By Ron White Memory Expert and USA Memory Champion
Some of the memory training tips that I can give you are very simple and others a little bit more involved. Lets start off basic.
- Sleep is critical for your memory. When I competed in the World Memory Championships in 2009 I was incredibly sleep deprived. The event was in London and I was fighting jet lag in a serious way. I can memorize a deck of cards in about 1 minutes and 30 seconds fairly routinely. However, in the event of how many cards can you recall in one hour I didn’t get one pack! I was so tired I got very sleeps and made a series of mistakes that cost me any decent score at all. Sleep, sleep and sleep!
- Good nutrition and exercise are keys to a top performing memory. There are specific foods that will help your memory such as spinach and blueberries because of their antioxidants. Omega-3 fish oil pills are also helpful to your memory.
- Trust your memory! One of the best tips I received from World Memory Champion Ben Pridmore was to trust my memory. I would tell him that I could memorize a deck of cards in about 2 minutes and I wanted to get faster. His advice to me was to trust my memory more. He said, ‘Go faster and just trust that your memory will remember it.’ That was precious advice to me as I became the national memory champion.
- Stop negative self talk! I hear so many people say, ‘I am terrible with names’,’I am a bad test taker’,’My memory is terrible.’ STOP THAT! STOP THAT! What you tell yourself about your memory will make a difference! Instead say, ‘I find it easy to remember names and faces, I have a good memory, I am a good test taker’. Yes, I know, it sounds as corny as all get out – but it works. Are you more concerned about sounding corny or getting results?
- Learn the memory method of loci or also known as the journey method. My memory system Memory in a Month explains this in a very straight forward way and in my humble opinion is one of the best memory training products on the market.
So there you have it, a few memory training tips that should help you to improve your memory. My goal is that you see dramatic improvement in your memory power and in turn I know it will impact your self-confidence and every area of your life