Judy Marcus - Memory Improvement Tips

Memory Tips to Conquer Information Overload: Be smart when you rely on cell phones to remember phone numbers!

 
One way to avert and conquer information overload is to let your smart phone remember the phone numbers.  Free your mind for other uses.

 Good idea!  Or is it?

Carla (name changed to protect the guilty) moved to San Francisco.  Saved all the phone numbers of her new friends into speed dial.   Then the unthinkable happened.

Carla fainted, hit her head on the concrete, and wound up in the hospital two nights for tests and safekeeping.  Adding insult to injury, Carla's  cellphone battery died.  She couldn't remember any of her San Francisco friend's phone numbers.  It wasn't amnesia.  She had never learned them in the first place.

No one knew what happened to her until Carla got home, used her phone charger, and once again had access to her friends' phone numbers.

Carla's out-of-communication dilemna could have been avoided.  If only she had learned the phone numbers of just a few key friends.  

Moral of this story is to be smart for yourself.  Remember the essential numbers. And let your smart phone remember the overload.  

Here's what you can do:  Think of the top seven phone numbers you would not want to be stuck without should your smart phone not be handy or your battery dead.   Use your fingers to punch in each of those numbers at least once a week.  They'll be top-of-your mind.  That's the "use it or lose it" philosophy.  And brain assurance that you will have the essential numbers at your fingertips when you need them.

Let's hear from you. 

WHAT ARE YOUR "Information Overload 

stories?" 

How about  your "I need to put more Brain-Friendly Life-Style Habits in my life" STORIES?   Blog on and share your LOVE Memory Method stories as well. 

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. 

 

(Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2011) ********************************************************************************************************** 

 Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

"Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog", www.memory-improvement-tipster.com  Speaker, Workshop Leader, and Author of WHERE ARE MY KEYS?,  Judy makes remembering unforgettable!  Her blog features tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong. 

 

Pay Attention. Before you Fret: Where Are My Keys? Worse Yet: Where Is My Car?

How you do anything is how you do almost everything.  Including the art of paying attention.  Whether it’s for business or for every day life, the ability to pay attention is a necessary skill to master.  It’s a major step in the art of remembering.  After all, you can’t forget what you didn’t get to begin with (and you can quote me on that!).

Attention (or lack thereof) case in point. 

I was recently at a Cubs-Sox spring-training baseball game.  Over 10,000 fans came to cheer.  They came spilling out from about 3,000 cars.  Cars spread out in a multitude of parking lots streaming into the Arizona Camelback Ranch Stadium.  Excited fans chattered away to friends as they vacated their vehicles and headed toward a fun afternoon at the old ball game.  How many, I wondered, were on auto pilot - heedless of the need to pay attention?

To be perfectly honest, I’m more of a people person than a baseball fan.  Rather than watch the game, I pay attention to the peripherals.   I’m out there for the fun, the camaraderie, the fresh air, the food, and the chance to sing the “Star Spangled Banner”, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and to stand for the seventh inning stretch.  

As I sat by myself in the shade high up behind home plate, apart from my friends who crave the sun, my mind, in awe of the huge turnout, pondered a great Hansel-and-Gretel-type philosophical question:  how easily all these fans could head directly back to their car without getting lost? 

So, friendly soul that I, and most ballpark attendees are, I stopped my talking-to-myself mental chatter and began to ask my surrounding seatmates that very same question. 

Here’s the results of my “did you pay attention?” straw poll:

Three fans paid enough attention to know precisely where they parked their car.  Nine out of twelve people questioned had a vague idea, giving new meaning to the phrase, “out of the ball park.”

Can you relate?  

Here’s some “How to Pay Attention” suggestions.

I find them helpful.  I hope you will too.

Read on…

If you hear someone shouting "FIRE" you will certainly stop and pay attention. Well, a similar attention-getting device is what you need to create for yourself every time you are about to leave your car.

When getting out of your parked car - whether lost in thought (talking to yourself), or talking with friends in person or on the cellphone - it takes strong self control to stop - take a deep breath - and pay attention to where you are. 

This might sound silly, but it truly works for me. As I am about to open the car door, my inner self shouts "stop," my creative self envisions a bright red light on the doorhandle, and I take a deep breath. That little pause brings my mind back to the present moment. I run down my checklist, both inside the car and out, and then I can leave with the brain assurance that my car is locked up, I have everything I need with me, and I can find my way back.

THIS IS IMPORTANT:  No matter what you are thinking or doing, the moment you pull into a parking space, it’s time to take a deep breath and pay attention to such vital statistics as:

• Do I have my keys?
• cellphone?
• wallet?
  
• hat?
• tickets?... 
• Did I lock the car door?
• Where, precisely, did I park my car?
  
• Which way am I walking?
• Let me count the rows.”

(And you'd better not have as your marker the white van parked at the beginning of your row, cause chances are the lot is littered with a multitude of white vans parked at the ends of rows.  Moreover, what are the odds that your white van marker will still be there when you need it as a beaconing light pointing to your car?)

Oh the trickle down possible hazzards of not paying attention abound. Tired feet and hot sun at the end of the game make it especially valuable to use a skill like my LOVE Memory Method to remember precisely where you parked your car.

If you would like to read an excerpt from WHERE ARE MY KEYS? on how to LOVE (an acronym for the four easy steps) where you parked your car, just email me:  judy@memorylady.com and I’ll send you a FREE copy of that section.

A good memory is dependant upon an internal system that calls your attention to key moments.

After all, life is better when you pay attention.  Then you are in position to trust your brain to remember.

I invite you to create an internal, sure-fire pay attention alert for yourself. And then consciously practice it every day for thirty days until it becomes a habit. Then again for another thirty days (and so on for ever after).  Then you can safely leave your car, knowing you made your remembering unforgettable.

Download Pay Attention at the Ball Game

Let's hear from you. 

WHAT ARE YOUR "I

didn't pay attention and lost my car

" stories and your "I need to put more Brain-Friendly Life-Style Habits in my life" STORIES?   Blog on and share your LOVE Memory Method stories as well. 

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. 

 

(Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2011) **********************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

"Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog",www.memory-improvement-tipster.com  Speaker, Workshop Leader, and Author of WHERE ARE MY KEYS?. 

Judy's blog features tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong."

 

Tips to Remember to Eat Mindfully. Multi-tasking while Eating Can Get You in Trouble.

Are you rushing through your meals?  Going through the motions - feeding your face  - eating more and enjoying it less?

Lately I've been in a lot of conversations - many of them while sitting around a table with friends and family - talking about how little we pay attention to the food we're eating.  

Imagine this!  All of us wanting to pay attention to our food, but we're really social based and are feeding ourselves friendship, connection, good conversation.  That's GREAT for feeding our socialization needs.  However, it's certainly not helping us take off and keep off the pounds.

Okay - by now you're wondering what does diet have to do with memory?

I'm not talking here about a list of brain-friendly foods.  (There's a section on brain healthy eating in my book.  And I often present some fun interactive food memory exercises in my workshops.)

I'm on a different exploration here.  How to remember to make myself PAY ATTENTION to what I eat so I can eat less and enjoy it more.   I invite you to jump on the food wagon - or is it "jump off" when it comes to watching what you eat? - and join me in awareness eating.  

MINDFUL EATING MEMORY TIP #1

     Watch what you eat.   

• Just set your intention.  
• Plan out your meal. 
•  Put it on your plate.  
• Say a prayer of thanks and appreciation for the food in front of you.  
• Use your senses.  Smell the aroma.  Notice the colors of the food.  
• Think about the various textures.  
• Listen to the crunch as you chew. 
• For at least one meal a day, don't read, don't talk.  Just pay attention and watch what you eat.  

