Enhancing Your Career and Life: Exploring the Benefits and Techniques

Developing Memory Skills: Useful Exercises for Brain Training

Below are several beneficial exercises that can help develop brain resources, including memory. These tasks are related to mnemonics, a technique for enhancing memory. Despite the complexity of the term and its value, the exercises are simple and accessible for anyone to perform at any time.

The "Memory Palace" Exercise

Try to remember the names of writers and poets. If you can recall at least 12-15 names within five minutes, it can be considered a good memory. If recalling author names is not interesting, you can use the same method to list concepts from any field such as male or female names, cities in any country, indoor plants, and much more.

Concentration on a Given Task Exercise

This simple exercise helps develop the ability to focus on specific tasks. It involves pronouncing words backward. For example, "catapult" would be pronounced as "taulupatac," "car" as "rac," "boy" as "yob," "restaurant" as "tnaruatser," and so on.

The difficulty of the exercise lies in not reading the words from a sheet of paper. They should be spoken aloud in reverse order without peeking at the written word on the page. Start with simple words and gradually increase the difficulty of the tasks. Psychologists recommend starting with one-syllable words like "bridge" pronounced as "egdirb," "clone" as "enolc," "throne" as "enorht," and then proceed to words with more syllables, and so on.

At first glance, this exercise may seem primitive, but it makes a valuable contribution to memory development. Additionally, it also enhances visual memory. It is quite difficult to pronounce words backward without prior practice. While we can mentally break down words like "metropolis" or "escalator" into syllables, it is almost impossible to pronounce them correctly in reverse on the first try. To overcome these challenges, it is helpful to divide them into several blocks:

"Metropolis" can be broken down into "me-ga-po-lis."

Make sure you visualize the word in four parts and hold them in your imagination. By doing so, you activate the work of memory and attention, which rapidly improve. When the four parts of the word are present in your imagination, it becomes effortless to combine them and read it backward.

Improving Memory at the Workplace

Exercise 1:

At the beginning of the workday, it is recommended to ask yourself the following questions: "What do I need to do today as a priority?" and "What should I do next?" This exercise serves as a daily planner. We create a list of tasks as if we are writing down the points in a calendar or diary. It is recommended to remember not only the tasks but also the details associated with them. For example, formatting specifics, deadlines, the order of execution, and much more. Once the exercise is practiced, our brain "photographs" the tasks for the next day, allowing us to better plan our time.

Exercise 2:

You can divide your working day into four equal intervals. In each interval, fix a specific work circumstance or the expression on the face of a colleague. To perform the exercise, once an image is formed in your memory, place it in a frame, as if it were a photograph or picture. Hold it in your memory for a few seconds. Whenever the situation repeats in the next time interval, reproduce the first image again. Once all four intervals are completed, replay all the images in sequence. The next day, it will take less time to remember the sequence of events from the previous day.

Exercise 3:

This exercise is intriguing as it involves body movement, hence it is termed body-oriented. You need to recreate one of the most vivid positive moments that have happened to you before. It can be a situation where you felt joy, pleasure, inspiration, or tranquility. Analyze your emotions and muscle tension. There may be relaxed muscles in your face, chest, and neck, or a slight tension in your abdomen. Each emotion has its reflection, which is expressed in indescribable joy, calmness, or inspiration. This is especially noticeable in body posture and breathing rhythm. By identifying these characteristics, you can recreate the initial state.

Exercise 4:

Arrange objects on your desk in non-standard positions to capture your attention. Then, associate each item with a procedure or action that can be performed in the near future.

To train your memory in everyday life, try the following exercises:

• Learn new information daily.
• After reading a book or watching a movie, mentally reproduce the plot from beginning to end. Can you repeat the title, director's name, main characters, and the actors who played them?
• Avoid keeping shopping or task lists on a piece of paper; it's best to keep them in your head.
• When you're engaged in a certain activity, focus your thoughts on it.
• Remember people's names when you meet them. This will help you save time searching for necessary information, conserve your nervous system, and improve blood flow to the brain's cortex.
• Try to memorize phone numbers and use them without any reminders.
• In the evening, try to recall the sequence of events that occurred throughout the day.
• Memorize your schedule, workout routines, birthdays, and events. This does not mean completely abandoning a daily planner, but it's better to store information in your memory.
• Avoid using cheat sheets when giving a lecture or speaking to an audience.
• Create a notebook where you jot down interesting facts, motivational quotes, ideas, and links that you can refer to when needed.

The most important rule is that there are no people with poor memory, only those who are reluctant to fully utilize its resources.