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There is a very fallacious notion we are fed with since our childhood - memory dwindles with age. This is as wrong as it can be. How strong your memory will remain when you age will depend on how often you use it. Just as the muscles in your body, memory also needs to be worked regularly to be working well. You will find there are older people who forget names and appointments, facts and figures and such practical everyday stuff, but this should not necessarily be the case with you.

Everyone can improve their memory. The best way to do it is by starting young. These memory techniques work the best when the mind is still supple and pliable. You can get some idea of how these techniques influence your memory by reading the points below:-

1. Concentration is the key to good memory. When you see something for the first time, concentrate really hard on it. When you pay attention, the data makes a definite impression on your mind. Do not be boggled by the extent of the information. Just take in as much as you can, attentively. If you skim through it just superficially, you are not going to remember any of it later on.

2. Most mnemonics (memory aids) rely on association-making. There’s always a vast oeuvre of things that you already know. Associate new data with this existing knowledge bank. Connect new things with what you already have an emotional connection with. It is not necessary that the new thing you are seeing is connected to your existing knowledge, but you can create your own pegs. This helps you to impress the new data in your mind so that you can recall it later. Since it is already pegged with something you know, it becomes very easy for you to bring back the data when you want it the next time.

3. Keep testing yourself. After you make your associations, try to remember what you put into your mind. Repetition is the best aid to memory. Keep repeating the sequence of data you are trying to remember till you get them pat down.

4. Now review your data once again and try recalling it. You have to see how well you can do this. After that take a little break and then recall once more. Doing repeat recalls thrice in a day is sure to make that data firmly entrenched in your mind and you will never forget it again. When you associate once, you are putting things into short-term memory, but when you recall things over and over again, you are putting them into long-term memory.

5. Next day, once again try if you can recall the data. Use all the memory techniques once again till you are able to fluently recall the entire data in your mind. Give yourself five minutes to bring everything back into your mind. If you are not able to do so within this time limit, start over and try to bring back to mind each thing that you put into your mind.

You have to check yourself for improvements. You should progressively need less time with each recalling exercise that you subject your own mind to. This will surely make you a mind freak soon!

These simple memory aids help you in learning by stimulating your mind to do more and achieve more. You may not succeed right from the word ‘go’ but remember that you are learning along the way, and patient learning always bears fruit.