from a student who has found a way to remember something important to their studies.

Often they have used a device known as a mnemonic. Now a mnemonic is simply "an aid to memory" and so anything you use to help you remember something is technically called a mnemonic. If you tie a knot in your hankerchief to remind you to do something then strictly speaking that is a mnemonic. Even using tools like Mind Mapping should be considered as a mnemonic device because it can be used as a very powerful memory aid.

But over the years, the term mnemonic has come to mean those little tricks that don't fall into a memory techniques in their own right but do have a play to part in helping you remember stuff. Examples are using rhymes - "Remember, Remember the 5th of November…." or strategies like taking the first letter of what you are trying to remember and use that for an easier word. For example the most "mnemonic'ed" set of information must be the order of the planets in our solar system from the sun:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

If you take the first letter of each planet (now I know Pluto has been de-categorised so just imagine it is still a planet for now) and then create a new sentence with words starting with those letters, but in the same order, then we get something like:

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets

Most people can remember what the planets are but struggle with the order. A simple sentence like this (or similar variants using the same first letters) allows us to recall the order much easier than simply reciting the planets over and over again.

Now just recently, Lyndsey (a medical student) contacted me to tell me how she used a mnemonic to help her remember some information concerning anatomy. She had to remember the 12 cranial nerves which are:

Olfactory, Optic, Occulomotor, Trochlear, Trygemenal, Abducens, Facial, Vestibulocochlear, Glossopharangea, Vegas, Acessory, Hypoglossal

Now I don't know what this lot does or its importance but I do know that medical students have to remember this because I have had to work with people before to help them remember this information. I once worked with the daughter of a very wealthy family and we ended up creating a wacky visualised story that involved the pump room of their swimming pool, a large nose and the towels in their sauna (don't ask).

Anyway, Lyndsey like all good students (not!) was revising in front of the television (now I won't go into detail here but Lyndsay, really, do you think that is a good idea - OMG! I am sounding like my mother!)

Anyway Lyndsey tells me she was watching Oprah at the time, the episode about soldiers returning from Iraq and was inspired to come up with a mnemonic to remember the 12 cranial nerves which was:

'Old Oprah Occupies Troops Trying Abnormally Fast Vessels Going (to) Vegas (with) Accesories (in her) Hair'

Nice one Lyndsey - and it works too. She said at the end of her e mail:

"Helped me in the exam anyway!!Who said T.V was a distraction to studies!!Ha ha… Hope you let other Anatomy students know about this one!"

Well I have shared it and if you are a medical student I hope this helps you too.

I am always looking for examples of how people use mnemonics and I have found a really good one from the internet marketing fraternity.

A mnemonic is an "artificial way" of remembering something.  When you remember something just because you remember it you are relying on natural memory and recall.  When you need to do a little mental trickery to put it into your memory then you are using a mnemonic.

The term mnemonic comes from the Mnemosyne, the Greek goddess of memory and refers to any artificial device that you use to assist your memory and help you remember anything.  When you park your car in a very large car park and you remember that you have parked it next to the lamp post with the big number 4 on it then technically that lamp post is a mnemonic.

All memory devices such as the journey technique, any of the peg systems and tools like Mind Mapping are all forms of mnemonics because they are artifical aides to memory.  However these days when someone refers to a mnemonic, they are generally referring to little tricks that are not quite memory techniques in their own right, but do go beyond just repeating something over and over again to remember it.

One of the most common examples is how to remember the order of the planets in our solar system.  Now that poor Pluto has been downgraded from a planet (so I am told) and that Sedna may be a new planet in our Solar system this following example is probably a bit out of date:

My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets

This easy sentence helps us remember that the order of the planets from the sun is:

Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto

And the way this works is that the first letter of each item we want to remember is then used as the first letter in each word of an easier to remember phrase.  Of course this relies on remembering that the "M" in "My" means Mercury so the main use for this particular mnemonic is to remember the order assuming that we know what the 9 planets are.

