Improve Your Memory Through the Power of Relative Association

A few years ago I read a book written by a man who claimed that our minds are like filing cabinets. He said that we have the ability to store large amounts of information away in our minds in a way that would allow us to just pull it out whenever we needed it. Ironically enough I don't remember the name of that book or the name of the guy that wrote it. Obviously, (enter sarcasm) he was on to something.

I have never been able to file anything away in my head and then pull it out whenever I needed it. The whole idea seems absurd to me. Maybe it's just one of those gifts set aside for a chosen few super-intelligent individuals. I don't know, but I don't have the brain power of an elephant. (No comments, please.) The only way that I've ever been able to remember anything is through relative association, or linking one thing with another of similar relevance. It may not be some scientifically advanced memorization technique, but for me it's pretty effective.

Let me give you an example. I used to have trouble remembering the vertical and horizontal orientations. Which one went up and down and which one went from left to right? Frustrated with my own ignorance, I looked the two up and realized something. The V in Vertical and the Z in horiZontalZ keyed me in to their directions. The V goes up and down and the Z goes from left to right. Bingo! I've never forgotten them since.

Another example is how I learned to remember some of the TV channels after moving to Pennsylvania. G4 is one of my all time favorite cable TV channels. I had it programmed into my remote control back home so I didn't have to remember anything. Unfortunately, we don't have a TV remote control in our little hotel room now, so I have to remember what channels I want to watch. In Pennsylvania G4 is on channel 70 but I could never remember that. I had to either click through the channels until I found it again or sit through fifteen minutes of the TV guide channel looking for it. Then I realized that the G in G4 is the 7^th letter of the alphabet. Couple that with the fact that the 4 in G4 had "zero" relevance in the association and G4 instantly turned into 70.

I'm not sure why this works so well for me, but I think it has something to do with the experience itself. When I use relative association to memorize something, I have to slow down my thought process and actually think about how I'm going to remember this thing later on. I'm forcing myself to create new ideas that tie experience to the memorization. Experiences are harder to forget than a vague concept or some complex string of numbers. Ah the memories....

Try it out and see what you think. You can use relative association to remember just about anything, even the names of people that you've just met. Try matching a person's name with some aspect of his or her personality, behavior or some bodily nuance they exhibit. Have you ever met a Bob that bobbed lightly as he walked? What about a Sue that looked mean enough to throw you in court at the drop of a hat?

Be as creative as you like. Sometimes you'll even surprise yourself with the things that you come up with.