The forgetting curve is a representation of how much we forget if we don't try to retain what we've learned. Test your recall at intervals. According to the grand master of memory and memory Guinness record holder, you can improve your memory by practicing recall. When you get a coffee, ask who were in the queue. What color was it? There were other things on the menu.

Recent research shows the importance of sleep in memory consolidation. Like a mental Marie Kondo, some sleep phases are important for sorting memories.

Use flashcards

If you're learning something concrete, flashcards are a great way to practice recall. The Anki flashcards app works out which topics you need to test more frequently.

Get playful

The chips are down: games are a grey-matter booster.

The chips are down: games are a grey-matter booster. Illustration: Steven Gregor/The Observer

Matching-card memory games are based on a 20th century brain-training system called Pelmanism. There are different Portuguese tile patterns and Frank Lloyd Wright designs. If you want to help the Alzheimer's Society, they can send you a monthly "brain workout" in exchange for a donation.

Build a ‘mind palace’

Loci, also known as mind palaces, were first mentioned in 80BCE and are still used by competitive memory athletes today. You put what you want to remember along the way. "Imagine a sequence of locations you know really well, such as rooms in your house, or places in your town," says competitive memory athleteKatie Kermode, who uses former homes and holidays through the US for hers. Put the objects in the correct places. You think about what object was here when you want to remember them. A very simple version is to put a shopping list on my body. "Shoulder, shallots, humerus, hummus!" I cried like a deranged middle class bingo caller.

Make dates and events visual

Kermode suggests giving an object to each month and a picture to the day for birthdays and other dates. Kermode suggests that it can be as simple as the number 4 looks like a sailboat to remember a birthday. If you want to remember your schedule, associate each day of the week with an event or place, so all the things you're supposed to do on Wednesday, you could imagine happening at that wedding

Pump iron (if you’re a mouse)

According to research from Columbia University, a key factor in retaining memories in old age is the release of osteocalcin, a hormone that can be boosted by weight lifting. For results, we're talking rodents for now.

Find a hook for names

Kermode, who has four world records, says names don't mean anything. They have to be meaningful to you. When you meet someone, come up with something similar to that word, or something that rhymes with it, and Dave likes to rave.

Think like a pianist

There are hours of classical music performed live. Susan Tomes is a concert pianist and author whose belt-and-braces approach to performance combines muscle memory built through repetition, visual recall of the pages of her score and what she calls "an intellectual understanding of the shape of the music" It can be done with public speaking, too, by learning the logical shape of what you are going to say, seeing where you are on your page, and practicing with an audience. Tomes said that the presence of other people does extraordinary things to your consciousness and you have to learn to deal with them.

Reframe your memory

If your memory fails, tell yourself that you will remember it next time, since stress around your memory inevitably makes things worse. Even if it is the lyrics to a one-hit wonder from 1986 you should tell yourself that you have a great memory. All of us have memory successes. You don't credit yourself for that. It isn't fair.

Learn a poem by heart

Learn your lines: try recalling a poem while doing the ironing.

Learn your lines: try recalling a poem while doing the ironing. Illustration: Steven Gregor/The Observer

Learning a poem can help you remember. Esther Sandys is an English teacher and supporter of Poetry by Heart. Is her advice? Pick a poem that you love, learn in bite-size chunks, and combine visual, auditory, and kinetic memory aid. Retyping the poem, recording it on to your phone with gaps between lines, and revising as you walk, iron, drive or wash up are all possibilities. I memorised one of my favourite songs after talking to Sandys on Friday. It is like creating your own mentalSpotify for me.

Use striking visual images

A great example of this is the dusty cupboard that is my perimenopausal brain that can still recall his list of 12 random words. Brown paints pictures that make you think of things like dialling a phone with a frankfurter and a monkey buttons your shirt.

Improve – at any age

The average wannabe London cabby is in their 40's, while one current candidate is in their 60's. According to the Transport for London Knowledge Manager, anyone can get through it. Learning to learn is the largest challenge. It's just about commitment after that. She says that it is about repetition, repetition, repetition until you can see each route. Little Apples Grow Slowly for the Lyric, Apollo, Gielgud and Sondheim theatres are just a few of the tricks Chennells can use. According to research, the process expands drivers.

Make mistakes

According to research published earlier this year, deliberate errors can promote deeper understanding and better recall, with learners who insert then correct deliberate errors learning approximately double those who put the right answer first time. The mind and memory are not easy to understand.