memory

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Writing Things Down Can Ensure Success

Writing things down increases your potential every day. 

writing things down can ensure success

… You might be thinking, “That’s a pretty bold statement. Do you have facts to back it up?” 

Well, no I don’t. 

I suppose I could find some facts that would support my statement at least in part. But I think my own testimony is good enough on this topic.

We rely heavily on our memory and, thankfully, for the most part, our memory is great. 

You don’t have to think about so many things during the day because your memory brings them to the forefront of your mind and you just act on them. 

Your phone number – you don’t have to think about it. Your address – you recite it automatically. You know your co-workers’ names by heart. 

It is amazing how often our memory assists us. 

However, when you have work to accomplish, something you want to put into your memory, or just something you don’t want to forget, writing it down is a better option than relying solely on your memory. 

This is what I have found … 

For all the things I need to accomplish in a day, or things I want to accomplish, if I keep them all in my memory I am more likely not to accomplish everything on my mental list. 

But if I write out a to-do list of the things I have in my mind to accomplish, I have a much greater success rate. 

I’m not sure why that is. Maybe, if it’s only in my mind, it’s not prioritized; it’s simply one of many things that needs to be done. 

I am more apt to think, “I’ll get to it sometime today” … but that sometime may never come.

Writing things down keeps you more focussed. There is something about seeing that task in front of you and crossing it off when it is complete that keeps you locked into the things that are a priority. 

Recently I was having a difficult time staying focussed all day long. I knew what I needed to get done, so I didn’t bother to write anything down. 

And every day that week my work ran out of hours in the day. There were times that I wasn’t productive. Basically I wasted time. 

I had things to do but I figured I still had a bit of time to look into something that was not on my mental agenda. … I never got back to the things I wanted to get done in time to actually get them done. 

When Friday came around I was way behind on what I needed to accomplish. 

So I did two things: first I tidied up my desk – I feel better when my desk is clear. Then I wrote out a list of tasks I needed to get done.

One by one I checked them off my list. I didn’t deviate from my list; I wasn’t even tempted. 

Writing things down gave me the focus and motivation I needed to get all my work done. 

Here’s the thing: When you make a commitment to God, or you believe God wants you to do something, if you just keep that in your memory, you may or may not get around to it. But if you write it down, you will be more likely to follow through on what God is asking of you.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What things do you need to write down today, in order to accomplish them? Leave your comments and questions below.

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My Family’s Wall Of Shame

I’m writing this blog while standing in front of our family’s wall of shame. I’m sure that most homes also have some form of our wall.

Our wall of shame is in our family room. It has a set of three lights that shine strategically on the pictures that hang on that wall … you wouldn’t want to have any shadows cast over these photographic gems!

I’m sure you realize that what we have isn’t really a wall of shame, but the affectionate term our children have given to some pictures – a whole wall of random pictures that give a brief glimpse into the lives of each member of our household.

The wall provides a snapshot of how our family has grown over the years, as well as one shot that Lily snuck in there from my early years playing hockey as a kid.

Though it shows how our family has grown over the years, in reality it shows how our kids have grown and how Lily and I have aged. 

From this wall, you get an idea of the things that we think are important, things we like and a few shots that were just too cute to not include on the wall.

Females who look at the wall get all warm and fuzzy, while males usually take to mocking within seconds.

The wall is well positioned to ensure that the maximum amount of embarrassment is doled out. 

It’s right by our pool table, so while you are standing waiting for someone to take his shot, it provides a perfect diversion to look and make a comment about one or more of the pictures on the wall.

I remember going to an art gallery one time, and listening to what people had to say about the various pieces of art on display. I was relieved for the painter’s sake that he was not living. He didn’t have to hear all the random comments made about his work.

We don’t have that kind of luxury here in our family room. One of us is usually standing within ear shot of some wise crack.

But humiliating as our wall of shame is, it is nothing compared to the other wall Lily had going upstairs in the hall. 

Yes, both these walls are courtesy of Lily; she is the designer and chooser of the pictures. 

The wall upstairs featured a series of pictures our family had taken on a cruise ship. They were brutal! The photographer had us pose in positions no one else had been able to do nor will do again. 

Fortunately, that wall recently got painted and because the pictures had received so much abuse by Karlie, Mike and I, they didn’t get put back up.