Let me know how this works for you.  Please do share your experiences, your concerns, ask your questions.  Together, we can become conscious eaters.  It's better for the brain - for the digestion - for the figure.

Life's better when we trust our brain to remember to eat mindfully.

Let's hear from you. 

 

 

 

WHAT ARE YOUR "OUCH - I need to put more Mindful Habits in my eating " STORIES?   Blog on and share your LOVE Memory Method stories as well. 

 

 

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters - and conscious eaters - as well. 

   

 

(Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2010*****************************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission:  You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

"Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog",www.memory-improvement-tipster.com  Speaker, Workshop Leader, and Author of WHERE ARE MY KEYS?, Judy's blog features tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong."

 

 

 

 

How to Make Your Memory Self-Accountable so you Remember to Stop and Pay Attention Before you Get Hurt

What makes your brain accountable to pay attention to what you need to remember to do?

NYC found a way to assure that their eateries won't forget to perform to the max.  In an effort to make New York City restaurants accountable for cleanliness, the NYC restaurants must now post their inspection report cards - big and clear - in the window near the entrance.  If they want customers to come inside, they had better have a great big letter "A" on the outside.  I certainly wouldn't want to eat in an establishment that had anything less than an "A" in the clean department.  Would you?  

You can read more about the restaurant situation if you follow this link to an article in USA Today written by Sara Kugler, API writer  but click on it after you finish reading the rest of THIS MEMORY ARTICLE. (I'll remind you in case you forget.)  http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-03-17-nyc-restaurant-grades_N.htm

As for keeping yourself on the memory track, The School of Hard Knocks is certainly one way to get yourself to remember to pay attention.  And I mean that literally.  

I was climbing Camelback Mountain and got all the way up to the cages.  Rather than cling to the cyclone fence on the left to help pull me up, macho me instead opted for the rocks on the right.  Necessity made me lean low, almost on my knees, to scramble up the path.  When the path seemed a little easier, I decided to stand up.  What I didn't realize was that the boulders on the right had curved and were now hanging directly over my head.  When I stod up -- OUCH - CRACK-SNAPPLE-POP.  The noise in my head was SO LOUD.  And it HURT.  I was amazed that my head didn't crack open.  I am amazingly lucky.  No concussion.  No blood.  So I collected my senses, and despite the loud sound still resonating of hard rock plummeting into my head, I continued up to the point on the mountain where I draw my personal line, 
 reflect on the fun, the view, the personal accomplishment, and I began my trek down.

On the right is me and my husband Steve at the cages, after I bumped my head.

On the left is Steve heading toward the point beyond which I refuse to go.  The person above him is at the railing that I actually touched once in my lifetime - a few years ago.  This is where I draw my personal line and know I need and dare not go higher.  (Even a double-dog dare wouldn't get me to change my mind.) 
 

No, that wasn't the first time I climbed Camelback.  But it was the first, and hopefully the last time, that I banged my head on a boulder.

Q:  So the question is, as you go about your daily life, how can you create warning signs like the NYC restaurants now have posted on their windows (i.e. "B" grade for cleanlieness, enter at your own risk)?  

How can you make your self pay attention - before the fact - so you don't hit your head on a boulder, or forget to unplug the coffee pot before you leave your house, or forget to do whatever else that needs doing?  

A:  Mindfulness.  Self-knowledge.  Being present to the moment.

The self-accountability solutions are simple.  But they're often hard to remember to do.  Especially when you're rushing.  Here's what helps:

• Pause between activities - at every intersection.  
• Take a deep breath.  
• Ask yourself what you need to do here.  
• Reset your intention.    

Self-accountability would have worked when climbing Camelback Mountain.  Had I paused to really look at the path on my right, I would have noticed that the boulder began to jut overhead. I would have been aware of the potential danger and would not have stood up without looking up first. 

Self-accountability has worked for me unplugging my coffee pot before I leave the house.  Once having to call my neighbor to go in and unplug it was enough.

