Remembering things can be hard, yes, but there are many strategies to make it easier. One way is to use association, or creating connections between unrelated, easy-to-remember concepts or items and those you have trouble remembering. A more advanced version of this is called the Shaper System, and once you master it, you can easily remember up to 100 things.
Improve your memory in 4 minutes
The Shaper System was developed by Erol Ozvatan, author of How to Memorize: The Science & Art of Memorizing. The system's goal is to transform two-digit numbers into shapes that help you make associations, going far beyond the standard 0-9 number association system.
Each number should resemble something. For example, a zero could be an egg, a three a butterfly, and a seven a boomerang. Ozvatan has created his own list of images that should be associated with each number from 00 to 99. These are great, but go through the list and make sure you actually see each of the images in their corresponding numbers. If not, you can use your own image. The goal is to create images and associations that make sense to you.
Once you've found the shapes that work best for you (or think you have a good idea), try practicing with the Shaper System. Practice with a fairly long list, such as the U.S. states in order of size. Imagine something like this:
