Did you ever wonder why phone numbers and credit card numbers are separated into little groups of numbers? It’s to help you remember them!
Chunking is the technique of taking smaller objects and grouping them into larger objects so they can be more easily remembered. It’s much easier to remember 65-74-81-32 than it is to remember 65748132.
Try remembering the letters TRTESEL. Now try remembering the same letters in this order: LETTERS. Because your brain is remembering a word instead of 7 random letters, it doesn’t have to work as hard. Essentially, you have compressed more information into a single chunk.
The next time you are trying to remember a list of small items, try chunking them together so you can fit more information into your short term memory.