You’re not bad at remembering — you just don’t care

There are some people that have photographic memory or otherwise remarkable abilities to remember things. Beyond those outliers, the rest of us are about the same — we remember the things that we put work into.

Rick Kitagawa recently shared this idea on his blog, where he said:

I used to subscribe to the notion that I was bad with birthdays.

Then I realized that there’s nothing wrong with creating calendar reminders, or taking down notes, or creating whatever system will alleviate my issue around remembering important birthdays.

It also brings to mind a post that I wrote last year about the memory tool “Anki” and how it can help with memories. I had quoted Michael Nielson in there, where he said:

The single biggest change that Anki brings about is that it means memory is no longer a haphazard event, to be left to chance. Rather, it guarantees I will remember something, with minimal effort. That is, Anki makes memory a choice.

I’ve always said that I had a bad memory. I struggle with remembering names more than I think I should, I’m awful with geography, and a number of other shortcomings. I could wallow in those feelings if I wanted, or I could do something about it.

You can too.

Whether that’s using a tool like Anki to work on rote memorization, or using tools like Rick shared above (or likely a combination of both), you control what you remember. I love the way Michael’s quote ends, and I try to keep that in mind; with the right tools, memory is a choice.

Originally published at https://www.mickmel.com on May 27, 2021.