You might remember the meaning of the character 中 with this easy mnemonic:
You're stranded in the middle of a desert. Your mouth (口) is dry and your stomach is rumbling. You've been walking for hours when you finally come across an oasis. You run to it and take big gulps of water. Afterward, you toss a line (丨) into it hoping to catch a fish, but you're not good at fishing.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.