Use Numbers to Help Remember Names

Quick Win

Making a numbered list can help you recall the names of people you’ve just met.

Try This Today

• Choose a group of names you want to remember — perhaps the new members of your golf club or fellow travelers on a tour bus.
• List the names on a piece of paper, assigning each a number, starting with “1.” Make a mental note of each name with each number, using the number as a visual cue that will help you remember the name later.
• Deepen the association by envisioning the person’s face next to the name and number — sort of like a social media profile picture. Test yourself later to see if you can remember the group members by number.

Why

Mnemonic devices are effective at improving recall and memory athletes use them when competing in events like the World Memory Championships. There’s plenty of scientific research looking at these memory techniques, too, including a study of 496 adults ages 18 to 50 that found an association between mnemonic devices and better performance on working memory tasks. The study was published in Scientific Reports in 2024.