Designing Your Life

Using Web Tools and Memory Techniques to Remember Anything

// December 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // Productivity

Sadly the mind doesn’t remember everything we want to, but we can try to change that. You will need the right tools to be able to remember everything you want. The main point is to use other devices to help you remember everything for a short period of time. You will use the devices to help commit the information to your mind.

The first step to remembering something is to record it for future reference. You might feel like it is easy to remember at the moment you learned it, but it won’t be so easy to recall in weeks to come. Here is a list of a few applications I love to use.

I would suggest first setting up a nice homepage or bookmark that you will check often. This will be the control center for remembering everything. I use iGoogle for my homepage and I will often keep one tab in my browser open to it at all times in case I need to use it. You will want to make a separate tab inside iGoogle for all the gadgets to remember everything. Add Jott, Gmail, Google Calendar, Remember the Milk, and Google Notebook. These will allow you to handle all the things you need to remember in one nice place.

Now, to use these services

Edit: Jott has removed their free services, but they still provide the same service and more for a little money.
Jott – This is a service that allows you to record for 15 seconds(or up to 30 seconds if you pay for the service). You can easily call Jott in order to remember that thought you just had. For example, I might see a flyer for an interesting gathering, so I will call Jott

“Who do you want to Jott?”

“Myself”

“Myself. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

BEEP.

“Interesting event on December 19th at 3pm, Record on Google Calendar”

This is a very handy way to keep everything in one nice place. You can upgrade your account to have it add the event to Google Calendar or email it to you, but the free version will work fine. In iGoogle you have Jott, so this will show you all the things that you have recorded. You can easily transfer the information to the application you want, such as Google Calendar to set a date, Google Notebook to write down notes, or even email it to yourself.

So, this works for nice little reminders, but what about big information you want to remember? Suppose your boss just got done telling how to do a project. You assume that you will remember every detail in a week when it is due, but you can’t afford to forget anything. Simply send it to Jott on your way to somewhere. It doesn’t take any extra time. This is also a great service if you rely on your imagination. Do you have a great idea to write about, then send yourself a note with Jott.

Gmail – You can easily email yourself wherever you might be. This requires that you have text messaging, but you can simply send the text message to your email instead of a number. If you want to keep the things you need to remember separate from other emails, then just set up a filter to apply a label to anything containing the word “remember” and archive it. When you want to review the things you need to remember, simply look up the label. Gmail uses Google’s advanced search technology which makes it very easy to find things in a later date. It can make an awesome filing system.

Google Notebook – This is for the times that you aren’t far from a computer. It will be placed on your homepage, so it should be easy to access when you find something to add. You might find a recipe that you want to make, so add it to the Notebook. You found a movie that you might want to see, then add it. You get the picture. Just make sure to write it down or else you will forget it!

Google Calendar – This would be ideal for dates, but you can also have time sensitive date on here. You have to remember a birthday or event. You can remember due dates for projects. One nice thing is using reminders so that you don’t miss something important. You will want to use the calendar to remind yourself to review the material you are trying to remember. This brings us to the next part of remembering everything.

Assuming that you do record everything, then you are a step closer to remembering it without any help. The key is to use memory techniques in order to commit information to memory. This can be as simple as reviewing often or as complex as a concept map. Here are a couple ways to help your memory.

Connect it – You aren’t going to remember random facts easily. You might want to remember simple facts that you learned in class or somewhere else. You just learned that the drink, “White Russian” is made with coffee liqueur, milk, and vodka. This isn’t hard to remember, but it is an easy example. Perhaps you can use the letters CMV to connect it. Calling Mom with Vodka is bad.

Picture it – It might be a bit hard to connect it, so use pictures to connect it. Coffee and Milk are common for a morning jolt, so picture a white Russian getting his morning jolt from vodka instead of coffee with milk. Try to make the pictures as unique as possible. You won’t remember a bunny, but you sure will remember a bunny that is dressed like a fly.

Rehearse it – It is pretty common sense that if you repeat something then it is easier to remember. You will need to rehearse it over a period of time instead of a lot of times in a short period. Such as, repeating what the ingredients after one day, one week, one month, and four months. Attempt to write down everything you remember and compare it to the notes you recorded. You can identify which aspects are harder and which are easier. This is important to remembering things for a long term.

