{"id":298,"date":"2007-05-19T19:41:15","date_gmt":"2007-05-20T02:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/19\/seven-tricks-to-stop-forgetfulness\/"},"modified":"2019-05-06T02:16:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T10:16:02","slug":"seven-tricks-to-stop-forgetfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/19\/seven-tricks-to-stop-forgetfulness\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Tricks to Stop Forgetfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Remembering\"
\nI used to be horrible at remembering things<\/a>. Little details like tasks, appointments and ideas often slipped my mind. And I can remember joking that I could only remember two dates, my birthdate and Christmas. It took me a lot of work and research to find ways to overcome my forgetfulness.<\/p>\n

My ability to remember things has improved greatly so that I\u2019m able to deliver speeches without notes, store ideas for blog entries and almost never miss tasks or commitments. Through a lot of research and experiments, I\u2019ve found some valuable tricks to stop forgetfulness.<\/p>\n

Here are a few of the best techniques I\u2019ve found to improve your memory:<\/p>\n

1) Capture<\/h2>\n

Dave Allen fans will be familiar with this one. The best way to remember things is to not use your brain. I carry around a small paper booklet where I can write down tasks, ideas and commitments to be sorted later. Writing things down is probably the best tip I can provide for people struggling to keep track of everything.<\/p>\n

Despite what some GTD cultists might say, I don\u2019t think that a capture device is enough. Maybe it is just me, but I\u2019ve found many situations where you will need to use your brain and times when you will be without your notepad. Carrying around a book will definitely help, but these other tricks can be useful when it isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

2) Link<\/h2>\n

A memory trick I learned over a year ago is the link technique. This works incredibly well whenever you need to remember a sequence of information. I\u2019ve used this technique to memorize presentations I\u2019ve had to give and as a backup if for some reason I can\u2019t use my notepad.<\/p>\n

The link technique works by associating two concepts together through a mental image. By linking together mental images you can store long sequences of information together flawlessly after just a minute or two of rehearsal. As a simplified example, let\u2019s say you wanted to memorize this short grocery list:<\/p>\n