What is name of your favourite book?
What is name of your favourite movie?
Who did you have your first crush on?
What is the name of your favourite city?

If you can answer the above questions, you know what I am talking about. You know the answers because these things have created such an impact on your mind, that you will never erase them from your memory. IMPACT is the keyword here.

Similarly, if a certain thing (name, answer, fact, data etc) does not create an impact, there is every chance that it will be very difficult to remember it.

It is your duty to make sure that the information you want to learn creates impact on your brain.

But what if the information you want to memorise does not create impact? Simple! Use the Tools to create impact.

Though all the three Memory Mantras (Dicussed In The Previous Post) are very effective, you need to give special focus on Association. Whenever you associate one thing to another, you need to use the Tools to create Impact. Without these, it will be difficult to form a good association.

For the time being, just understand the importance of these tools. You will see the application of these tools in the section – Basic Association.

The tools are

1. Color
2. Motion
3. Big
4. Strange

To remember these tools, just remember the word CoMBS. In this acronym, Co stands for coulourful, M stands for Moving, B stands for Big and S stands for Strange.

Now let us examine the importance of each one of these tools, so that we can understand how each one of them helps jogging up our memory.

Color

If you have a choice of watching the movie “Titanic” either
on a color screen or on a black & white screen, which one
would you go for?

Whatever is colorful is attractive.

Obviously, any one will choose to view the movie on a color screen only. Color attracts and whatever attracts the brain is remembered with ease and for a long time.

Motion

Moving things tell you, “Hi! Look at me, I am alive – not dead”. Moving things gain the attention of people’s brains. If you pay attention to any thing, your chances of remembering that thing are very high. How many times, did the teachers and parents were telling us “Pay attention”?

Moving things get your attention

If you want to remember any thing, you have to be attentive to the details. While associating one thing with the other, using the element of Motion enhances our ability to pay attention. For example, imagine that you are in the airport. There are two planes. One is standing still. The other one is just taking off. Which one gains your attention? Undoubtedly, is it not the moving one?

Big

I have earlier discussed the power of impact. Big things create big impact. That is why we all remember the “big events”. We remember your convocation ceremony, 9/11 world trade centre crash, the killer Tsunami and so on.

Size does matter

We tend to forget “smaller” events soon because they made only little or no impact. In order that you remember your associations better, you have to introduce the element of bigness into those associations.

Note: Though I have used the word “Big”, here what you need to note is that you have to “exaggerate the proportion” . Both “too big things” and “too small things” create impact.

Strange

Normal is boring; therefore we tend to forget normal things easily. You have to add the element of strangeness while you associate things, in order to remember for a long time.

Strange is memorable

Let us say you are reading a book about monkeys. After reading a few pages, if a real monkey jumps out of the book, I am sure you will never be able to forget that ever!

Yes, this kind of a thing never happens in real life. But, if it did happen, you would never forget that.

Just remember

VAP

CoMBS