Having a photographic memory is easy and there are essentially three steps that one needs to take into account. Effectively these steps will make it easier to memorise and to recall. Some effort is needed, but the benefits will be seen immediately. Have you ever wished you could recall the information in an exam or remember someone's name the first time you hear it or even just remember where you put your keys. Here are some helpful hints that will make all the difference.

Step One: Practice and Preparation

We need to start with a groundwork which will follow on to the other two steps although this is not necessary and you will be able to continue without it. But by putting in a little preparation your memory will increase all the more.

Practice makes perfect, especially with memory techniques for example, visualise things differently & more vividly. Train those memory muscles, give yourself small tests and challenges every day to see how you are progressing.

Some of these techniques will need a little more preparation. Particularly those that rely on association with lists places or images, example the "house technique", where things are associated in the form of a journey around the location which you have been before. This time taken to create a mental house will pay off immensely. If you're truly serious about being a memory genius, use familiar things that you feel will help you to remember. Example music, Rhymes etc.

Step Two: How to memorise better.

Usually, if we forget something is because we didn't effectively memorise that in the beginning. Make the first point a memorable one. Make strong, exaggerated points that are difficult to forget and to make these images unbelievable and big . Also make them humorous as that always helps and therefore, they must never be ordinary or forgettable.

A very strong alternative is the use of mnemonics, simply put, this is remembering simple phrases. By using the first letters of each word that needs to be remembered, these letters must be done in the order that it appears in a system. Also using them to construct rhymes which make information much more memorable and fun. A simple example to remember the points on a compass North, East, West, South: "No way Eddie's Sick".

Step Three: recall.

Often, it's not about your memory at the time of memorisation as it could be about trying to recall something you've heard a long time before. It is therefore important to also concentrate on strategies to recover information not only to remember it. Relax, tension is one of the easiest ways to hamper any recall ability. When you have relaxed, put together any pieces of information you can think of e.g Where Were you, What were you wearing etc. Retracing steps, no matter how small the information, It could help you find a recall.

If all else fails, try thinking of something else for a while as this might help you relax more. How often have you forgotten something and a few hours later you were thinking of something else and you remembered that particular thing you couldn't remember a while ago? This is because you were relaxed and not pressured.

These are just some of the few skills when used and practised could cause you to become a memory genius. Unfortunately, like all things to have an photographic memory, requires effort . But this effort needs to be put in place using effective knowledge and an effective system.