1. Repeat, repeat, repeat. If you want to get something into your memory, say it two, three, four times to yourself. Say it two, three, four times to yourself. Say it— you get the idea. If what you are learning is complex or important, learn and re-learn it several times over the course of a week or two. When meeting someone for the first time, repeat their name in a sentence immediately.

2. Associate. Another good way to remember a person’s name, associate it with the name of a famous person or someone you already know. If you want to remember a grandchild’s birthday, link it to a nearby holiday: July 18 is two weeks after July 4. 

3. Create physical reminders. These can be lists, notes stuck on the refrigerator, a pile of dry cleaning in front of your door, or the proverbial string on your finger.

4. Get organized. A place for everything and everything in its place—keys hanging on the wall, extra glasses in one pocket of your bag, the same medications on the same section of the same shelf.

5. Tell a story. If you have to get pick up a rake at the hardware store, get a new prescription at the drug store, and then take the car to the car wash, translate the details into a story, the stranger the better: “I am raking a pile of pills off the driveway, which I then will soap and hose down.”