Do you tend to forget things? Poor memory can be related to depression (have you taken a online depression test?) Depression is not the only cause of bad memory recall, however. Maybe you are not using your own mind to the fullest of its abilities, because your own mind can be the greatest search engine on the planet – if used correctly.

There are basically two things that can be wrong when “processing your searches” 1) What you learn is not saved 2) You cannot recall what you have stored.

1) The former. I focus on the most important thing when it comes to successfully storing new knowledge – attention. Your mind has this use it or lose it feature. If you do not use what you have stored, then eventually you will discard that information. Attention is particularly important for new knowledge you store. If you don’t give it some attention, then you will quickly discard the information.

Small breaks & repetition are two things you can use to provide attention to the new data, that you want to store. Yes, it is counter-intuitive, but breaks are great for giving attention to what you have just learned. Even though you stop reading the new knowledge, you don’t quit processing it for a little while. The reason this works is because you do not take away your attention to other new information that also must then also be processed and stored. Taking many small 5 minute breaks while learning lots of new knowledge will make you better at storing the new information.

2) The latter. What do you do when you use a search engine on the Internet to find what you are searching for? If you need to find what you are searching for, then you must already know what you want to find! It’s the paradox of search.

You will neeed a search phrase to locate what you are searching for. The text you input into a search engine that describes what you are looking for is called a search phrase. It is something that you believe is associated to whatever you want to locate. If a person has placed the information you wish to locate and also has assigned the same search phrase to that piece of knowledge, then you will be able to find it. If he has not assigned the same search phrase to that information, then you will not locate it using that search phrase.

Your mind is the best at associating what it learns. How you recall data is similar to how it works with the Internet search engines. If you have associated a number of search phrases to the information you need, then you can use any one of those to recall the data at a later time.

You attach a search phrase to what you later want to recall by first thinking of your search phrase, and then thinking of what you want to recall, when you later think of your search phrase. Your search phrase does not need to be a word; it can also be a picture or a sound.

Finally, I conclude with a simple example. If for instance you need to remember to buy a tooth brush the next you are at the supermarket, first recall an image of your supermarket (your search phrase) and then recall an image of your toothbrush (what you want to remember). The next time you are at your supermarket, you might be thinking you need to purchase a tooth brush.

Your association ability may be very useful if you understand how to use it. Now go play with it.