Self-accountability has worked for me to not lock my keys in the car.  Once was enough.

If you think about it, it's miraculous how many potential mishaps we manage to avoid as we go about the business of ordinary everyday life.  And, when we get into the habit of Self-awareness, Mindfulness, Being Present in the Moment, then we have a better chance of giving ourselves a warning notice before we misact, thus avoiding the pain of forgetting without having to experience the School of Hard Knocks.

Let's hear from you. 

WHAT ARE YOUR "OUCH - I need to put more Mindful Habits in my life" STORIES?   Blog on and share your LOVE Memory Method stories as well. 

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. 

(Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2010)**********************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

"Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog",www.memory-improvement-tipster.com  Speaker, Workshop Leader, and Author of WHERE ARE MY KEYS?, Judy's blog features tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong."

p.s.  I promised I would remind you:  Here's the link to the NYC restaurant article in USA Today:  NYC restaurants must now show their report cards.  If this doesn't work, then just cut and paste to get to this article:  http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-03-17-nyc-restaurant-grades_N.htm

Judy Marcus - Memory Improvement Tips listed among top 50 bloggers!

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Mindful Driving Makes for a Better Memory (and it's environmentally friendly too): Awareness is Easy - if you're willing to make the time and stay on task.

Ever wonder where the time has gone?  For most of us, life whizzes by because we're thinking of one thing while doing another.

Ever wonder how you got two roadways past your exit?  That's because we whizzed by our exit while our mind was on what we were going to say to our client when we called - or what we didn't say this morning to our friend - or our brain is mentally jumping like a grasshopper from chore to unfinished chore, worrying about our over-busy schedule.

Monkey mind, as the meditation gurus call it.  Chatter, chatter, chatter.  A wandering mind.  A busy mind.  An A.D.D. mind.  An over-multi-tasking mind.  WHOAH!!!!!

Take a deep breath.  It's time to quiet down and be mindful.

Being mindful means being aware of what you're doing at this very moment.   It's keeping all your senses in allignment -- on the present moment. 

Driving Mindfully: 

Set your intention.  When you're driving, before you head out, think of your destination and the route to get there.  And leave early enough to give yourself a driving time cushion to feel comfortable -unhurried - not rushed (This allows your finer self to come out and eliminates any potential road rage, plus giving you a more alert, relaxing, enjoyable experience.) 

Once you're on your way, look at where you're going, listen to the sounds of the traffic, feel the steering wheel under your hands, smell the heat or the air conditioning or the fresh air from the open window.  

And definitely think about HOW you are driving.

Are you driving safely?  Paying attention to the road?  Seat belt clicked?  Within the speed limit?

Is your driving environmentally friendly? Hypermiling is a word that's new to me.  It's a good one to add to your vocabulary.   

• It's about modifying your driving to improve mileage and reduce emissions.  
• It's about getting good gas mileage because you're slowing down as soon as you see the light turning red. 
• It's about replacing air in your tires - on-time car tune-ups - driving gently, not aggressively. 
• It also helps you keep your mind on the cars around you, which makes for safer, more alert driving.  
• And lets you remember where you are going and where to turn off.

And don't forget, once you turn off the motor, to ask yourself, "Where Are My Keys?" and "Where is my car parked?"

Let's hear from you.  Do you ever forget to turn off at your destination because your mind is wandering?  What do you do to drive mindfully?

WHAT ARE YOUR STORIES?  Blog on and share your driving mindfully stories.

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. 

(Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2009)**********************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog",www.memory-improvement-tipster.com featuring tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong.

WHAT ARE YOUR STORIES?  Blog on and share your driving mindfully stories.

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. 

(Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2009)**********************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog",www.memory-improvement-tipster.com featuring tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong.

Why Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin are good role models for memory training

Weren't they wonderful to watch?  Focused, on track, knowing exactly what they wanted to do -- and then doing it!  Wow!  Each event...What a performance!!!!!

