How Can I Memorize Things Better?

Today, learning information and recalling it has become less important with the advancement of technology. Smartphones, computers, and even GPS, all eliminate the need to learn massive amounts of information. 

Memory is the process of forming connections between pieces of information in our minds. Unfortunately, because of the reliance on technology, we may struggle to retain information in our daily lives. 

Common reasons for needing memorization skills are studying for upcoming exams, learning a new skill, or preparing to give a speech. Unfortunately, the human brain can only hold so much information at once, thus making it challenging when we need to recall huge amounts of information. The good news is that retaining and recalling many pieces of information can be done with practice and developing new behavioral patterns. 

Are you wondering how to memorize a speech, or how to memorize fast and easily? This article will explain how to increase our ability to memorize effectively, engage in visualization, improve memory, and describe general memorization methods. 

Learning Styles

An important but often omitted step to memorization is first discovering how we learn best. The learning style is very important because it will be easier to memorize information so that we learn best. 

To find out your learning style, think back to when you had to learn information for any reason. This memory could be from school, a job, or even learning a hobby or skill. You want to remember learning experiences that have examples of all of the learning styles. 

There are three types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and experiential. Auditory learners are individuals who learn and retain information easiest through auditory methods, such as recordings, lectures, or being instructed vocally by someone else. 

Visual learners can boost their memory most efficiently if studying by looking at pictures, words, or videos. However, experiential learners can find it easier to understand and retain information by experiencing the material, event, or simply doing the task.

Now, recall times where you learned new information via audio, visual, or experiential methods. Next, you will need to identify a style of acquiring this information that made learning more difficult. Then, think about a time where you learned new information that made absorbing the knowledge easy. 

An easier mode of learning would result in retaining and recalling the information quickly without revisiting the material very often. When you notice which style you have previously found to be easier to learn with, that is most likely the style you should seek to use for future learning and memorization. 

Preparation

After you have figured out which learning style is best for you, the next step will be preparing to learn. Just like an athlete stretches before exercising to maximize their athletic ability, individuals wishing to memorize information quickly and effectively should take steps to boost their memory. 

One way to prepare is to choose an appropriate environment when beginning to study. For example, do you find that you are more distracted when surrounded by stimuli or in a quiet area?  Picking the right environment will increase your success in memory retention. 

Another preparation technique is drinking green tea. Many studies have found a strong correlation between green tea and improving memory.  Movement and exercise are great ways to prepare for studying and learning. Exercise is great for increasing learning and focus. 

So, taking a walk before beginning to study and memorize information can increase your retention, thus making it easier to recall that information later. Studies have also shown a correlation between studying in the afternoon and better memory recall.

Focus 

Have you found yourself turning down the radio when a complicated task appears while driving? This is an example of us getting rid of extraneous stimuli to focus on the job. While we can multitask, and most of us do, our brains cannot devote the maximum amount of attention to multiple things at once. Our brains use more energy when attempting to multitask, leaving us sometimes only paying half attention to tasks. 

Multi-tasking takes away our focus from a task, leading to less memory retention. When we eliminate distractions, we increase our memory because we can readily focus on more than one thing. The more time we devote to one task, the better our chances of remembering more information. If you are the type of person who likes to have a background noise when studying, try white noise on a machine or Youtube instead of music or television.

Record 

Recording speeches or lectures are great tools to maximize our memory retention. If we are visual learners or learning something more complicated, then writing note cards or writing the information down after listening to a recording can help boost our memory. Many devices have sound recording or talk-to-text apps that can assist with recording audio for studying. 

Listening to the recording over time will increase memory retention for auditory learners. Taking notes while listening to recording can also be useful for experiential learners.

Memory Palace

Memory Palace is a technique that has been used for many years for individuals who memorize and recall information professionally, such as actors or public speakers. This technique starts with the idea of visualizing a room or area you are familiar with. 

Next, you will take a sentence, word, or phrase and place it somewhere in your ‘memory palace’. Then, continue to visualize whatever you want to recall for later in places inside the memory palace. The result will be that you can recall the information at a moment’s notice by visualizing your memory palace and finding the information where you have left it.

A studying tip for memorizing quickly using the memory palace technique is to have a word or phrase associated with a letter in the alphabet. What this does is rapidly build associations between spatial memory and semantic memory. For example, if you want to remember the word “orange,” you can visually place that word in an opera hall in your memory palace. Using all 26 letters in the alphabet will help when the amount of information to be memorized is big.

Cumulative Memorization

This memorization technique is similar to repetition but has one key difference: cumulative repetition. Usually, we look at or say a word or phrase once or twice before moving on to the next piece of information. With cumulative memorization, we instead continue to repeat the information and then look away to see if we can recall it. 

Once we can recall the information without looking at the study material, we then add new information to what we have learned. Continue this process until you can recite all of the information without reviewing the study material.

Teaching

When it comes to memory, repetition is often cited as a key factor in memorization, but applying the knowledge is a step in optimal memorization that gets left out the most. After we learn information, teaching someone is the best way to ensure you have memorized material. 

If you are learning a speech or giving a presentation, practicing your speech in front of someone or even the mirror will increase your memory and make it easier to recall. Making quizzes or tests based on the information you have learned is another memorization method to boost your recall and retention.

Rest

Resting and taking breaks is another step that is left out when studying. Contrary to popular belief in western society, “cramming” or studying a lot of information in a short amount of time is actually ineffective at memory retention. Over the years, research studies on cognition have found a strong link between sleeping well and improving focus, attention, and memory. 

In addition to getting sufficient sleep, appropriate rest may include going on a walk or doing 20 minutes of yoga during study sessions. Also, the rest can look like taking a break from the material itself. 

While this also seems contradictory, taking significant breaks between study sessions has been shown to actually increase memory retention, not decrease it. Giving your brain a rest on information and then going back to it in say, another few days, will dramatically increase your memory skills and recall.

Final Thoughts

Whether we use memory to learn a new skill, language, or present a speech or lecture, taking action stances in improving memory is key to effective memorization. Most of our memory is passive in nature. We learn by trial and error for many daily life skills, such as doing laundry, cooking, or reading. 

Often, there is someone for us to observe doing a new skill or task. Because humans are social learning, we often do not need to think about the style in which we learn. 

The more we observe, the more we build associations over days or weeks of doing the same task. But improving memory and learning a lot of information is action-oriented. More detailed information requires active means, such as tests or writing. When we consciously use skills to learn and retain information, we will memorize pieces of information so much more effectively.