In my case at least, I noticed that remembering things has a strong "visual" component. I have nothing close to a photographic memory (I wish), but for example

In my case at least, I noticed that remembering things has a strong "visual" component. I have nothing close to a photographic memory (I wish), but for example in university, I often remembered facts and formulas by also remembering where on a page they were. I wouldn't quite "read it off" the page in my mind, but just the visualization of the page helped getting to the fact, in a "oh yeah, that's where that was written down" kind of way. Today, I write down the most important dates and facts on pieces of paper or a little notebook, and just the strong, vivid, very visual recollection of me writing it down (and where) helps tremendously in remembering what was written down.