If you learn the right series of memory techniques and systems, it will be like installing new software in your brain that will enhance your memory tremendously.  Applying these memory techniques, you will learn how to improve your ability to learn and retain new information such as:

• Numbers (e.g., phone numbers, ID numbers, credit card numbers, or even the digits of pi if you want to), 
• Lists (e.g., grocery lists, to do lists),
• Speeches,
• Languages,
• Dates,
• Names and faces,
• Random facts, and
• much more

If you are like most people, some things are easier to remember than others.  You might remember the smell of bacon and think of bacon.  But I bet when you see a long random number like 3875365923787020 that you won’t remember that number unless you spent some quality time repeating it.  How many times do you think it would take you to repeat this to memorize it?  10? 20? 100 times?   Even if you managed to cram this 16-digit number into your short-term memory, you might forget it.  It would take some effort to get this number into your long-term memory.  Go ahead and test yourself — feel free to try it for yourself.

For most of us, memorizing stuff takes effort.  Some of us are better at it than others.  But, there is also a better way to do it so that it is much faster and more permanent.  You don’t have to be some memory champion to make use of these techniques, but certainly if you learn them you could be a memory champion with the right practice and dedication.  However, most of us could greatly benefit from a memory upgrade for practical, day-to-day use.

Memory hacks greatly help with learning languages as well.  I’ve traveled to more than 40 countries or so and have learned to varying degrees several languages such as Spanish, Russian, German, French, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, and Kazakh.  Language learning takes a dedication to acquire vocabulary and understand various contexts of what is being communicated.  You can use the mnemonic systems to greatly accelerate the intake and retention of words and phrases in new languages.

Applying key memory hacks, anybody can achieve an exponential enhancement to their memory and also to overall brain health.  Imagine how helpful a well-honed memory that would be in daily life, in professional life, or in school?  Your trained memory could really make the difference in reaching your goals and achieving more dreams.   It’s also good for your brain health because exercising your memory can help with a more fit mind, just like exercising your body will make you generally more fit.  But like in exercise, there is a right way to practice and there are tools that make a measurable difference.

Let’s say you want to develop a better memory for numbers.  What if instead of seeing a random string of numbers in 3875365923787020, what if you saw something more familiar, and if you could remember it in just one intake?  

What if the randomness of it all disappeared and you could not only see the numbers, but you could even hear them, taste them, and really see them in action.  What if the numbers told you a story? 

You can train your mind to do this! If you do the work and put in the effort, then you will never see numbers in the same way.  You will know them more intimately, and you will remember them with more ease.  Beyond numbers, you will learn to apply these same techniques to remember a host of things including lists, people, dates, languages, speeches, etc.  

A core principle to remembering better is learning how to use what the psychologists call “elaborative encoding,” which refers to the formation of new memories as they are encoded using information that is already known. So you want to link what you do not know yet to what you already know.  As a result, the memories are formed and stored in association with one another, creating an elaborate “web” of related memories and knowledge.  The great news is that you can make your “web” bigger and stickier in the process.

If you ever wonder how some people have a head for Trivia or “random” facts it is because they have developed a sticky brain.  They might not have a higher IQ than the average person but still their brain is working in a way that facts stick better, and so that sort of person could go compete on Jeopardy or the like.  If you learn Memory Hacks, you will learn how to develop a “stickier brain” so that things stick better.  A lot of people might imagine that the mind is like a vat and knowledge is poured into it.  In using a faulty analogy like this to think of the mind, you might conclude that we need to be careful what we fill it with so it doesn’t get too full.  However, I think a better way to think about the mind is that it is like a Velcro ball, and the more you add onto it, the bigger it grows and more it can stick onto it.  The fact of the matter is that the more you memorize, the easier it is to intake and memorize more.  

To “hack” your own brain so you can upgrade your memory, you have to start by being open minded. After investing in learning memory techniques, with practice, your brain will become much stickier.  Consequently, having a better memory will change your life and make you more successful in whatever you wish to accomplish.  

Welcome to the wacky and wonderful world of mnemonics …