I’m all for looking back and reminiscing about the past as you look through old photos or scan through them on a computer, but having them on display 24/7 for years and years? 

All I can say is it will be a great wall of memory when I’m no longer around.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes when we scan over our lives, we feel shame for things we’ve done, or didn’t do. We can see glimpses of specific times or events that caused us pain. There is One who has constant access to the images of your entire life. If He is your Saviour and Lord, you can know He looks at you not with disappointment or shame, but with great joy and pleasure. If we have received His forgiveness, there is no longer any wall of shame. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What would you like to keep hidden from others? Leave your comments below.

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I’m Surprised Every Time I Remember It

If you’ve ever wished you could remember a person’s name or the list of things your spouse asked you to pick up, I’ve found a way to make that happen!

In my last

post (you can read it here), I discussed what I learned about memory from a book I read.

It involves using your long-term memory and your short-term memory to produce a mid-term memory you can use for something specific.

I have been using this method to remember my sermons over the past few months, and no longer feel as tied to my notes when I preach.

It’s like the difference between walking a dog with a fixed leash and walking a dog with an expandable leash.

With the fixed leash, the dog gets pulled back hard when he reaches the end. But on the other leash he can keep going a little farther away and the tug back isn’t as harsh.

Here’s how it all works:

You start with your long-term memory of something familiar. For example, I will use my knowledge of the rooms in my house. I know where all the pieces of furniture are; I don’t have to think about them. I can picture the rooms and know what’s in them.

Then I associate the parts of my sermon with the various pieces of furniture in a room. I use multiple rooms for the different points in my message.

For instance, a verse I want to use will be associated with perhaps a chair in my living room. If I’m telling an illustration or story next, I associate it with the next piece of furniture in that room.

I walk my way around the room in my mind, stopping at each piece of furniture for the next bit of my sermon.

The downside is that it takes a while to assign the different parts of my message to the furniture.

I do that by drawing a square on a piece of paper and then boxes for the various pieces of furniture. I then jot a few things down beside each little box and I review that sheet a few times.

The result for me is I am able to walk away from my notes for large portions of time. I know what’s coming next because I have this hook from my long-term memory.

It’s really worked for me. I’m amazed every week that by doing this, I can remember so much of my sermon.

I can’t explain how it works, it just does.

If you have a grocery list and use this method, you could leave the house without the list and remember what you needed to pick up.

In the book, they suggest you make some crazy, outlandish association with the list items and the object you are connecting it to.

But I have found that, for my purposes, it’s not necessary.

Now I just wish I could remember if I wrote about this memory method before.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes when we have sinned, we question whether God will forgive us. Remember that God’s love for you is locked into His long-term memory; you don’t have to think about that or even question it. He also promised that if we confess our sin, He will forgive us. Apply His long-term memory of love of you, with your short-term confession of sin, and it will produce confidence in your forgiveness.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How would an improved memory help you? Leave your comments below.

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I Wanted To Have A Better Memory

Most people would probably say they’d like to have a better memory.

And in speaking with people in the second half of their lives, most feel having the ability to increase their recall of information would liberate them.

In the spring I read a book on improving your memory. When I sat down to write this piece, I thought I might have written a blog post on my first gleanings of the book, but I can’t remember for sure … ha ha.

How’s that for a memory?

But I have applied some of the principles in the book to my preaching and I’m surprised at how well it works … though I can’t say I know how it works.

Everybody has their way of preparing a talk. I happen to manuscript what I’m going to say, and then go over it several times so it doesn’t come across like I’m reading it.

I usually speak for just over thirty minutes, so that’s a lot of words on a page … it would be difficult to memorize them all. But for a few months now I’ve been using a technique to put a lot more info from my sermons into my brain.

In the book it was explained that we have long-term memory, short-term memory and mid-term memory. They are all used for different purposes.

Long-term memory involves things that are locked in your head, which you don’t even have to think about; you just know them. They’re things like your phone number, your address, your way to work, where things are in your house, etc.

In your short-term memory are thing that are current. For instance, when you read something, you can spit out some facts from what you read for the next few hours or even days. But good luck trying to recall that data a week or two from now. It was just short-term.

Often the names of people we just met go into short-term memory.

For example, you remember a guy’s name for a little while, but later that day when you’re telling someone about the person you met, you can’t remember his name any more.

