by Jimmy Nightingale

Created on: January 14, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2010

Your memory is the glue that holds together all the other skills that are essential to progress your career. Skills like communication, leadership, people management, strategic thinking, planning, teamwork and interpersonal skills, and the more technical components of your work. All of these skills are enhanced when you have a good memory.

In almost any line of work today, you be confronted by information overload. Face to face conversations, phone calls, e-mails, internet, written reports, and meetings - the sources are almost endless. One of the biggest challenges facing anyone working in an organization today is being able to cope and thrive on this bombardment. A good memory is the key. The ability to remember key names, faces, facts and figures and then being able to recall them when needed is as taken for granted as it is under-rated.

A good memory is the most important skill to progress your career.

As you may have noticed, I've listed memory as a skill. I have no doubt that we are all born with some basic level of memory, otherwise we wouldn't remember how to breathe, eat and move about; but having a good memory is something that is learned and improves with practice. This means that it is not necessarily a function of intelligence, just as being smart doesn't automatically mean that you are intelligent, so that having a good memory is something that anyone can develop.

Before I do into how this can be achieved, it is worthwhile to consider why a good memory is important in a work context. A small selection of activities where a good memory is a definite asset is outlined below:

* Whether you are a tradesman or a CEO, chances are that you will have to deal with large reports. A good memory enables you to read through these reports quicker and retain more information from them. More importantly, it will help you to remember what you need to know from them;

* Remembering names and other important business information. Yes, it is nice to know who someone is if you pass them in the street, but this is more about names and important business information at work. Think of the salesperson who knows the price and product features of every product in the store and greets you personally. Chances are that they are going to be able to serve you more efficiently and provide a more enjoyable shopping experience than someone who doesn't;

* Planning involves coordinating multiple components to deliver a cohesive and timely outcome. Having a good memory helps you to

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