This technique uses imagery attached to a 'key sequence' to aid your memory.

It works by giving you an easy to remember sequence that links into a clearly accessible image for the more abstract memory.

Good key sequences are simple and require little memory to recall:-

• A sequence of numbers
• A sequence of letters
• A trip around a known building - e.g. your home

The simplest is the rhyming 10 step.

The numbers 1 to 10 are each given a rhyming noun. These are presented here to reinforce how important imagery is.

Next the object to be remembered is simply wrapped up in a bizarre image to do with the rhyme.

The secret is top make the rhyme so bizarre it is unforgettable. Don't imagine a 'gun' shooting 'beans'. Guns are meant to shoot - if you use this you'll be forever trying to remember what it shoots.

For instance to remember a simple shopping list of 'baked beans' - 'tin foil' and 'butter'.

• '1' rhymes with 'Gun' imagine the only object in the world you can find to stir your beans is a dirty shotgun.
• '2' rhymes with 'Shoe' imagine a bizarre peice of footwear fashioned from tin foil that crunches and pokes in to your bleeding feet as you hobble along.
• '3' rhymes with 'Tree' imagine your job is to collect the butter from a butter tree which when is harvested when it comes into bud like a massive explosion of pus.

To increase the range further the sequence can be extended or multiple rhymes introduced. The only real limitation is your imagination.

3 tips are:-

• Know your key sequence intimately
• Paint your imagery bold and bizarre
• Refresh your memory frequently