It’s no big deal. You can just ask him his name the next time you see him … if you’re not too embarrassed that your short-term memory is so bad!

Then there is the mid-term memory – being able to remember something in that gap between long-term and short-term memory.

Sometimes we need to remember something for a few days or for a certain event, or until we write our exam. Then we can forget it.

That’s what the mid-term memory is for.

… This is going to be a two part post so I will keep you in suspense until the next one (read part 2 here).

But the key to remembering something for a specific time and place is combining your long-term and short-term memories together.

It’s like combining the colours blue and yellow; they produce green.

You combine long-term memory and short-term memory and what you get is mid-term memory that you can use for a particular purpose.

Here’s the thing: God’s memory is pretty complicated as well. On the one hand, He loves you with an everlasting love – that’s long-term; he’s not going to forget that He loves you. On the other hand, when you repent of your sins, He forgets about them like they never happened –  that’s great news for us.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What could you use a better memory for? Leave your comments below.

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Dad’s Day – What A Memory

It’s Saturday and I just got a Canadian Tire ad on my phone for Dad’s day.

The ad said I only had one day left and they had gift ideas for every type of dad.

It got me reflecting on what type of dad I was. As my mind wandered around our local Canadian Tire store, I thought, “Am I an automotive type of dad, or a fishing and hunting type of dad?”

I could be a hardware, fix-it-yourself type of dad or maybe a gardening and outdoor living type of dad.

Out of all the sections in that store, I would have to say I’m more the sports type of dad.

But Canadian Tire is just selling products a dad might like; that is not really the type of dad I am.

When I look back on how I’ve interacted with my kids, that would be a better indicator of what type of dad I am. Now that my kids are adults, there’s a lot of time to look back on.

I spent time playing with them … even if some of that play time was them playing on and around my body while I napped.

I read stories to my kids at bedtime … so what if I changed the stories a bit and got them all hyped up instead of settled down to sleep?

I helped my kids with a whole variety of things from learning things, to figuring out things, to making things. … That “ab dolly” Mike and I made – though it didn’t turn out so well as a workout machine, it has come in handy over the years assisting in moving things from one spot to another.

As a dad, I showed up to games and tournaments to cheer on my kids. I even did some coaching in the early years. It was always great to watch my kids compete and play hard at whatever sport they were in.

My kids got to see me at work more than most kids get to see their dads, and they also spent time with me while I did my devotions early in the mornings.

I’ll never forget when my then 5 year old son sat next to me one morning while I was writing in my journal. When I’d written over a page he asked me, “Dad, why are you scribbling?”

I replied, “I’m not scribbling, I’m writing.” He shook his head and said, “You’re scribbling, Dad.”

… There are still adults who think the same thing about my writing.

When I look back though, what stands out to me is that the time went by too fast and I missed doing way more than I did.

And one more thing, I should have talked to my kids more. I answered a lot of their questions, responded to them and showed interest in what they were doing, but I didn’t share my heart with them as much as I should have.

They could have gotten a better understanding of my relationship with God than I let them in on.

You can’t go back, but I do have the future. I need to let them in on that side more.

Here’s the thing: We can’t go back and do things differently, but we have the future and we can start from here to do things with our kids, to help them and share our hearts with them so that they know what makes our faith tick.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need to start doing from now on with your kids? Leave your comments below.

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You Can Trust Your Memory

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always trust my memory. I find I more readily trust what I’ve written down or am able to look up somewhere.

memory

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I don’t trust my mind with the information I gather. I feel I must write it down or I think I will forget it. The truth of the matter is I probably will forget it.

The process of writing something down seals it in my mind so that I don’t have to worry about using my mind to remember it at all.

But my mind is more powerful than I give it credit for. This week was proof of that …

I was in the research phase of sermon preparation, gathering information and gaining insight and understanding of the passage I would be preaching from on Sunday. I was recording this information, making notes on my computer.

At noon I stepped out for lunch and, when I came back, my computer was off. I hadn’t plugged it in and the battery had run down. My computer is six years old now so the battery doesn’t last as long as it used to.

I plugged it in and turned it on. Often in this case, the computer has just gone into a deep sleep, like a hibernation. It’s not really turned off, but it almost takes as long to boot back up as a fresh start up. The difference is all the programs are still open when it’s comes back on.

Not this time. I had to start up my computer and then open my programs again. When I did that I found I had lost all my notes.

