Memorize Anything
Perhaps the first thing you should start doing before tackling extraordinary tasks of memorization is:
a. Get some sleep
b. Get a light snack (emphasis on light).
c. Amp Up Your Brain
- Improve Your Memory.
Ancient Greek bards recited 10,000-line poems by heart. Their secret? The Method of Loci. Here’s how it works: To remember, say, a shopping list, imagine walking to the store. Use items on your list to construct incongruous visual images along the way – a carton of milk perched atop a mailbox, bananas growing on a rosebush, and so on. Then, when you arrive at the store, mentally retrace your imagined steps to retrieve all the items on your list.
- Read better, faster.
Speed-reading courses preach a form of skimming that doesn’t help comprehension or retention. The best way to pump up the pace is to read a lot – for pleasure. In a 2001 study, subjects who read assigned texts increased their speed an average of 18 percent and comprehension by 11 percent. Those who read texts of their own choosing improved speed by 87 percent and comprehension by 33 percent.
- Think out loud.
Ever notice how kids narrate what they’re doing? (“Just one more Lego and my fortress is complete!”) In the book Mind Hacks, Tom Stafford and Matt Webb call this “self-instruction.” According to a University of Maryland researcher, language helps us process multiple strands of information more efficiently. So go ahead, talk to yourself – and ignore the funny looks you get. Your results will speak for themselves.
- BRAIN AGE!
Drop $150 on a Nintendo DS and the Brain Age gamepak. It is universally fun and challenging, and it works. There are several exercises that improve a range of cognitive functions. Some may argue that it only makes you better at the games themselves and not real-world brain function. However playing the game (and working to improve your age) is also a great IQ confidence booster. Confidence alone may be enough for some to perform at “amped” levels.
- Sleep well.
7 hours a day. Keep a regular schedule, even on weekends–this is important for your body’s natural rhythm.
- Eat well.
Balanced meals, veggies and protein and carbs, minimize the alcohol and sugar and artificial additives. Don’t skip breakfast (but it can be light). Eat dinner no less than 3 hours before bed. Eat slowly and only as much as you need.
- Exercise.
That word sounds like “hit the gym” to me, which I’m not into, so you can also think of it as “physical activity.” Even just walking for 20 or 30 minutes a day, consistently, does wonder. Walking around your neighborhood helps keep you connected to your neighbors and surroundings too. Doubt me? Try it. Yoga if you’re adventurous, it’s great for both mind and body.
- Downtime.
Take breaks at work–it’s OK! Your brain needs breaks. Minimize the sensory distractions in your life. Don’t watch TV for four hours; pick just one show and Tivo it or watch it online, or just watch a DVD movie. Cancel cable if you’re brave. Fill up that time with reading, exercise, socializing instead. It’s worth it.
- Socialization.
Be open and relaxed. Don’t rush through your day so fast that you fail to recognize the other nice people you’re interacting with, even the cashiers or the person you open a door for. Give a little of yourself. Smile. In turn, make somebody else smile. Builds self confidence which in turn builds happiness which in turn builds productivity in all areas of your life.
- Fear is the mind killer.
See challenges, not problems. Recognize when you’re emotionally blocking yourself from productive action and sidestep the block. Got a complaint? Don’t whine, just take action; don’t wait for someone else to take care of it. Your brain will get used to this way of thinking and people will recognize your initiative and sense of ownership and reward you for it.
For any type of memorization, it’s important to realize that the human brain works very differently then external storage devices (slips of paper, a computer, etc). It recalls nearly exclusively by association. That’s the bad news, it’s very hard to recall a condensed sliver of information associated to nothing at all by rote. The good news is that as opposed to computers or paper, there is almost unlimited space. Certainly so much that for practical purposes it won’t run out. Thus, almost all memory tricks are based on adding information to what you are attempting to remember. This seems paradoxical, but since there is no limit in sight for amount of information and very severe limits on what type of information is stored (it must be associated with a known concept) it makes perfect sense to take a giant hit in amount of information in trade for making said information fit into the structure and thus being available for recall. “Golf club, tree, rake, cat” is much shorter then “An old man was hitting balls with his golf club getting one stuck in a tree. He fetched a rake to get it down out of the leaves, surprised to find there was a cat stuck in it”, yet the latter is much easier to remember. Most memorization is based on this principle, adding useless information to make things (including non-structured information such as numbers or lists) into fully linked concepts that can be recalled and condensed to the original information.
