Establish routine. If you lose your keys often, try putting them in the same place every time. This also applies to organizing files on your computer. If you establish specific e-mail and desktop folders for critical documents, you’ll know where to go first.

Eat more brain food. Foods can help improve your memory because of special antioxidants and vitamins. Try consuming more green tea, blueberries, salmon, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, dark chocolate and turmeric.

Get more sleep. Your brain needs downtime to stay sharp. If you don’t get enough sleep, you’ll tax your memory and start to forget things. Stay rested so you can keep your mind alert.

Have a mental workout. Mental challenges such as completing crossword puzzles will make your brain sharper and more effective at remembering.

Write things down. Your smartphone or tablet is helpful for taking notes, but the pen is mightier than the keyboard when it comes to encoding the brain. The act of physically writing something down helps to register text in your mind where you can recover it later.

Pay attention. Focus for 8 seconds. The next time you need to encode something important, focus on it while counting to 8 and lock it in.