How to remember a list without writing it down

A shopping list, the steps of a recipe, three things to bring up in a meeting. Short lists come up all day, and they're easy to lose if you just repeat them in your head. A few simple methods make them much easier to hold on to.

Make it smaller: chunking

It's hard to hold more than a handful of separate items in mind at once. Chunking means grouping items so there are fewer things to remember. A phone number is easier as three groups than as ten digits. A shopping list of eight items is easier as "breakfast things, salad things, cleaning things".

Before you try to remember a list, look for groups.

Make it a story

Link the items into a short, odd story. Need eggs, tape, bananas and stamps? Picture an egg wearing tape like a bandage, riding a banana to the post office to buy stamps. It feels silly, and that's the point. Unusual images tend to stick better than plain words.

Put it somewhere: the memory walk

Pick a route you know well, like the rooms of your home. Place each item at a spot along the way: eggs on the doormat, tape on the coat hook, bananas in the kitchen sink. To remember the list, walk the route in your mind. This method is centuries old, and it's popular for a reason: places give items an order and a home.

Say it, then test it

After you build the story or the walk, look away and try to recall the list once. Testing yourself straight away shows you which item is weak, so you can strengthen it before you need it.

Practice it

Think Sharp has several games for holding items in order. In Prep List, you study a short recipe, then make it from memory step by step. In Stepping Stones, you watch stones light up and tap them in the same order. In Sequence Stack, you rebuild a flashed sequence.

Then try it for real: next time you go shopping, leave the list in your pocket and see how many items you can get from memory before you check.