How to Remember Things: Part 1 – The Acronym Method

Posted on 15. Oct, 2010 by in Articles

You’re walking your cat, brushing your teeth or desperately pretending to listen to somebody…and then you have a few thoughts, like “man, I need to re-order some protein powder, i’m running low”. But since you can’t write it down, you forget…and then later what happens is:

  • You think, “dammit! what was that thing I had to remember?”, or
  • What? No protein powder left?! My muscles are totally going to deflate now 🙁

Anyways, here’s a quick and nasty method for remembering.

1. If you thoughts or ideas are:

  • Re-order protein powder
  • Reschedule lunch with Jessica Alba
  • Start my own cool website like DrEfficiency.com

2. Pick the key word out of all 3 sentences. The one that would jog your memory the most.

  • In the above example, it could be: Protein, Alba, Website

3. Make an acronym

Pick the first letters out of each. Eg. Protein, Alba, Website spells PAW.

4. Repeat it

Repeat it in your head a few times. “P, A, W, Protein, Alba, Website, P, A, W…”

5. Write it down

As soon as you can write it down, do so! It’s only a short term memory thing…like between 1 min – 24 hours short.

In another post, I’ll go through 2 long-term memory strategies AND triggering memories (eg. When I see Jessica, I must remember to tell her something).

Thanks for reading.

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