Make a list of 10 common nouns, or use this sample list: dog, boat, mountain, umbrella, book, teacup, knife, tree, basketball, giraffe. Read the list for 30 seconds, then try to repeat the nouns in order without looking. You may stall after four or five words.
Say the first word on the list aloud: "dog." Say the second word: "boat." Picture a dog steering a boat. Say the third word on the list aloud: "mountain." Picture a boat sailing over a mountain.
Say the next word: "umbrella." Picture a mountain falling over and crushing an umbrella. Proceed in this manner, reciting each word aloud and forming an image that links the previous word to the next.
Recite the whole list from memory when you're done. Remembering just the first word, dog, should prompt the image you formed of the dog steering the boat, which in turn will prompt the picture of the boat sailing over the mountain, and so on through the list. Our brains encode images, particularly vivid or unusual images, better than written words, according to MindTools.com.
Expand your list to more than 10 words, and see how far you can go with practice. This process of making "intentional associations" improves the capacity for memorization, according to Intelegen's website on improving memory.
Apply this memorization trick to everyday life. You have a list of items to pick up at the grocery store: eggs, milk, mustard, ice cream, celery, peanut butter, dog food. Form a chain of unusual images beginning with eggs bobbing in a vat of milk, followed by milk being poured into a mustard jar, and proceeding in this manner. Now if you lose the list, you'll still make it home with everything you need.