It reminded me of the early days of computers when, if you didn’t save your document regularly and your computer crashed, you lost whatever you hadn’t saved.

I learned through many losses to save every time I paused from typing.

Now word processing apps save data automatically … but I don’t use a word processor to record my sermon notes.

I lost it all.

The great realization I made, however, was that I could remember a lot of the notes I had made.  The next day I was able to retype them and continue from there to make more notes.

I made triple the amount of notes I had typed the day before, but then had to leave for a meeting.

By the time I came back to my office, my computer had shut down again. And once again I lost all my notes.

Yes, everything! – the retyped notes from the day before and all the new notes I’d made in the morning.

On my third attempt to record my commentary, I made sure that I closed the program before I left my computer alone. Again I was amazed at how much research I remembered as I reentered my data for the third time.

The process of writing something out locks it into your mind more securely, which in turn allows you to trust your memory with that information.

Here’s the thing: Many people say they can’t memorize or remember scripture passages. You’ll find you are able to remember far more scripture if you write it out. If there is a passage you want to remember, write it out a few times, say it several times and you will find it sticks in your mind better than you thought it would.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What is your method for remembering scripture? Leave your comment below

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Memories … Old, Faded Memories

Memory is a very powerful thing. It can access long stored information in an instance.

image

Last week my wife, Lily, and I were in Toronto celebrating our wedding anniversary. We checked into our hotel, and when we got to our room, we found it overlooked City Hall.

Our vantage from the 33rd floor allowed us to survey a large portion of real estate below.

As we gazed out the window, my eyes gravitated to a spot just behind City Hall. From what I could see, it looked very different than I remembered.

“See that street down there?” I said to Lily. “I think it’s Elizabeth Street. When I was a kid we would eat there at the Nanking Restaurant on Saturday nights.”

It was the first restaurant I ever ate in. I believe I was just a month or two old when my parents took me for my first Chinese dinner.

I’m sure I didn’t taste a delicious egg roll directly, but I definitely got it second hand.

Lily wanted to go down to the street and take a picture of the huge “TORONTO” sign that was a remnant of the Pan Am Games held there just a month ago.

After we got down to street level and Lily had her picture taken sitting in the “O” of “TORONTO”, I kind of wanted to see if I was correct on that street I spied from our hotel window.

We walked around to the back of City Hall and sure enough, it was Elizabeth Street. When my family started eating at the Nanking, City Hall wasn’t even there. But now everything has completely changed.

The Nanking wasn’t there and it seemed like there was no trace of anything that I remembered. There was no Lichee Gardens on the other side of the street – just all new buildings.

But I wondered about the building where the Nanking was. It looked different. It was a government office now … the department of environment or something.

I was trying to figure out if it was the same building, but Lily thought the outside looked too new to be 60 plus years old.

I was still curious. I walked through one of the doorways, and my memory was pricked; it was foreign yet there was something that seemed to fit.

I motioned to Lily, “I’m not so sure this is a new building. I think the entrance was here and you could either go to the right into a smaller lounge or to the left into the large dining room” … which probably wasn’t as large as I remembered as a child.

Lil didn’t think I was right. There was a stucco kind of treatment on the building that gave it a 70’s look.

But as we walked past, down the side street, and turned to look at the back of the building, sure enough you could tell by the back, where there was no updated exterior facade, that this building was old.

Just as I remembered! I hadn’t accessed that information in years, hadn’t been on that street for 45 years, yet I could recall it all. Amazing memories we have!

Here’s the thing: Your memory of how God has worked in your life can encourage you, give you hope that He will continue – even give you determination. But don’t rest on just those memories, only use them to fuel knew adventures with God. Don’t get stuck in the past.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What past memory has kept you from moving forward? Leave your comment below.

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A Flashback Memory

I had a flash back the other day to a memory about 30 years ago. To be fair, this memory has surfaced itself in my mind a few times over the years. But it’s still a special memory.

hockey dream

Usually there is something that triggers the flashback. For me, that’s as easy as a song on the radio, or looking at an old picture.

It doesn’t take much to cause us to start to reminisce about the past. The older we get there is more to be reminded of, partly because we forget it so quickly, and partly because there are so many memories to catalogue in those brains of ours.

This memory I had the other day was definitely triggered by something. The night before I had taken my son, Mike, to a hockey game. We connect well over hockey and, being Leaf fans, there’s alway something to discuss on that front.