As I cheered for Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin, I couldn't help but wear my "Memory Lady Hat" filter.  It goes with me almost everywhere I go. 

So, here are two main connections I saw between the Olympian gymnists and the art of having a good memory:

First of all, the most important part of memory begins with paying attention to what you choose to remember.  Imagine if Shawn or Nastia were thinking of how badly they wanted to win, or started daydreaming of how exciting it will be to bring home the "gold" -- letting their mind wander to anything other than the task at hand.  OOOPS.....

Secondly, there's no resting on your laurels, either in Olympic competition or in important situations in business or everyday life.  Just as Shawn and Nastia had to approach each event with the knowledge that even though they did well in the past, the only thing that counted in the current performance was precisely that -- the current performance.  Well, that's how we have to face every day in the tasks we deem important, A-1 priority. 

For example, some people might leave the house with their kitchen cabinets open; others would never dream of doing anything other than closing the cabinets as soon as they take out what they want.  That choice is personal opinion and a matter of housekeeping.

On the other hand, it's NEVER safe to leave the house without unplugging the coffee pot.  Nor do you want to be like the man who forgot that he placed his baby in the car seat on top of the car, and with the baby still on top of the car, drove away (a true story - luckilly the baby wasn't hurt).

So in the transition times throughout your day, before you leave the house, before you leave your car, when you first get to the office, etc., be like Shawn and Nastia.  Stop, take a deep breath, think of what you need to do -- and then, do it!  - Don't forget!

Blog on with your comments.  And forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. (Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2008)**********************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog", www.memory-improvement-tipster.com featuring tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong.

 

Where Are My Keys? They're easy to find if you look in the right place.

My husband always says if I ever run away from home, one of the first places he'll look for me is a book store.  So, here I am.  Cozy and connected. 

Speaking to a room full of amazing Aspen locals and vacationers in one of my favorite places, Explore Booksellers and Bistro, which is a big house with lots of rooms, all the nooks and crannies filled with an amazing array of books, and a bonus upstairs dining room looking out onto trees and mountain, serving delicious, nutritious organic food.  

That's me.  Sharing information.  Talking WHERE ARE MY KEYS? book-talk.  Teaching people of all ages who have busy, active lives, how to remember whatever they choose to remember - instantly, upon demand. 

.   

One of my memory tips is to find a place for everything that's important to you, and put it back in its memory place.  That way you don't have to spend hours of your life searching for things because you can't remember where you put them.

I read that in America we waste 90,000 hours per day looking for lost items.  How much time do YOU contribute to that statistic?

Placing your keys on auto-pilot is a good habit to begin with.  My friend Sandi has a basket for her keys right in her entranceway.  She immediately puts her keys in that basket as soon as she walks in the house.  My husband Steve walks in the house, gives me a kiss if I'm home, and then proceeds to the bedroom where he empties the contents of his pockets, including his keys, onto his nightstand. 

The key to Steve's and Sandi's consistant behavior is just that - consistant behavior.  Auto pilot action.  And then they know just where to find their keys.

What about you?  Can you make a commitment to focus on just one object that you will find a memory place for - and then every day for thirty days: stop.  take a deep breath.  and then put that object back in its memory place? 

With the extra time you save by knowing where are your keys (or your glasses, checkbook, wallet, etc.) - where will you be spending your valuable time?  Where are your favorite places to hang out so we can find you?

Blog on and let us know!

Please forward this blog to as many friends and associates as you wish.  Hopefully they'll become Memory Tipsters as well. (Copyright - Judy Marcus - 2008)**********************************************************************************************************

Reprint Permission: You are welcome to reprint any items from the Memory Improvement Tips Blog.  However, please credit Judy Marcus, Memory Lady, as a source, with the following paragraph:

Reprinted from the "Judy Marcus - Memory Lady - Memory Improvement Tips Blog", www.memory-improvement-tipster.com featuring tips and strategies to take control of your memory and keep your brain strong.