Improve Your Memory by Memorizing Little Things
I haven’t had to memorize a phone number for at least fifteen years, but according to memory expert Jim Quick , practicing memorizing a 10-digit number may be one of the best ways to train our brains.
Why? Because, according to Quick, memorizing small things can teach us to memorize larger ones.
Quick, whose new book Limitless is releasing in April, reminds us that “The brain is like a muscle. It gets stronger as you use it. “ The more we train our brains to learn, memorize, and recall, the better we will be at all three of these tasks in the future.
Here’s a Quick on the phone number trick, courtesy of Inc .:
According to Quick, if you don’t think of your brain as a muscle, you probably think of it as a cup – and you probably feel like it is overcrowded. He called it a “digital flood,” where our 200,000-year-old brains are overwhelmed by rapidly advancing technology and outsourced.
To combat this, Kwik recommends setting aside a 30-minute, non-technical “white space” on your calendar every week, turning off all unnecessary notifications, and remembering the phone number of one person you talk to on a regular basis. Even this small task can train your memory muscles to process and store more information, Quick says. How much you can earn, Quick says, depends on what you learn.
I admit that it is sometimes difficult for me to remember my phone number, much less someone else’s, so it is clear that I could use this practice too. Plus, it’s probably a good idea to remember at least a few phone numbers (partners, parents, etc.) in case you end up needing to call from something other than your smartphone.
So if you have a few extra minutes today, see if you can store the phone number in memory. If you can, wait a few days to see if it gets stuck in your brain, then try adding another one.
And no, 867-5309 doesn’t count.