Memory is one of those areas that most of us need to work on but very few of us do. It is rarely a top priority because fundamentally we don’t believe that an improved memory will really improve the quality of our lives. Let me tell you, you are wrong; if in the next month you remember the name of every single person you are introduced then you will be amazed at how this transforms your social life.
The sad fact is that out of the many people we meet throughout our lives very few are converted into high quality relationships, and this is because the interaction usually falls down at the first hurdle of simply remembering the other person’s name. Can NLP help me improve my memory? Undoubtedly. But the real question you need to consider is how can my new memory skills help improve my life.
Imagine a world where you never needed to write down a shopping list, or where you were able to remember the names of the twenty people you had been introduced to at a party. Today we are going to look at two NLP memory techniques that will make this an achievable goal. First up; names.
If you are ever asked the question; can NLP help me improve my memory? This technique is going to be your quick and dramatic answer. You are introduced to someone at a party “this is Sophie”, you immediately repeat the name twice, “Sophie. Hi Sophie”. In your mind you form a picture of Sophie covered in soap, she is soapy.
Over the next few minutes reinforce the image by visualising it again and again, and then relax, you will remember her name for years to come. Gradually you build up easy to recall images for many names; imagine Brian dressed as a lion, Grace dressed in lace, Simon holding a pie, he is a pieman. It is quick, fun and the results are instant. In my experience if the image involves sex then this is committed to memory far quicker so go crazy with images that you know will stick.
Shopping lists aren’t quite as easy a fix, but of course, NLP has a way of using your brain that will make twenty item lists achievable. Start small, start with a list of around five. Before leaving for the shops order the items on the list in the order you are going to pick them up, so in a standard supermarket you will pick up the apples, then milk, then soup, then bread, then washing up liquid.
Visualise you journey around the supermarket to each of these items, and link each item to the next; imagine the apples floating in milk, and this being kept in a can of soap which you dip bread in to then wash up the whole mess. As with everything in neuro linguistic programming the clear the image the easier the recall. If you are unfamiliar with the supermarket you are going to visualise the products at different points in your house and chart that journey instead. This technique takes time but the results can be astounding. If you were to do this once a week within a few months you will be easily learning twenty or so items.
Can NLP help me improve my memory? Of course, and in turn the memory powers you build will have a ripple effect. As soon as you can remember lists you can transfer the skills to phone numbers, or birthdays. You will notice your brain working far better and this will have reverberations throughout your life.
Tags: learning, nlp memory
