Writing things down, on paper or on-screen, is the best way to make sure you remember important info and tasks, but sometimes you've got to rely on your plain old brain to keep essential data sorted and handy. Whether it's a client's name, a password or combination you want stored only in your head, or answers for an upcoming test, there are plenty of techniques and tools to help you lock in important stuff and pull it out when needed. After the jump, we round up some memorable memory-boosting hacks. Photo by furryscaly.

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With the right type of thinking, you can vastly improve your concentration skills. Exercising your mind takes time and commitment but will ultimately translate to a sharper focus. To align your mind with your body and bring a heightened awareness for a much deeper concentration, go to a completely isolated room. Sit on a chair or on the floor with your spine erect. Breathe deeply and relax your body. There are many exercises you can attempt to improve your concentration, and the Ego Development blog suggests several. One such exercise requires full body awareness.

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Just in time for finals week, the HackCollege blog recommends studying to a continuous ambient music stream from SomaFM called Groove Salad. If you can't stand the drop-dead silence of the library but also can't concentrate with lyrics, ambient music's the ticket. Groove Salad, "a nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves," will stream directly to your music player for free. Been tapping keys to it myself as I rewrite the Lifehacker book. Here are more good study music suggestions from readers.

The Ririan Project has an intriguing writeup on how to improve your concentration—watch television. Here's how it works: put two television or media screens right next to each other, each one showing something different. Try to listen to them both at once, attentively as possible. Once you've got this mastered, work on focusing on only one screen and ignoring the other one; this part of the process will take a while to really do well. The idea behind this is to improve your concentration and focus ability—sounds a bit unorthodox, but it really does work. How have you improved your concentration? Please share in the comments.