So that is the principle at work here.  Many people will probably remember that mnemonic (or one very similar) and may have considered them useful for stuff at school but have probably not re-visited the concept since their days sat in the classroom.

But today we still have to remember lots of stuff and lets make it easy for ourselves by using techniques like this.  I am always impressed by good teachers and the ones that stand out the most are those that not only put their topic across really well so that it is accessible and understandable but also that they do it in a way that helps their students remember.

Just recently I came across an example of such a teacher in the internet marketing industry.  This industry is all about helping business promote and sell their products and services more effectively on the Web.  One of the principles of good internet marketing is writing good "Copy" which means all of the sales literature that we read that persuades us (or not as the case may be) to buy a product or service.

It really is an art form and one of the best copywriters on the internet is a chap called Michel Fortin.  He has just written a post on his blog about how to remember the essentials of copywriting and he uses mnemonics to teach his students how to remember the key points.

I will share with you one of his mnemonics and recommend that you do read his entire post to see how he creates his to make it more memorable.  Like the example above, he takes the first letter of what he wants to put across to his readers, but he makes a word rather than another sentance.  For example:

Universal picture words or relatable, descriptive sentences."  becomes UPWORDS where "Up words" are picture words, mental imagery, metaphors, analogies, examples, etc so that all people in a given target market can easily relate to and understand, in their minds, your message and its meaning.

It is a very simple approach but it does work.  Using other people's mnemonics is powerful but the ones that have the greatest impact are those that you create yourself.  I still remember the categories of levers from my engineering apprenticeship 23 years ago because I created my own mnemonic for it.  I could give you a dynamic and engaging presentation on the three categories of levers if you want all from stuff I learnt 23 years ago and have not covered since.  It is not one of my most requested keynote speeches for some reason but at least I am prepared if ever my agent is asked for that topic

Do you have any mnemonics that you use?  If so let me.

Happy Star Wars Day.  Sadly not a bank holiday yet but maybe with enough campaigning we can get the government to recognise this important day.  I mean after the last census here in the UK, enough people put “Jedi” as their spiritual bias that it is now officially a religion.
 
In my opinion Star Wars is one of the finest films ever made and certainly my favourite.  I can still remember going to the cinema when I was just 11 years old to see it for the first time.  It was the opening scene that had such a big impact on me.

After that wonderful orchestral intro at the start of every 20^th Century Fox those immortal words “..A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… and then the Star Wars logo comes rushing to the front of the screen with the music that will forever conjure up image of Imperial Stormtroopers and light sabres. As that subsides the scene is set for us by the scrolling words that fade into the distance telling us about evil empires, beautiful princesses and secret plans.

 And then as the music fades, the camera pans down and first there is a small moon and then you realise you are sitting above a huge planet.  On the big screen this was massive but then a small spaceship appeared from the top right of the screen being fired at by an as yet unseen adversary.

 And then the mother of all spaceships appears from the top of the screen and we are looking up at the underbelly of this monster.  I can still remember as an 11 year old gasping at the scale of this huge spaceship and feeling the vibrations of the engine noise resonate in my small chest.  It was like being there and was unlike any movie experience I had ever encountered.

 The rest of the film had all the ingredients of an amazing story/film – incredible effects, beautiful princess, handsome hero, rugged bad-boy, love story, good overcomes evil, magical powers, evil warlord, overcoming struggles …. I could go on but I think it is safe to assume that the film had a massive impact on me and I can remember those experiences just like it was yesterday.

 So what was it about all of that which made it so memorable?  Well first of all as an impressionable 11 year old who read war and sci-fi comics, Star Wars was like a dream come true for me.  My strong interest in science fiction at that time meant that I was always going to be interested in the film, especially with the amount of hype that there was at the time (nothing changes there then although these day s I think much of the hype about the majority of supposedly “great” films is sadly unfounded).

