We all forget passwords now and then. Our brain is trained to keep the most used information and get rid of things that aren’t important or frequently used. As a result, we forget things, such as passwords. This will cost us a lot of time remembering them, going through the password managers, or even trying to recover the accounts. There is a simple solution to eradicate all these issues: just don’t forget them. How can you do that? We will explain –
Why passwords are hard to remember?
Passwords will be hard to remember if they are not used frequently. If you use a password every day, it is doubtful that you will forget them. No matter how difficult the password is, if you keep using them every day, it is likely that you will remember them any time you want to log into the service. Even if the password is a 4-letter word, if you didn’t use it for a while, your brain will register it as “less-priority” information, eventually making you forget it to make space for other frequently used information.
Another possibility is that the password you chose is tough to remember. If you use a 24-letter scrambled password consisting of letters, numbers, symbols, and special characters, unless you put a bit of effort into getting used to it, you will eventually forget it. But it is a good practice to use such hard-to-break passwords to protect your accounts from hackers. Using a password manager might resolve this problem.
Benefits of remembering passwords
Remembering passwords is going to be difficult. Especially when there are hundreds of different services you use daily. But it is not impossible. Keeping passwords organized and following a hard-to-guess but easy-to-remember pattern can make this possible. These are the benefits of remembering your passwords –
- You are in control. Only you know the passwords, no one else.
- You don’t have to use a password manager, improving the privacy of your passwords.
- You can log in to services faster because you have them at your fingertips.
Methods to remember passwords
There are many methods to remember your passwords better. From building up a certain pattern to using a password manager. The list goes on. For your convenience, we handpicked the most effective ways. These are the methods to remember passwords easily –
1. Follow a certain pattern
According to ExpressVPN’s password survey, an average American takes about 4 minutes to reset their password. The best way to avoid forgetting your password and save this time is by developing a certain pattern yourself. It is important that you develop your own patterns. You shouldn’t just pick a random one suggested by a website.
For example, you can pick a word from your name, “John.” Pick a short term for the service you are signing up for, “Gm” for “Gmail. Put a common symbol in a specific place. And do much more to improve the security and make it extremely hard to guess. This will generate a password similar to John@gm!257.
Once you develop such a pattern, instead of remembering the password itself, your brain will only have to remember the process of generating the password following the pattern. This will allow you to keep the passwords safe while making them easy to remember. No matter how many services you sign up for.
Keep in mind that if someone else knows multiple passwords that you created this way, they might figure out the pattern, compromising all of your accounts. This can be devastating. So, never reveal your password to anyone if you follow this method.
2. Use words and numbers you are familiar with
Using something you are familiar with daily would be a great idea to make it easier to remember passwords. Choosing something that “only you” are familiar with is even better. For example, you used to have a best friend, but no one else knows who that was. Including their first name in your password will allow you to remember it faster. Your favorite word that nobody knows about will also do. Just make sure that you are not just putting it as the entire password but also including other numbers, letters, and symbols in combination.
3. Practice
Like anything else, a great way to get used to remembering passwords is by practicing. Combined with the above methods, practicing could make it extremely easy to remember passwords. As much as you keep spending time typing the passwords, that much it will be easier for you to remember them. There is no secret recipe to this. All you have to do is keep remembering the passwords and start typing them from your mind. Eventually, you will find the process getting easier. Here is a Medium article on that walks you through the art of practicing.
4. Depend on a password manager
Remembering passwords may not be simple as it sounds for everyone. Especially if you are someone with bad memory, you may not be able to remember all of your passwords. In that case, instead of noting it down in a space that is not secure enough, it is better to depend on a password manager. There are several password managers on the market you can choose from. The features provided will also allow you to create a strong password by generating something random.
Conclusion
That said, you should not make your passwords shorter and simpler just because you can remember them. It is against the best password management practices. You should either remember them or store it in a place where your security will not be compromised easily. Whichever option you choose, you shouldn’t use a weak password. We hope you were able to get some ideas to remember your passwords better. Stay safe online.