Sharpen Your Memory: Conclusion

At this point, you've learned a bunch of techniques for memorizing things more effectively: forming vivid and funny images, making associations, converting numbers to picture words, and many others.

Remember, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to memorize something; the idea is to simply take the information and techniques you've already learned and adapt them to the specific task or activity at hand.

But above everything else, I encourage you to practice memorizing things every day. Consider this: If someone teaches you how to drive an automobile, and you study the car owner's manual carefully, and learn perfectly everything there is to know about driving a car, that doesn't mean you can jump in a car and start driving flawlessly in downtown New York City! You know what you need to do. Keep on practicing the memory techniques you've learned until they become second nature. Look around you and find things to memorize, such as your cousin's telephone number, your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, the call letters of your local TV stations, the vocabulary words in your school science textbook, your license plate or driver's license, or whatever! Go for it, and remember to have lots of fun!