Musings on selective memory…

I was watching a lot of tennis at the weekend.

General applicability of advice re what works in tennis?

One of the things one of the commentators said interested me about selective memory.

He was basically saying selective memory could be very useful for sportspeople as a way to focus on the good things they’d done rather than the bad times.

Listening idly to various commentators doing pre-match scrutiny there was also a lot about the need to focus on ‘now’ point by point, think process not outcomes or consequences, stay relaxed and zone out inessentials etc. etc.

Listening to all of this it occurred to me bits of it would appear in many management training contexts. It also got me wondering more generally about how memory impacts on us and if selective memory would actually help people achieve things more generally though.

Types of memory

For instance. I have a fairly bad memory for some things. It rarely pinpoint what was 2002 as opposed to 2003 for example. It forgets  the details of holidays and outings.  Actually, it’s almost capable of forgetting entire holidays depending how far back. I know people who have just about total recall and can pinpoint anything in time very exactly. This is somewhere between an amazing magic trick and rather irritating - because it’s not me alas.

I also know people who have what I would call ‘zoned’ memories of different depth and capacity.  They’re incredibly good at retaining anything relating to subjects that actually interest them, but a lot fuzzier on other things that they pay less concentration on. That information often goes in one ear and come out the other. Because it doesn't interest them, they see no need for it.

I also know folk whose memories are very much in the 'now' and recent past.  Folk who don't much tend to spend time rethinking  or remembering the more distant past. They just prefer to get on with now and look ahead.

So what would a selective memory be? It sounds kind of attractive.  Bit like a sieve you can control and tweak? Keep the good, park and semi-forget the bad.

Purpose of memory

The good memories that stand out probably propel us on faster and further on a chosen direction. Which is excellent if what you require is focus and belief and drive.

The bad that stand out though are probably the ones we learn, adapt, and change from more. They might keep us back in some ways, but they’re also the ones if we forgot why we’d discovered that ‘x’ wasn’t such  a good idea we’d probably just repeat time and again.

The good, bad, and indifferent, hopefully balance each other out.

So on the whole I'm content with the memory I’ve got.

I suspect overall that memories that stand out from the general background, for good or ill, are useful, even if sometimes they help to keep us back and at other times to propel us forward. ‘Selective memory’ sounds more attractive than it’d be in practice methinks (though in tennis practice perhaps it indeed works superbly!).