Home Sweet Home
How To Remember More Using Your Home

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Ever woken up in the middle of the night and realised that you forgot to do something really, really important? Or sat in a meeting desperately knowing that there was something you had to discuss with the other person... but for the life of you, you just couldn't quite recall what it was?

We've all been there.

And then after the meeting, you're driving home listening to the radio and bing - as if by magic - it pops into your head. Annoying isn't it? But it is also good news. You see, your brain is actually very good at reminding you of things you need to do... just not always at the right time!

Often we don't actually FORGET things, we just can't RECALL them when we need to.

So what's so good about that? Well, the information is still there in your brain… somewhere. You haven't really forgotten. You just need to know where to look to find it.

And that's one of the keys to memory. Knowing where and how to store information in the first place so that you can easily recall it later on. Here's a quick, simple and effective technique for storing day-to-day information so that you can remember it when you need to:

Step 1: Create A Mental Framework - Your Home

Take a mental trip around your house or apartment.

Start at your front door and imagine walking through your home from one room (or area if it's open plan) to another. Do this in a logical order, perhaps in the order you would show somebody through your home. Once you've done this, run through it in your head several times until you can mentally move from one room to another quickly and easily.

What you've just done is create a framework - a kind of mental filing cabinet - somewhere to store things you want to remember.

Step 2: Store The Information

So now we'll use the rooms in your home to store information. In this example let's use things you need to do. Here's how it works.

Let's say you need to remember to go to the bank. Simply imagine walking into your first room and finding it full from floor to ceiling with gold coins. In fact, there is so much money that you can hardly get into the room. Now if the next thing you have to do is book a plane ticket, just imagine a jumbo jet landing in your second room.

You get the idea. Just create a mental picture that will remind you of what you need to do - and then place it into one of your rooms.

Step 3: Recall The Information

This is the easy bit. Simply take a mental walk through your home and the images you've created will pop back into your head - as if by magic - conveniently reminding you of the things you need to do.

Have a go yourself and see how easy it is.

You could use this technique for remembering things you need to do each day. Or for things that you need to discuss at a meeting. Or in fact any day-to-day things you don't want to forget. And as there's no limit to your imagination, you can create as many mental frameworks as you like - previous homes in which you've lived, other people's houses, or any building or location you know well.

Give it a go. It works.

The Final Word: Take a trip around your home and give your recall a boost.