My husband is always moaning about not being able to remember things I’ve said to him or asked him to do – I sometimes think it’s because he just doesn’t listen! I must admit that if I’ve got lots of things to buy when I’m out shopping or I’ve got lots of errands to do, I make a list – otherwise I get home and realise I’ve forgotten something.
But today I’m going to look at how you can remember things you study more easily. It makes life much easier if you can remember the things you are supposed to be learning so that you can pass exams more successfully or put things into practice efficiently.
The first thing is that you should always make notes. Don’t write out in full long passages from your course or textbook. Instead, learn to highlight the important points that you want to remember and then jot them down in note form. Not only will this help to fix them in your memory, but it will make your revision quicker and easier because you can glance through them rather than having to re-read everything.
Also, organise yourself. It’s much easier to keep track of everything if you are organised. Plan properly so that you do what is important and don’t waste time and brain power on trivialities. Feeling overwhelmed by what you think you need to do can lead to stress. Stress, in turn, can affect how clearly you think. So, organise and then relax for the best results. If you have problems organising yourself, then you might want to consider our Effective Time Management Course (I’ve studied it and I found it really helpful).
The next thing is exercise. There are two aspects to this: exercise your body so that you are fit and healthy; exercise your brain cells by reading, doing puzzles, taking courses and generally challenging yourself.
What you eat also has an effect on how well your memory works. If you eat a healthy diet and get appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals you should be able to think more clearly. People who eat too much sugar and ‘junk’ food often find that they can’t sit down and concentrate, and they lose interest in what they are doing more quickly – not the best state of mind if you want to study.
Finally, let’s look at the myth about not being able to learn new things as easily when you get older. This is simply not true. If you keep both your mind and your body in good working order and are eager and enthusiastic about learning a new subject, then I can promise you that it will be no harder than when you were a teenager! But we all learn and remember things that we are interested in better than subjects that we find boring
So, if you have any personal tips for readers on how they can improve their memory or increase their learning skills, please send them to me.
Author: Diana Nadin
