3 Steps To Remember Your Life

It’s so easy to forget those moments that we should be cherishing forever. It doesn’t need to be that way.

In Never Stop Learning this week I will be covering the following 1-2-3:

• One Big Thing - 3 Steps to remember your life

• Two Recommendations - Improve your memory

• Three Actions to take this week.

One Big Thing: 3 Steps To Remember Your Life

Can you remember what you were doing three years ago on 13th July?

What about 17th November 2013?

Urmmmm????

Ok, maybe I stumbled on a date such as your birthday and you remember exactly what you were doing. But, to be honest, even if it wasn’t a big birthday those other birthdays can start to blend into one.

The dates themselves aren’t that important, but the memories are.

As it turns out 13th July 2022 was Sports Day at our children’s school. It was a great day. The whole school had a picnic, the sun was shining and both our children won their races. This is a day worth remembering.

But the thing is, even after only a year, those memories are starting to fade.

I’m sure you have experienced this too. You might have met up with some old friends and started reminiscing about the past. I bet you they came up with some memories that you had completely forgotten about. Memories that on reflection bring you great joy.

It just feels rather sad that we lose some of these memories to the depths of time.

But there are things you can do and technology can help. In order to keep those memories fresh and prevent that decay you need a process for:

• Capturing memories in the moment

• Sorting those memories

• Reviewing and enjoying the memories

I’ve tried the approach I set out below for a few months so it’s early days but it feels like its working. Check out the steps below and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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Step 1: Take photos and then put the phone away

Firstly, you need to record your memory in an easy way and that amazing camera in your pocket is the key.

Your phone offers an amazing tool for capturing moments but it needs to be balanced against actually experiencing the world at that moment. Once you have identified a moment that needs capturing, take a burst of photos. Then, the key is to stop and actually experience the sounds, smells and feel of what’s going on in the moment which will give your memory more depth.

You will now have photos to anchor that time in your memory and your senses will have also logged the feelings in your mind ready for later.

Step 2: Edit your photos

At regular intervals, take time to delete duplicate photos and keep the ones that really capture the moment.

We all have way too many photos on our devices. After all, its free to capture photos in the moment so why not record as many as you can? However, you don’t need that many photos so pick the best ones and delete all those duplicates that clog your phone and, crucially, your memory when it comes to recall.

The key is to be left with a small number of good photos that will help the mind recall the moment.

Step 3: Review your photos

At regular intervals, say once a week, zoom out on your photo page and enjoy your photos and memories.

If you’ve carried out Step 2 correctly you will have a dense collection of great photos covering all the main events in your life. Spend some time each week enjoying this collection of photos. You can pick different times in your life to explore and because you don’t have 100 different photos of that time you went to the zoo you can cover a large array of memories in one sitting.

Scanning through photos will be enjoyable and build connections in your brain for remembering events forever.

By creating this process you will quickly ensure you retain those precious memories

These steps are very simple and will help you master the technology already at your fingertips. You will quickly find that memories will stick with you and build as you go through life rather than fading over time.

So, I suggest you give this a go. What have you got to lose apart from a few duplicate photos!

Let us know how you get on in the comments below.

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Two Recommendations - what to consume this week

1. The Memory Expert: Do you want a perfect memory?

2. Understand and Improve Memory Using Science-Based Tools

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Three Actions To Take This Week

Here are three things you could try this week:

1. Take some time each week to put the phone down and think.

2. Sort your photos!

3. Become more aware of events that you experience. After an initial burst of photos, put the phone away.

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And, if you really love it and would like to contribute to this Substack you can with the Buy Me a Coffee link below.

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