So, let’s try this with a unique example. You stumble across a wonderful quote in a book. You would want to record it first. If you are away from your computer then I would suggest using Jott to quickly send it to yourself. When you arrive at a computer then you transfer it from Jott to Google Notebook or Gmail to file it for future reference. Set up Google Calendar to remind you in a day, week, month and four months to remind you to review it. If it is a complex quote, then connect it to something you already know. If you wanted to remember, “Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!” by Sun Tzu, then you would picture soldiers as children. Make it a wild picture that is unique. Babies holding guns dressed as soldiers, and have them in a long line in a valley. Next connect the babies in the valley with a thought of death standing next to you. This will help remember it with the addition of reviewing it. You can apply this to anything, and technology only makes it easier to do it.

Go find something interesting and remember it!

Photo by Paul Worthington

7 Reasons to Cut Down on Consuming

// December 12th, 2008 // No Comments » // Materialism

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed. ~Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful

I just finished watching Wall-E which depicts a world that is uninhabitable due to the amount of trash that covers the Earth. This got me thinking about the reasons we should attempt to avoid out of control consumerism. If there is too much consuming then there are many disadvantages. There are the obvious reasons to not buy things such as racking up more debt, but there are reasons to refrain from buying things even if the money is available. Here are a few reasons that consumerism should be cut down.

Materials don’t make you happy – Thinking of all the things that I have bought, can I say any made me truly happy? Not really. There are many other things that have made me happier. I am happier for the friends that I have and the people that I interact than with my new possessions. How many people really reflect ten years down the road and smile because of something they bought? Friends and relationships bring happiness, memories bring happiness, and experiences bring happiness. Materials rarely bring happiness.

Sustainable Society – I must admit, I am an environmentalist at heart. I cry a little inside for every piece of trash I throw away. The more things that we buy, then more that we throw away. I don’t buy an object thinking that I will throw it away, but it is going to happen sooner or later. It would be nice to imagine that once we throw things away then they are gone forever, but this is far from the truth. If you must buy something, then buy something that can be reused. Cutting out simple purchases can make a large impact over time. Read books at the library or borrow from a friend instead of buying it. Rent movies instead of buying them. Keep your smaller TV instead of buying the next biggest one. You will save money as well as cut down on throwing away things.

Don’t buy things to impress others – It is pretty common to want an iPhone when you see everyone else with one, but that doesn’t mean you need one. Status symbols are useless objects that we are better without. Sure, you could get that really nice BMW to impress your friends and co-workers, but do you need it? Often people are too occupied with themselves to really be impressed with some flashy object. They might compliment you on it and never give it another thought, but you will have to think about it while you pay it off for the next couple of years. Skip the flashy cars and shiny watches. Let the other people have their large items, be happy with yours. People aren’t friends with you because of your possessions (and if they are then you might want to re-examine your friends).

The objects weigh you down – The more things you have, then the more that keeps you in your current situation. You will not have the ability to easily change your life if you are carrying around debt from all those purchases. If you are lucky enough to not accumulate any debt then you still are tied to your possessions. If you wanted to move to a new city then you have to find a place to fit all these things. If you want to travel the world then you have to find a place to store it. If you go through life picking up random things it doesn’t take long until you have to carry a lot of weight behind you. You can easily pick up and do whatever you want when you aren’t weighted down by objects.

You worry more – Your objects require constant care. You worry that your new big TV will get hit, you worry that the car will get a dent, you worry about something breaking. You have less to worry about if you have fewer things. If you don’t own a TV then you don’t have to worry about it. If you don’t own a bed then you don’t have to worry about it breaking or being uncomfortable. You are able to live a little simpler and worry less. Perhaps you don’t perceive that you worry, but think about the next time something breaks, it caused you some form of discomfort. You might not have worried about it breaking, but you were attached to it once it did. You are attached to these items, so the less items the fewer attachments.

Surviving on little isn’t hard – How little can you really survive on? Comfort items are awesome. I will admit that my bed is comfy, but do I need it? Not really, the floor would work pretty well. I don’t need a television, or a desk. Think of how little you could live with and you might be surprised. Many things make life easier, but you don’t need to buy them. Try to live with less, it isn’t as bad as it seems.

The person that dies with the most toys is still dead – Sad to say but you aren’t saving for something big here. You can get everything you ever want, but you still can’t take your iPod to the afterlife. I would suggest spending that money on family, friends, and experiences instead of material possessions. Your memories will serve you far better than your possessions ever could. Use your time wisely, don’t work your life away in order to afford the next fun thing. Spend that time with others and live on less.

No matter how you do it, just see if you can reduce the amount that you buy. You would have to worry about finding ways to make money to feed this addiction. You will slowly adjust to needing to buying less and it will become quite easy. It is a cycle since you find pleasure in buying things, then you buy more. If you can stop buying then it stops this endless cycle.

Photo by Sylvar