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Summary: Forgetting names at work or during job interviews is a memorable gaffe.
Key Take Aways:
- Having a method for remembering names can challenge the notion you are simply bad at remembering names.
- Taking a few simple actions could go a long way towards improving memory.
Forgetting a co-worker's name or the name of someone you are interviewing with for a new job can leave a distinctly unfavorable impression. It is a gaffe we all have some fear of because we know it can be quite offensive, and we generally have no intention of offending anyone.
At the same time, forgetting the names of people we don't know is a common experience. The following tips may help remember names and avoid those upsetting gaffes while keeping one's own stress level down, because an effective approach can reduce unease in those situations.
1. Keep yourself calm during an interview or meeting with new people. A calmer mind is better able to recall new information. When we get stressed, our cortisol levels may rise to the point where they interfere with our memory capacity. (Cortisol is a stress hormone.) To stay more relaxed, one can focus on the breath and breathing deeply into the belly, rather than just in the chest.
2. Add context to the person's image and name. For example, allow yourself to free associate so any word or words arise in your mind in relation to that person. The weirder the words, the better it is for memory. For example, a co-worker named Ted might remind you of hop-scotch for someone reason. Once you note this and make the association between hop-scotch and his image, you will probably have a better chance of remembering his name.
3. Look at the person's eyes closely. They are the feature which is least likely to change over time. Hair length, hair color, clothing style and facial hair are examples of things that can change, which makes it more challenging to remember a person.
4. Pay extra attention when listening to a person's name when you meet them, instead of putting the focus on your self. When we do that, we also lessen our own anxiety because sometimes it is our own self-talk that generates the anxiety in the first place. You can also repeat the person's name more than once when you are first meeting them if there is a chance in conversation or repeat that person's name in your mind.
Of course, there are probably other tips online one can search for, in order to practice remembering names better. Another point of this practice is that it combats the negative story we sometimes tell ourselves that we simply are bad at remembering names. If we don't have an effective approach to doing something well, telling ourselves we are bad at it only makes the situation worse.
Image Credit: kance, Wiki Commons
