An attempt at mnemonics

I've began trying to use mnemonics to remember things.  Phone numbers and important things related to work.  These are definitive items and they have a use.  I thought to myself if I'm going to remmeber something I better make it something I may need to use.  Something important.  So I used imagery and a link like system.  One image associated with the other.  How difficult it can be in ensuring the linking associations actually work.  It takes effort to make the image in my head.  I grasp onto any kind of cue related to the items I need to remember.  Sometimes there is no direct mapping with a concrete image so I then break the word down, usually into syllables and use two separate images for a two syllabled word.  When using this mnemonic method I realised as well more than anything else I was creating a cue.  A little like looking at old photo's from a holiday and their bringing back into consciousness the experience.  I can sit and practice remembering these items without any notes or books.  It's just a matter of sitting still and then going through what it was I had thought about.  Surprisingly it's working.  But it is slow and I don't have a massive amount of motivation to spend an hour a day doing this.  Which is something mnemonists actually do. 

But the secret is, practice, practice and more practice.