There are four different ways you receive and recall information:

• visual — through pictures
• auditory — through sounds
• kinaesthetic — through touching and doing
• olfactory — through smell.

For example, certain memories are triggered by smells, such as Grandma’s perfume or smells you associate with the home where you grew up.

Here we will focus on the first three areas, as these are the senses you use most when focusing on your goals. Each of us is more dominant in one particular area: this is how we most like to learn and recall. Here is a brief overview, before you complete a quick self-assessment.

Someone with a visual learning style has a preference for seen or observed things, including pictures, diagrams, demonstrations, displays, films, flip-charts or handouts. These people will use phrases such as ‘show me’ and ‘let’s have a look at that’ and will be best able to perform a new task after reading the instructions or watching someone else do it first. They will work from lists and written directions and illustrations.

Have you ever thought about buying a car and the more you think about it, the more examples of this type of car you spot as you drive around? Your reticular activating system has visually tuned in to car images for you.

Someone with an auditory learning style absorbs information mainly through listening. These people will use phrases such as ‘tell me’ and ‘let’s talk it over’ and will be best able to perform a new task after listening to instructions from an expert. They are happy being given spoken instructions over the telephone, and can remember all the words to songs they hear!

Often hearing an old song will immediately take you back to a time in your life when that song meant something to you.

Someone with a kinaesthetic learning style has a preference for physical experience — touching, holding, doing, activity, physical movement, hands-on experiences. These people will use phrases such as ‘let me try’, ‘what does it feel like?’ and will be best able to perform a new task by going ahead and trying it out, learning as they go. They like to experiment and never look at the instructions first!

You will have memories of learning a skill through movement and physical activity — that is using your senses kinaesthetically.

Of course we all use all of these areas, but each of us tends to have a preferred style. The easiest way to determine your learning style is to complete the VAK Learning Styles Self-Assessment Questionnaire, which can be accessed online (just Google ‘VAK Survey’ or ‘VAK Assessment’); you will be able to complete it online or download a PDF document. It takes you through a bank of a, b and c questions, such as how you might personally ask for directions (by reading a map, asking someone or following your instincts), or how you handle the operation of new equipment, cook new meals or teach someone a new skill. When choosing your answers, go with your first instinct, and remember that no one answer is ‘better’ than any other. From your results can you determine whether you have a mainly visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learning style?

What has all this got to do with doing what is meaningful in your life? Well, it’s simple. When you create a better connection between you and your goal that resonates with your personal makeup, you are likely to have a far greater commitment to that goal. Knowing how you are best able to receive and recall information, and therefore to learn, helps you to focus on what counts in your life, right now.