I always had trouble telling the difference between Instruction 訓 and Obey 順. All I knew was they both had the common 'stream' radical. Later on I figured a story where the Instruction of Words flowed out like a Stream into the Head of the subject, who Obeys them. And in imagining watching this happen from the side with the Instructor on the left, I had some way of telling the difference between the two. Dodgy, I know... but it worked well for me in this example.

I was wondering if anyone else did something like that or if someone else who has gone further then me reckons it's a really Bad Idea.

If it helps you remember kanji, it's all good. Some people on the site make story pairs or sometimes even series. One pair that has helped me was the one and only fuaburisu's stories for ring 836 and send back 837. Quite complex characters but easily remembered. You know Lord of the Rings, right?