How to improve your memory to learn and recall quickly?

Hi, this is Mayur Bardolia and you are listening to Love Your Business Podcast. This podcast isn't about magical tactics on running the business that makes you bored and tired. Instead, it's about how to love your business so that you can enjoy doing it and enjoy more time for yourself. In one of my previous jobs around 15 years ago, in a meeting, the boss would give instructions to the staff member, including me. You know, one of those boring meetings at the workplace. He was assigning duties and asking us to work on plans, and we all needed to carry a diary to note down everything discussed. That was just too much information to handle, and we all had difficulty taking notes because the boss was talking too fast and giving too much information, and I could never note down everything that was discussed in the meeting room. And I wish I could remember without noting down anything in my notepad. Is it possible for anyone to have a photogenic memory and never forget anything? There was one. There was a man named Solomon Sharashovsky. He never took notes and people were surprised by his memory. He could repeat every single thing that was discussed in the meeting, no matter how long the meeting went on, or he could even remember what was discussed in a meeting a year ago. He could remember a song even if it was in the foreign language that he did not understand. Isn't it awesome? You can find more about him on Google. Just type in Solomon Shereshevsky. And in this podcast, we will discuss 2 things. Number one, why is it not good to remember everything? And number 2, how can you selectively remember for a long time? And in the second topic, as a bonus, you will learn How can our memory help us being positive? Let's discuss the first topic. Why is it not good to remember everything? Sharashevsky faced a lot of problems because of his strong memory. Do you wonder why? We receive 2 million bits of information at any moment. That's a lot of information that we receive every single second. You don't believe me? Well, let's try out. Right now, you're listening to this podcast or reading this article. Now, notice the things around you while paying attention to my voice or the article. Notice the shape and color of things around you. Notice various sounds around you. Maybe the traffic noise, the fan, The movement of people or any machinery. Now notice the muscle movements in your body. Which leg is warmer than the other one? And feel the flow of blood in your body. Now all of these were happening. But you could only pay attention to a few things. Research shows that we can pay attention to only 7 plus or minus 2 things at one time. That means we can focus on only 5 to 9 things at any moment. If we pay attention to 2 million bits of information every single moment, it'll be too much for us to handle, and we can go crazy with overwhelming information. So when Solomon Sharashevsky got older, he had a lot of problems because he could not forget this sad moment of his life. As a result, he had a lot of negative mental issues, such as anger, stress, resentment, hate, and depression. And if you see depressed people, you will notice that they tend to recall negative memories a lot more frequently. You don't want to face the problems like Chelasevsky. You want to be good at memory because it's beneficial. It helps you solve problems better, be creative, and ultimately be a happy individual. We can interact with people better and socialize better. More importantly, working on improving your memory helps you Make your brain and neural pathways stronger, and it keeps you younger. So how can we train ourselves with better memory? How can we selectively remember for a long time? Let's dive in. What if you could remember something quickly? Well, remember a time when you were very happy. Pick a time in your life when you experienced absolute joy and happiness. Remember that time. What did you see? What did you hear? How did you feel? Intensify that feeling. Amplify what you heard and make the image of what you saw bigger, bolder, and brighter. Whilst holding this feeling, raise your right hand up. Now put your right hand down and clear the image. Let's do it again. Remember a time when you were very happy. Pick a time in your life when you experienced absolute joy and happiness. Remember that time. What did you see? What did you hear? How did you feel? Intensify that feeling, amplify what you heard, and make the image Of what you saw bigger, bolder, and brighter. And whilst holding this feeling, raise your right hand up. Now put your right hand down and clear the image. And now raise your right hand up again. If you follow this exercise exactly as I shared. You would have instantly recollected the memory of absolute happiness by just raising your right hand. In one of my workshops on NLP, that is Neuro Linguistic Programming, I teach this technique to go into any positive emotional state at any time and any place. I use the same technique in with my coaching clients to install a positive feeling in their mind. And this technique of NLP is called anchoring. If you cannot recollect the memory of the emotion you want, you can also imagine if you have that feeling. It's pretty much the same as a famous Pavlov's experiment. Well, Paulo rings the bell every time he gives food to his dog, and the dog used to salivate at the sound of the bell. He did this repeatedly, and as a result, whenever he rang the bell, the dog used to salivate. However, there is no direct association between ringing the bell and the dog starting to salivate. But Paulo made a connection between the ringing of the bell and making the dog salivate. And essentially, that's what memory is. Association plus anchoring. Association means creating connections between new information and existing knowledge. Anchoring means associating new knowledge With specific cues so as to recall it. By becoming better at anchoring, anyone can improve their memories. Anyone can remember names of 30 strangers they meet at a workshop, or remember a whole song, or remember everyone's phone numbers. And this method takes practice. You can make it easier by using emotions to make the memory stickier. Include sound and smell. Create a narrative. Make the journey an adventure. Exaggerate the image. The more intense the emotion is, the better it'll be. And the more intense the emotion you can build with your mental stroll, the stronger the anchor. And the more long-term the memory. And if you do the exercise we learn in this second part repeatedly, the association becomes stronger and better. And association is better than repetition. You can create any emotional state by simply doing the same exercise. The emotional states includes creativity, joy, pleasure, curiosity, motivation, etc. And if you wish to learn, you can contact me at contact@northstarangel.com. So for example, depressed people could recall happier memories in a better way, and recalling happy memories help depressed people. Repair their mood. So in short, to improve your memory, associate something new with something old and known, and anchor the new with as much vividness as possible and as much detail as you can. So that takes us to the end of this podcast. So let's find out what's happening in my world. Every small and big business has challenges, and there are not many resources where people can get the advice that works in the world. Small businesses are mostly run by a single person or a team of less than 10 to 20 people. They usually feel alone. And if you too are running a business and feeling alone, you are not alone. What if someone gives you an answer to the pressing problems of your business, and not only in just one or two lines but in detail, and that too as often as you want? Will you take the advice from someone who will give you the exact answer that you're looking for? Who do you ask when you want answers to your questions related to business and life? You may want to know answers to business, marketing, sales, mindset, productivity, spirituality, and about how to implement it. And obviously there are tons of websites, videos, and articles and information available on the internet, but many times the answers are vague and almost no one replies with the answers that satisfies your need. So feel free to ask me, and I'm available to answer your questions, not just short answers but detailed answers. And you can ask me as many questions as you want. And those who know me, they know I always love to talk to people and give them the information that gets them out of their struggle. So what are you struggling with? What answers you're looking for? Send me your questions. You may be surprised. By the answers, send me an email at contact@northstarangel.com, and I will reply to you just like I reply to everyone, whether you are already my client or not. Try out, try out. Sounds good, and I have the best interests of yours in my heart. So send me a question, and I'm happy to help you. I usually reply within 24 to 48 hours, and if I don't, send me a mail again. Just a gentle reminder. Find me on LinkedIn and Twitter. Just type my name and you will find me. That takes us to the end of this podcast. Thank you for listening. Bye for now. Still listening? You're listening to the Love Your Business Podcast. And if you like what you heard in this podcast, you should share it with your friends. Ask your friend to subscribe to Love Your Business Podcast. Share the link northstarangel.com/subscribe. They'll probably love the Love Your Business Podcast. They will thank you later. Please leave a review of Love Your Business, send your questions, and if you want to talk, just send me an email at contact@northstarangel.com. I will answer. Yes, I read and reply to every single email. It's Mayur Bardolia from North Star Angel. Coaching and Spiritual Solutions, success coach, author, and speaker. Thanks for listening. Bye for now.