Another reason that the film was so memorable was at that time no other film had ever used special effects to the extent that you actually believed what you saw was real.  Many previous films and television series were laughable at the way they used special and not so special effects.  I can always recall having to consciously extend the use of my imagination when I used to watch Flash Gordon (not the film with the Queen soundtrack, but the black and white, spaceships on string, cardboard set version).  So Star Wars was both unique and outstanding compared to its peers (although you could argue that it had none!)

 However probably the main reason that the film and especially the opening scenes were so memorable was that it engaged both the emotions and the senses right from the start.  So not only did I see and hear this incredible spaceship, the scale of which I had never even imagined before, but I felt the throbbing of the engines in my body as though I was actually sat on the craft itself.

 And from there on in I was hooked and it was then riding the roller coaster of emotions and experiences as I lived the life of a young Jedi, discovering his purpose and then finding his way and so on.

And can I remember his journey?  Of course I can.  Not least because since then as my favourite film I have watched it many times.  So my Star Wars Experience reveals some age old truths about why we are able to remember certain things:

1. If you are passionately interested in something then you are going to be likely to remember it.
2. Anything that is unique, unusual or stands out from the crowd will also last longer in your memory
3. When your senses are fully involved and you have a strong emotional connection with something, that too will create a far stronger impression on your memory.
4. The ebb and flow of a good story is much easier to remember
5. Repetition is the mother of skill and when it comes to being able to recall something, that is true too.
   

So once again happy Star Wars Day, May the Fourth be with you and if you need to remember something, think like a Jedi.

The other day I was sat in my office pontificating on some aspect of memory improvement, I forget what it was now (oh if only I had a £1 for every time someone cracked a joke like that at my expense ) and the phone rang. 

 When I answered it I could hear the faint rumblings of rubber on road and the occasional swoosh as a vehicle went past my caller’s vehicle in the opposite direction.  Then I heard some muffled fumblings, the line got a little clearer and then I heard “Hello….”  It was one of those hellos that trail off as though they seem to doubt that the technology of mobile phones actually works.  It was like the mind behind the voice was saying “I am really not sure this is going to work but I’ll give it a go anyway….”

 “Hello….Michael…are you there?…..Is that you?”

 It was my friend Diana (name changed to protect the guilty party – Denise you can thank me for that later).

 “I am off to David and Alison’s place to see them and I can’t remember the baby’s name!” (again names changed to prevent Denise’s embarrassment at forgetting our mutual close friends Warren and Nikki’s baby daughter’s name).

 “In my rush to get away to miss the traffic I completely forgot to bring the card with the baby's name on it…so I thought I’d ring you…”  (it is at this point Denise er I mean Diana, would be running her “Let’s get Michael to do something for me” pattern which consists of fluttering her eyebrows, pouting her lips, cocking her head to one side and down slightly whilst looking up and changing the tonality of her voice so that it slowed down slightly and got ever so slightly baby-esque as words became elongated and slightly staccato in delivery – Denise/Diana if you ever read this my only comment is to never let the truth get in the way of a good blog entry!)

 I teased here for a little while and for a minute toyed with giving her completely the wrong name but I know she would never forgive me and so let on that Warren and Nikki’s daughter was called Isabella Mae (congratulations to you both again by the way).

 One of the biggest problems I encounter as I help people improve their memory is the complaint that remembering names] is the thing that bothers them the most.    It is so common that when I talk to people about memory improvement I invariably assume that it will be one of the things we will be covering.

 The ability to remember people’s names is a skill that can be developed very easily and that there is one likely main reason why you may have trouble  in recalling the name of someone you have just met and that is that you probably never got it in the first place.  Anyway expanding on that will be for another time and for now I want to focus on what you could do if you find yourself visiting friends or colleagues who have recently had a child and you can’t remember the baby’s name.

