This archive report was first published on 24 May 2020.
Do you often find yourself struggling to concentrate or remember things? Losing your keys or forgetting names? It's not that your memory is poor, but rather your brain's attention system is failing to select what's important.
Our brain's attention system is designed to protect us from the noise and clutter around us, selecting what seems important and discarding the rest. This is why you might not remember the name of someone you've just met or get lost in thought while traveling.
So, how can you improve your focus and memory? Start by training yourself to be more attentive, especially in mundane situations like arriving home. Develop habits like always putting your stuff in the same place, every time you enter the house.
Associate emotionally charged events with funny thoughts to remember them better. Concentrating is similar to remembering, and your brain's attention processes have two parts: 'Top Down Attention' and 'Bottom Up Attention'. Remove distractions like music, messages, and people to improve your focus.
When studying or preparing a presentation, pre-read your material, highlight key points, and make notes to aid your retention. Write down important ideas and link them to something you already know to recall them better.
Draw diagrams of important details to help you picture everything. And then, sleep on it – your brain processes new experiences into long-term memory while you're asleep, and it can also produce astonishing new insights.
