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1886, Rio De Janeiro. The stage was set. The orchestra for the famous opera "Aida" was scheduled to open the following day, but the orchestra conductor was fired at the last minute, and there was no one to lead the music. One of the singers suggested hiring Arturo Toscanini, who was only 19 years old at the time. Despite his last-minute appointment to the post, Toscanini was able to successfully conduct the entire opera because he had already memorized the score by heart. A phenomenal memory indeed!

In our daily lives, we'll probably not be faced with the tremendous pressure of conducting a world-famous opera at the last minute, but we all agree that having such ultimate memory skills would definitely be useful in our day-to-day activities. Even getting through of a minor “things-to-do” list sometimes goes badly because we forget one small but important item. In order to improve our memory and increase our skills, we must first understand how our brain creates memories.

Memory creation has three stages: encrypting, storage, and retrieval. The human brain encrypts facts at the moment it understands and registers the information presented through one of our senses (hearing, vision, touch, or smell). This information will be stored for later retrieval. If there is any interference in the encryption process, or delay in storage, there will be difficulty in retrieval. However, there are five techniques which can help you to smooth out the process and attain the ultimate memory capabilities your brain has. These techniques are especially beneficial if you have to recall things word for word - aspiring actors, take note!

Read aloud. By reading aloud, it helps you focus on the information. It also engages more of your senses, as in addition to your eyes, your voice and ears are used. This stimulates more areas of the brain, and creates stronger links and quicker storage of the information.

Write things down. When you write something down, you help create a physical connection to the information you want to remember. Again, using your hands brings more parts of the brain into play, and forges stronger ties between the information and the newly-created memories. You can combine reading and writing techniques to ensure that you won't forget the information you need.

Create an outline. When you summarize information, you're processing the information in a different way, which gives you yet another way to create strong memory links. Write out the information in your own words. Make a list of key words that will help you remember the information in the future.

Use your ears alone. You may find it helpful to have someone else read the information out loud to you, while your eyes are closed. This will focus your brain on the words as they are said. It's sometimes easy to let your eyes skip over words while you're reading, but if you're concentrating on the spoken word, you'll retain them in your mind.

Use mnemonics. Sometimes you need tricks to help you memorize things. You can use acronyms and other mnemonic devices to build reminders and cues for that information. One example of an acronym is ROY G BIV - this refers to the colors of the spectrum (seen in a rainbow) in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Creating your own mnemonics will challenge your intellect and stretch your mind as well as provide you with useful hints to remember the information you need.

These five tips, plus many other memory-improvement exercises, can be found in the Ultimate Memory software system. Use this software or sign up for a memory-improvement course to give you the advantage you need and train your memory to get the most out of every day.