Know and Use Your Strengths

I have been putting alot of time and effort into swimming of late, as I am due to swim in Lake Windermere as part of the Great North Swim in a few weekends, so have been pretty motivated to make sure I do not have to be rescued.....

My problem is that I tend to forget how many lengths I have swum - I count them all up and then miss count or get unsure about half way through. So usually I just swim a few more for good measure at the end.

I am trying to remember the numbers by just saying them to myself in my head.
Then I had an ah-ha moment as I swum effortlessly along. I know that I learn most through visual means and kinaesthetic means rather than listening. My ears are not my strongest learning mechanism - my eyes and movement are.

I have known this for years, which is why I take notes in meetings, whereas those with a strong auditory sense can just listen and learn without any notes at all.

So instead of just saying the number of lengths in my head and listening, I start creating a huge bubble number in my mind at the same time. And remembering what length I am on starts to feel much easier - so I can spend more time concentrating on my technique and less on whether I am on 33 or 35 lengths.

Do you know your preferred learning or communication sense? If not, then search on-line under VAK or VARK (standing for visual- auditory - read/write and kinaesthetic) and find out. You may be amazed at what you learn.

So I guess I have learnt something too - that if I am strong visually, I need to make sure that I use visual methods wherever possible to help me learn and remember information.

What do you have problems remembering?
How can you use your strongest sense to help you remember?