Remember Anything

Have you ever wondered if there is a mnemonic to help you remember how to spell or pronounce mnemonic?  What the heck is a mnemonic anyway?  A mnemonic is a device used to help you remember specific things.  There are many different types of mnemonics that you can use to recall important facts, figures, and information.  Once you have mastered the skill of mnemonic usage, you will be able to remember virtually anything!  Warning!  Some methods seem a bit impossible.  The ones where you think, “I could just as easily memorize the thing than learn this method,” are the ones that probably have the most lasting effect on your memory.

First let’s look at different types of mnemonics.

Acrostics

Do you recall being taught, “Please My Dear Aunt Sally” to help you learn the order in which you should do your functions in long math equations?  (Please=Parenthesis) Do the Parenthesis work first. (My=Multiply) Do the multiplication next. (Dear=Divide) (Aunt =Add) (Sally=Subtract).  You get the point.  This is useful technique can be used to remember short lists, ordered lists, steps, etc.

Acronyms

An acronym is an easy to remember combination of letters, often spelling out a word, where each letter will serve as a clue to help you recall the word it represents.  Some common acronyms are U.S.A. and P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).  Some acronyms used for the sole purpose of helping people remember things are H.O.M.E.S., where each letter starts a name of one of the great lakes, and B.R.A.S.S., which tells a person shooting a rifle that they need to Breath, Relax, Aim, Sight, and Squeeze.

Loci Method

This mnemonic tool is where you create an image of your mind of the things you need to remember in a place with which you are familiar.  To remember the parts of a skeleton, you might picture walking into your bedroom and seeing a skull sitting atop your coat rack right inside your door.  As you move around your room, you might picture a jaw bone in a jar sitting on your shelf.  On top of the shelf, you picture a clavicle shaped clarinet.  This technique will take a bit of time, but the results will be lasting.

Rhyming Keys

Almost everyone remembers words to songs and nursery rooms with great ease.  This method can prove extremely useful for remembering everyday things that are easy to forget.  Some examples that I have used over and over are, when connecting jumper cables safely, I always start with “Red to Dead and the Other side to the Live.  Before you come Back Connect the Black.  The connection should Stop on the Engine Block.”  When opening a jar or tightening a screw, I always know, “Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey!”

Image-Name Replacement

To remember names and occupations, you can invent some visual relationship between a person and their name.  Doris Washington who is an accountant might be remembered by visualizing the woman struggling to open a heavy door to a bank vault.  Her face might have accounting symbols on them, such as dollar signs, plus signs, and percentage signs on it.  She is an accountant trying to open a bank door that weighs a ton.  DOORis WEIGHS-A-TON.  DORIS WASHINGTON.

Chaining
In this method, you can remember long lists by creating a story connecting one item to the next.  For example, TEACHER, BASKETBALL, ATLAS, DINOSAUR, and WINDOWS might be remembered using this story:  The TEACHER went to the principal’s office where he was bouncing a BASKETBALL against the ATLAS.  She asked him to help her carry a DINOSAUR into the cafeteria so she could climb on his long neck to wash the WINDOWS.

There are many techniques that you can use to remember just about anything.  These are just a few to get you started.  As for MNEMONIC, how about My Next Event Must help Overcome Not remembering In Case I forget.  Okay, so that’s a stretch, but I tried!

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