During the game, I mentioned that I was playing hockey in the morning and, to my surprise, he seemed a little interested. He asked me what time I played and I told him 6:30 am.

I think I saw him shutter when I said the time; let’s just say he’s not an early riser, though I remember going to 6 am midweek practices for him when he was young. I’d take him to practice and then straight to school in the morning.

To my shock, Mike said he’d come and play if there weren’t too many guys already. I checked the numbers and it worked that we could use another guy.

Now when he was a kid I would have to wake him up and get his hockey gear together. Now, however, Mike lives on his own … but that didn’t stop me from having to give him a wake up phone call, and gather his hockey bag together that he leaves at our house.

I even had to carry his gear into the arena just like way back when. But that’s not the memory.

The game was good; we made a couple of nice plays together; he scored a few pretty goals. I always had my eye on him even when I was on the ice. A couple of times I threw Mike a pass and then coasted up the ice as I watched him make a play on the net.

But that’s not when the memory came to me.

The 30 year old memory came after the game. I got home, walked through the living room, and as my feet hit the kitchen floor, I remembered thinking when I got married, “I sure hope I’m able to play hockey with my kids when they become adults.”

It was a concern of mine, a dream, a hope that has stayed with me all these years. Now he’s almost 24, I’m almost 59 and I’d say my hope and my dream is not a concern any more – it’s a reality!

Here’s the thing: My passion for hockey rubbed off on Mike, because I have consistently just kept playing the game all these years. What do you want your relationship with God to be like in five, ten years from now or even longer? May your passion for Christ keep you consistently meeting with Him so that one day your walk with Him will be what you’ve dreamed it would be … and may your passion for Christ rub off on those around you!

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What old memory or dream have you had that’s become a reality? Leave your comment below.

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If It Gets In My Head, I Can’t Let It Go

Have you ever got something in your head and couldn’t let it go? Songs can get in your head and it’s near impossible to erase them from that ram chip in your skull.

kingston-memory-upgrade

And it doesn’t take much to get it in there. You hear a song on the radio and it sticks with you all day long.

You might not even like the song, but there you are in a meeting with your superiors and, just as you boss asks you an important question, you have “All About That Bass” by Meghan Trainor taking up valuable real-estate upstairs.

While you’re trying to think, you’re tapping your pen on the table and under your breath you’re humming “da da da da da”.

You just can’t shake that thought in your head. You’d like to record over it with something useful but it seems that for an undetermined amount of time that thought, that song is going to stick around.

I felt that way this week as I was writing my sermon. I got to near the end and I was in need of a closing illustration.

I thought of a story to use, but the story has been told many times. As I researched it, I discovered that the story has a couple of variations and it’s not even true!

It’s too bad, because it’s a great story of a boy at a concert who slips on stage when no one is watching and starts playing chopsticks on the piano. The audience starts grumbling, but the maestro hears the boy and comes out. He tells the boy to keep playing while he plays around him making beautiful music.

Yes, I know, you’ve heard that story. And yes, I know, you didn’t know it wasn’t true.

The problem was I couldn’t get that story out of my head! It seemed like the right illustration for me. I didn’t want to use it; I didn’t feel I could use it, but I couldn’t get it off my mind.

Every time I tried to think of something else, that story kept replaying for me like it was on a loop track just behind my eye sockets.

I scanned the internet for stories like it and found none. I looked in books where I’ve found some good stories in the past – again nothing. Just that one story.

It was perfect, but I couldn’t use it.

I got sidetracked but the story came back. Time was ticking by. It was evening; my eyes got heavy. I think I dreamed about that story and I was the boy.

And then I came to, and a memory awakened in me.

It was a real-life instance, a modern day parallel to that story. I had seen it on TV about thirteen years ago and somehow my brain found and loaded that story into my jukebox mind for me to play. Press E-10.

Here’s the thing: What we put in our mind stays there, and it will be recalled as needed at random times in the future. So we need to be sure we are storing God’s truth in those minds of ours. For just when we need a verse to encourage or help us, it can drop right into the forefront of our thinking. God’s truth might un-expectantly pop into our minds, and stay with us for the day … and that’s so much better than, “You know I’m all about that bass, no treble.”

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has gotten into your mind lately that you can’t kick out? Leave your comments below.