How to Make Mental Notes That Stick

Making mental notes is when you try to remember something without writing it down.

Psychology research is clear that our memories are never perfect and most of what we learn on a daily basis gets quickly forgotten. Due to this, it can be very difficult to create mental notes that actually stick in our minds.

We tell ourselves, “Okay, mental note: I need to pick up milk at the grocery store.” Then the next thing you know you come home from shopping, look in the fridge, and go “Dammit, I forgot to buy milk!”

Our ability to memorize can be really bad sometimes, but fortunately there are some things you can do to make your mental notes stick better, so that you actually remember them when you need them.

How to Make Mental Notes that Stick

• Say it out loud – Speaking the mental note turns the thought into an action, activating your nervous system more and building a stronger connection in your mind.
• Make a visualization – Create an imaginary picture in your mind that reflects your mental note. This will help stimulate your mind more and give your brain more information to connect with your mental note.
• Choose a “trigger” word – When you make your mental note, try to choose just one specific word to associate with it. Make it something unique and memorable.
• Be creative and exaggerate – Exaggerate and have fun with your mental note. Often the more bizarre and weird you make it, the more likely it is to stick.
• Repeat yourself – When you first create your mental note, repeat it 3-5 times quickly in your mind. Repetition is an important part in helping your brain make the connection in the long-term.

All of these tips can help you create a more powerful mental note.

For example, if you’re trying to remember to buy milk at the stores: make a mental picture of a store completely filled with milk.

Try to make it unique and detailed – see yourself swimming through the milk, or everything in the store floating in the milk, or the milk being really wavy and storm-like.

You can then take this bizarre image and associate it with the mental note: “Buy milk at the stores.”

Try to see the image in your mind and repeat the mental note out loud to yourself 2-3 times. The whole process shouldn’t take more than 10-15 seconds.

The big lesson is that the more imaginative and engaging your mental note is, the more effective it will be.

Here’s another example. In my home, there is a row of 3 light switches. The switch on the left controls the lights to the left, naturally. However — the switch in the middle controls the lights on the right, and the switch on the right controls the lights in the middle.

It doesn’t make sense, so for the longest time I would switch on the wrong switch to get the lights I wanted on. It wasn’t until I created a mental note that I could finally change the habit.

Basically, when I approach the light switch now, I repeat to myself the trigger word “counter-intuitive” – because the way the light switches are aligned isn’t intuitive. It’s a bit odd, but it sticks in my mind. Now I always remember to choose the right switch.

This is a very small example, but it demonstrates the potential power of using mental notes to remind you to do certain things.

Mental notes can have many different applications in improving your memory, changing your behaviors, or even changing your attitude in certain situations. Try using mental notes more to improve your daily life.

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