When we try to remember something, we believe we need to repeat it.
It works a few times and up to a certain extent, and sometimes it’s not practical.
We don’t have an understanding of how memory works. But having good memory can be bad for us, too.

Here’s why it's not good to remember everything. How can you selectively remember for a long time?
As a bonus, you will learn how our memory can help us be positive.

Right-click here to save this episode.

In one of my previous jobs around 15 years ago, in a meeting, the boss would give instructions to the staff member, including me.
You know, one of those boring meetings at the workplace. He was assigning duties and asking us to work on plans. We all needed to carry a diary to note down everything discussed. There was too much information to handle, and we all had difficulty taking notes because the boss was talking too fast and giving too much information. I could never note down everything that was discussed in the meeting room. I wish I could remember without noting down anything in my notepad.

Is it possible for anyone to have a photogenic memory and never forget anything?
There was one. There was a man named Solomon Shereshevsky. He never took notes, and people were surprised by his memory. He could repeat every single thing that was discussed in the meeting, no matter how long the meeting went on, or he could even remember what was discussed in a meeting a year ago.

He could remember a song even if it was in a foreign language that he did not understand. Isn’t it awesome? In this podcast, we will discuss two things

• Why is it not good to remember everything?
• How can you selectively remember for a long time? and in the second topic, as a bonus, you will learn how can our memory help us being positive?

Shereshevsky faced a lot of problems because of his strong memory.  Do you wonder why?
We receive 2 million bits of information at any moment. That’s a lot of information that we receive every single second. Don’t believe it? Right now, you are listening to this podcast or reading this article. Now, notice the things around you while paying attention to my voice or the article. Notice the shape and colour of things around you. Notice various sounds around you. Maybe the traffic noise, the fan, the movement of people or machinery. Notice the muscle movements in your body. Which leg is warmer than the other one? Feel the flow of blood in your body.

Now, all of these were happening, but you could only pay attention to a few things.
Research shows that we can pay attention to only seven plus or minus two things at one time. That means we can focus on only 5 to 9 things at any moment.  If we pay attention to 2 million bits of information every single moment, it will be too much for us to handle, and we can go crazy with overwhelming information.

When Shereshevsky got older, he had a lot of problems because he could not forget the sad moments of his life.
As a result, he had a lot of negative mental issues such as anger, stress, resentment, hate and depression.  If you see depressed people, you will notice that they tend to recall negative memories a lot more frequently. You don’t want to face the problems like Shereshevsky.

You want to be good at memory because it’s beneficial.
It helps you solve problems better, be creative, and ultimately be a happy individual. We can interact with people better and socialize better. More importantly, working on improving your memory helps make your brain and neural pathways stronger and it keeps you younger. So, how can we train ourselves with better memory. How can we selectively remember for a long time?

What if you could remember something quickly?
Remember a time when you were very happy. Pick a time in your life when you experienced sheer joy and happiness. Remember that time. What did you see? What did you hear? How did you feel? Intensify that feeling, amplify what you heard and make the image of what you saw bigger, bolder and brighter. Whilst holding this feeling, raise your right hand up. Clear the image.

Let’s do it again.
Remember a time when you were very happy. Pick a time in your life when you experienced absolute joy and happiness. Remember that time. What did you see? What did you hear? How did you feel? Intensify that feeling, amplify what you heard and make the image of what you saw bigger, bolder and brighter. Whilst holding this feeling, put your right hand up. Clear the image.

Now, raise your right hand up.
If you followed this exercise exactly as I shared, you would’ve instantly recollected the memory of absolute happiness by just raising your right hand. In one of my workshops on NLP, that is Neuro Linguistic Programming, I teach this technique to go into any positive emotional state at any time and any place. I use the same technique in with my coaching clients to install a positive feeling in their mind.

This technique of NLP is called Anchoring.
If you can not recollect the memory of the emotion you want, you can also imagine if you have that feeling. It’s pretty much the same as a famous Pavlov’s experiment where Pavlov rings the bell every time he gives food to his dog, and the dog used to salivate at the sound of the bell. He did this repeatedly. As a result, whenever he rang the bell, the dog used to salivate. However, there is no direct association between ringing the bell and the dog starting to salivate. But Pavlov made a connection between the ringing of the bell and making the dog salivate.

Essentially, that's what memory is. Association + anchoring.
Association means creating connections between new information and existing knowledge. Anchoring means associating new knowledge with specific cues so as to recall it. By becoming better at anchoring, anyone can improve their memories. Anyone can remember names of 30 strangers they meet at a workshop. Or remember a whole poem. Or remember everyones phone numbers. This method takes practice.

You can make it easier by using emotions to make the memories stickier. Include sound and smell too.
Create a narrative - make the journey an adventure. Exaggerate the imagery. The more intense the emotion you can build with your mental stroll, the stronger the anchor, the more long term the memory.

If you do the exercise we learned in the second part repeatedly, the association becomes stronger and better.
Association is better with repetition!You can create any emotional state by simply doing the same exercise. The emotional states include creativity, joy, pleasure, curiosity, motivation, etc. If you wish to learn, you can contact me at contact@northstarangel.com

For example, depressed people could recall happier memories in a better way.
And recalling happy memories helped depressed people repair their mood. So, in short, to improve your memory, associate something new with something old and known.  And anchor the new with as much vividness and detail as you can.

The One-Liner Report:

Why Customers Don’t Listen? – How to get them to listen to you with your One-Liner?

This report will show you how to explain your business in just one-line so that your customers listen and understand you as quickly as possible. Click on the button below and get a detailed ‘The One Liner Report’. It will take only 15 minutes to read.