You might remember the meaning of the character 将 with this easy mnemonic:
A granny thought she was inches (寸) from death when she slipped on ice (冫) and slashed (丿) her head on a tree branch. There were lines (丨) and dots (丶) of blood all over her clothes. She thought she was about to die when the shock triggered her pre-existing heart problem.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.