How to memorize and improve concentration

Learning how to memorize and improve concentration is very vital if we want to be successful in everything that we do.
We all experience sensory stimuli that remind us of something else. The smell of fresh baked bread might remind you of your mum’s great apple pie. Hearing the end of  the “Sesame street” theme song might remind you of your wonderful pre-school teacher. This is reffered to as Association Technique.

When it comes to improving your memory and concentration this technique can be a very helpful tool since association is a powerful memory aid.

This technique connects the items or ideas we want to remember to one visual theme. Recent hemispheric brain research has proved the power of associations and shows how our brains act as computer file folders slotting newly learned information in the same file as already learned information that fits within that same file.

This therefore means the association techniques connects the new information you want to remember with existing information that you already know, much like our brain file folders. To improve our concentration we need to organize the way we take in new information the same way as our brain and hence retrieving it will be much easier.
 
How to improve concentration using the Association technique

Select a visual theme in which to place clearly objects that represent the main idea or title of the majority of objects to be remembered. Place the numeric symbol that represents how many items you need to remember somewhere in your visual. Substitute any abstract objects with more concrete ones.

For example, substituting the yellow “Have a Nice Day” smiling face for the abstract “happiness” would be a much more memorable object. Connect the object to one part of the common visual and if the exact order is important connect each I clockwise order.

Example: Suppose you need to remember the following errands for Saturday afternoon: Pick up the cleaning, get a birthday card, buy a jar of mayonnaise, buy a three pound can of coffee, pick up a dozen roses for mom, call for reservations at an Italian restaurant and make a doctor’s appointment for your yearly physical.

Pick a large orange “seven” standing up in the middle of a green grassy field. Picture yourself leaning up against the seven with a plastic bag containing your cleaning on your right arm and a birthday card with bright red bow hanging from your left arm. Then picture your right foot stuck in a jar of mayonnaise and your left foot stuck in a coffee can. In your mouth is along stem rose, smell the spaghetti noodles form the Italian restaurant and hanging around your neck is a doctor’s stethoscope.
Now prompt yourself to remember the errands by identifying each object, works well doesn’t it? A little rehearsal will place the facts into your long term memory.

Understanding the Association technique and Memorizing it will enable you to retain the memory of many seemingly unrelated items. Useful for remembering tests, speeches, shopping lists and weekend errands? Of course