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The classic way to strengthen memory involves cleaning up your act in ways you’ve heard a thousand times before.
Most articles talk about nutrition and memory, sleep and fitness.
Maybe they’ve even got ads for some dodgy memory supplements alongside a few tips they never completely explain.
That’s not what you’re going to find here.
As the author of multiple bestselling books on using memory techniques, I can tell you that diet, sleep and fitness are important.
But that’s not the message that helped me memorize the TEDx Talk that reached millions of people.
No, the truth is that strengthening memory requires actually using it, the same way building muscles involves lifting heavy things.
As in weight training, however, there are optimal ways to put in your reps.
So on this page, I’m going to show you the best ways to give your memory a workout that will actually improve its strength in measurable ways.
Ready?
Let’s dive in!
Strengthen Your Memory By Following These 7 Unusual Steps
I’m calling the training on this page “unusual” for a few reasons.
First, I’m going to connect you with a lot of free training from across this blog. You’ll literally need nothing else, unless you want to gather up some of the best Memory Palace books and memory improvement courses I might mention.
Getting into those kinds of advanced memory techniques is well worth the investment.
But in reality, you need to commit first.
And as we all know, commitment is quite rare in our world. In fact, even decision making itself has been shown in this study to already require good memory.
With that in mind, take this list of suggestions as a whole. There’s no particular order of importance. Each and every step matters, especially if you struggle with making commitments and sticking with them.
One: Start Using Mnemonics
No matter how strong your memory is right now, it can be stronger.
And one of the best things you can do is understand that memory science completely validates the effectiveness of using both ancient memory techniques and modern variations.
The exact techniques to start with require a bit of personal exploration. After decades of teaching memory, I suggest you start learning and using them in this order:
- The Memory Palace Technique
- The Pegword Method
- The Major System for memorizing numbers
- Spaced Repetition
Although that might seem like a lot of ground to cover, many of my students in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass pick all of these skills up in a weekend or two.
The reason why these mnemonic strategies work so well in combination is that they’re mentally stimulating and give your brain a great workout. You also get great visualization exercise.
Two: Reduce Any Apps That Might Be Causing Deskilling
When I first started this blog, people weren’t sure that smart phone addiction was really damaging memory.
These days, the problem is known and has a name: Digital Amnesia.
Not only that, but researchers have found that social media use is leading many of us into poor health.
Sure, it’s still a good idea to eat foods that improve memory. But you still need to stop deskilling your brain.
I’m not saying that anyone should stop using computers. Rather, choose to use your natural memory at least half the time.
Use journaling to actually dig up some of your autobiographical and episodic memories so these types of memory get a little exercise on a daily basis.
That way, you can get the best of both worlds: our amazing digital technologies and some memory fitness simply by writing for a few minutes each day. And manually using your mind to recall information instead of always looking things up.
Common sense, right? Using your memory is a clear and obvious way to strengthen it, so please start today.
Three: Read Daily
Confession time:
I love video. I even recently received a Silver Play Button from YouTube for earning over 100,000 subscribers.
But I try to limit how much video I consume in favor of reading.
That’s partly because I honestly just love reading. But I’m ageing and completely aware of longitudinal studies like this which demonstrate that reading prevents cognitive decline.
A subset of reading daily is to take on reading challenges. To do that, I switch between reading purely for pleasure and going through dense material that takes me time to understand.
I know that a lot of people try to avoid challenges, but such evasion is a surefire way to weaken your memory.
When I come across difficult materials, I just read it aloud. As it turns out, this study shows that reading aloud can help you remember more of your reading.
Exactly how much should you read in a day? In this post, I answer the question, and ultimately suggest that it’s a goal-oriented amount of time. I personally try to get in at least 2-3 hours, but if I have a research project on-the-go, I’ll often do up to 5 hours or more.
Four: Play Authentic Memory Games
There’s no end to the brain exercises out there.
The trick is to find ones that are not only fun and challenging. But also brain games that actually deliver a sufficient amount of workout that leads to stronger memory.
Frankly, it’s difficult to find them, but even just simple games like Solitaire can help improve your retention. Some scientists even use simple games like this to help test for memory issues.
If you want to see some of my favorite memory games, check out this video for a visual example:
Five: Study At Least One Language
Scientists have known for a long time that there are many cognitive benefits to being bilingual.
One possible explanation is that bilingualism requires more attention to detail.
It definitely involves memorizing vocabulary, and that keeps your memory strong in a big way.
Remember when we discussed journaling above? Turns out that research shows you’ll learn new words by writing them out by hand faster too.
It’s for this reason that I often combine Memory Palaces with self-created flashcards.
Six: Don’t Take On So Much At Once
When people hear the suggestion that they should learn a new language, they imagine a massive project. Although it is a lot of work, there’s no need to feel overwhelmed.
Many of my best friends are polyglots and they all have one secret memory technique in common: chunking.
That’s the scientific world for breaking things down to their smallest possible component. Rather than trying to learn an entire word, just break it down into individual syllables.
Your rational mind might protest that this will make everything take longer. But in reality, it will strengthen your memory because you’re actually following through.
You can also use the Memory Palace technique for language learning which works best when you use chunking.
The most important point here is that you don’t have to take on more than you can handle. In fact, proper deliberate practice requires the opposite. So break things down.
Seven: Think And Walk Backwards
When Joshua Foer named his famous memory book, Moonwalking with Einstein, there was more to the title than just an example of mnemonic imagery.
There’s scientific research showing that thinking of time as a kind of space and thinking “backwards” improves your memory.
Not only that, Dr. Aleks Aksentijevic’s work shows that both walking backwards and merely imagining yourself walking backwards can improve your short-term memory. Here’s a video of him discussing the research:
I personally do this a few times a week along with other movement practices. It is powerful.
In fact, you can follow the exact same training I follow by watching this video, which has a nice story to it as well:
The Golden Rule Of Memory Strengthening Activities
Now that you’ve seen one of the most unusual memory improvement strategies, just make sure that you only walk backwards in a place that’s safe to do so.
And take action. Often.
That’s because the golden rule of strengthening your memory is that you need to explore and experiment.
There are countless memory techniques to use and activities to try. But that’s the point: they have to be tried.
If you’d like more help along the way, get my free memory improvement course here:
It will take you deeper into the Memory Palace technique and related mnemonics. To do that, you’ll get free video lessons and worksheets.
From there, all you have to do is follow the golden rule.
Your memory is such a precious asset so I wish you great success on your journey.
And if you do wind up buying memory courses, make sure to consider my Consumer Awareness Guide. It will help make sure that any investment you make is the best.
But as I hope to have made clear today, you already have more than enough resources to strengthen your memory starting today.
Make it happen!