Of course the easiest thing to do is simply ask the parents again “What have you decided to call him/her/it again?”  and if you have the confidence and self assuredness to be able to do that then I can save you some time and you can stop reading right now because you won’t need the rest of what I am about to suggest. 

 However many people would be too scared to ask for fear of embarrassing themselves for not knowing or for not wanting to upset the new parents by not knowing the name of the most important thing at the centre of their universe.  If this is you, then here are some practical (and some not quite so practical tips) to help you elicit the baby’s name.

1. If you are meeting the parents/baby at a social gathering then hang back a little and just listen…someone at some point is bound to use the baby’s name – be careful though because often newly born baby’s and parent combinations tend to be drawn to each other and there may be many baby’s names flying around – especially as the babies get handed around for a “ooh do let me hold him/her, aren’t you lovely bubba bubba bubba coochy coo coochy coo” cuddle.
   
   
2. If that is not possible then considering hiring an old lady to wander past just ahead of you.  The older the better and at least an octogenarian.  Have her shuffle up to the proud parents, get her to prod the baby, do a coochy coo routine, ask how old the baby is and then get her to ask the name making sure that she feigns partial deafness and keeps asking the parents to repeat it again but louder (I am sure I don’t need to point at that you should listen carefully at this stage).

3. When you greet the parents give them each a huge “Mwah, Mwah” kiss on each cheek, hold the mother’s elbows as you stand back slightly making a comment along the lines of “Daaaarrrrrling you look gorgeous, how is the little one” and then once again listen as she says “Well Funnypenny Daffodil the Third [or whatever it’s name is] is blah blah blah blah blah” because the first bit is likely to be the name.
   

4. Another good trick if you still haven’t managed to get the name is to ask casually, “So how is her/his name spelt then?” and once again listen as they spell the name.  If you get s strange look with an answer like D…A…V…I…..D because it is a really common name then just remark “Oh good I am glad you are going conventional, I do hate it when people have odd spellings for good wholesome names”
   

5. If the baby has an older brother or sister, engage them in a conversation and ask them how they like their new sister/brother.  Ask them if they like the name and even ask them to pronounce it for you (remember to give them a sweet or something, you know, be a bit pavlovian and condition the little one into only doing things they are going to get paid for) and once again listen.
   

6. Another tactic is to take a small pin and prod the baby with it when you give it a cuddle making sure that it starts to cry.  Done skilfully no one will ever suspect the cause of the baby’s discomfort.  Very quickly mum or dad will appear and will say “ooooh [Baby’s Name] what’s the matter, come to Mammakins/Daddypoo” (and there isn’t a license for these people to reproduce!)
   

7. A more extreme version of the previous is to stand up with the baby and gently bounce it up and down making parent-friendly coo coo noises and then accidentally drop the baby….the first thing either/both parents will shriek is the baby’s name followed by “oh my god”.  Be careful whose voice you listen to if both parents are there because the higher pitched scream of the mother may be difficult to make out.  However, just like a good graphic equaliser on a stereo system, the lower frequencies of the male voice will create a good balance to the higher frequencies of the female voice and the quality of the name will be almost musical.
   

So there are just a few ideas for you to try.  Of course commonsense prevails here and I will leave it to your judgement as to whether or not some of the more extreme tactics could be quite expensive and for any morons who have no sense of humour and don’t understand a tongue in cheek blog post when you read one, DON’T try suggestions 7 or 8.

Hi, this is Michael Tipper and I would like to welcome you to my new Memory Blog called Michael On Memory.

This is a collection of my thoughts, ideas, experiences and general ramblings about memory improvement from my own desire to improve my memory and from the work I do and have done with literally thousands of people from all over the world who wanted better recall, concentration and mental agility.

I thought I would drop a quick post in just so I get something up online but over the coming weeks and months you will have the opportunity to find out very simple ways how you can develop your memory to remember much more and for far longer.

I look forward to helping you remember more.

Michael