Grumpy Old Man

Do you ever forget things? Poor memory is sometimes related to depression (taken a free depression test yet?) Depression is however not the only cause of poor memory. Maybe you are not using your mind to the fullest of its abilities, because your mind can be the greatest search engine in the world – if used correctly.

There are two things that can be wrong when you are “processing your searches” 1) What you learn is not saved 2) You cannot recall what you have stored.

1) The former. I focus on the most important thing when it comes to successfully storing new information – attention. Your own mind has this use it or lose it feature. If you do not use what you have saved, then eventually you will discard that data. This is particularly important for new data you save. If you don’t give it a few moments of attention, then you will quickly discard it.

Small breaks and repetition are two things you can use to provide attention to the new data, that you want to learn. Yes, it is counter-intuitive, but breaks are great for providing attention to what you have just learned. Even though you stop reading the new data, you don’t quit processing it for a little while. The reason this works is because you don’t take your attention away to other new information that also must be processed and saved. Taking many small 5 minute breaks while learning lots of new knowledge will make you better at storing the new information.

2) The latter. What do you do when you use a search engine on the Internet to find what you are searching for? If you want to find what you are looking for, you must already know what you need to find! It is the paradox of search.

You will neeed a search phrase to locate what you are searching for. The text you input into the search engine that describes what you are looking for is named a search phrase. It is a piece of text that you think is associated to whatever it is you want to find. If a person has placed the knowledge that you wish to locate on the Internet and also has assigned the same search phrase to that knowledge, then you are able to find it. If he has not assigned the same search phrase to that piece of information, then you will not find it using that search phrase.

Your mind is great at associating what it learns. How you recall knowledge is like how it works with the Internet search engines. If you have associated a number of search phrases to the data you need, then you can use any one of those to recall the information later.

You attach a search phrase to what you later need to recall by first thinking of your search phrase, and then thinking of whatever it is you want to recall, when you later think of the search phrase. Your search phrase does not need to be a word; it can also be an image or a sound.

Finally, I wrap this up with a simple example. If for instance you need to remember to buy a tooth brush the next you are at the supermarket, first recall a picture of your supermarket (your search phrase) and then recall an image of your toothbrush (what you want to remember). The next time you enter your supermarket, you might be thinking you need to buy a tooth brush.

Your association feature may be very useful if you understand how to use it. Go play with it.

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