Next, let’s break down the types of memorization you’ll be tackling into categories:
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Contents |
NUMBERS
Learn a sound for each number. The most common system uses the following:
1 – T/D (T has one vertical line)
2 – N (N has two vertical lines)
3 – M (M has, sort of, three vertical lines)
4 – R (R is the last letter of Four)
5 – L (L represents 50 in roman numerals)
6 – G/J (G looks a little bit like a 6)
7 – K (a K could somewhat be written with two 7s, one turned at an angle)
8 – F (a cursive lower case f in the old-style of cursive looks a bit like an 
9 – P /B(P looks a little like a mirror image of a 9)
0 – S/Z (Zero starts with this sound)
As you see, hard/soft sounds are considered equal.
These need to be in pretty solid if speed is needed, but the mnemonics help get it started. Then convert the numbers to these sounds, splitting them into words by adding vowels (none are included) or the sounds W, H, Y (also not used). Associate these words with each other or make sentences out of them (good choices for sentences make them cement in further but takes longer, a series of words is faster but less stable in the brain). Consider pi to ten decimals for instance:
3.1415926535
This would be:
M TRTLPNGLML
Keep in mind that these are sounds, not necessarily letters – the word “Tall” for instance would be “T” (ignored vowel) “L” i.e. 15. Then split these sounds into words, for instance:
M TRTLPNGLML
MeaT RaT LiP No GoaL MeL
Slightly broken, but just a quick for instance. Then integrate that into something memorable. An old man, in a remote area where rats are raised for meat bumps into Mel Gibson. Mel, for reasons unknown, decides to try for some, oddly enough going for the lips (traditionally the worst part of a meat rat) and is given solemn advice “Meat rat lip no goal, Mel”. There is clearly no truth to any of that, but it’s a mental image instead of eleven digits and easier to recall on command later.
Translating it back to pi goes the same way “M T R T L P N G L M L” -> “3.1415926535″. For numbers with associations (phone numbers, SSNs, GPS locations, etc) try to make the sentences/words relevant to the person/place/thing they go with, making it easier to recall them in association with them. It’s also often easier to recall extreme or bizarre images (as the above could easily be considered) rather then mundane and ordinary things. Remember that they don’t have to be said out loud as such, so there is more leverage to use imagery that might be considered offensive or bad in daily life.
Combinations
–System Needed here–
Equations and Sequences
–System Needed here–
NAMES
I know a guy, Frank (we call him Frank the Tank) who makes a rhyme with the names of everyone he meets. For example, Mel becomes “Mel who fell into my wishing well” Sometimes its slightly awkward, such as when he meets a Chuck, or a Pam, but he never forgets a name. I decided to try this myself (not out loud, of course) and I’ve found that for me (a person who is horrible at remembering names) this technique works perfectly. I will never forget the names of my new friends, such as Scott (who smokes pot), and Karie (who’s kinda hairy).
It can also be helpful to mentally associate them with another person of the same name that you already remember. Think of another person you know or a famous person by that name (such as Frank Sinatra, Mel Gibson, Chuck Norris or Pam Anderson for the above examples) then at the same time think of or look at the person. Compare and look for similarities or differences. Does he look a little like Frank Sinatra around the eyes? Is he an awful singer, not at all like Sinatra? Imagine him trying to sing Strangers in the Night on stage, what would that look like? Go through a few of these so the brain has them connected and next time it’ll pop up when thinking of the person. It’s less useful with unusual names and last names (they’re less often shared) but very good for first names.
LISTS
Much of this wiki entry is due in part to the generous availability of information at Academic Tips<!– wiki-renamed-hyperlink “Academic Tips” –>. Please visit their site for other excellent study techniques.
The Number/Rhyme Technique
The Number/Rhyme technique is a very simple way of remembering lists of items in a specific order. It is an example of a peg system – i.e. a system whereby facts are ‘pegged’ to known sequences of cues (here the numbers 1 – 10). This ensures that no facts are forgotten (because gaps in information are immediately obvious), and that the starting images of the mnemonic visualizations are well know.
At a simple level it can be used to remember things such as a list of English Kings or of American Presidents in their precise order. At a more advanced level it can be used to code lists of experiments to be recalled in a science exam.
How to use the Number/Rhyme Technique
This technique works by helping you to build up pictures in your mind, in which the numbers are represented by things that rhyme with the number, and are linked to images that represent the things to be remembered. The usual rhyming scheme is shown below:
1 – Bun
2 – Shoe
3 – Tree
4 – Door
5 – Hive
6 – Bricks
7 – Heaven
8 – Skate
9 – Line
10 – Hen
These images should be linked to images representing the things to be remembered, for example a list of ten Greek philosophers could be remembered as:
1 – Parmenides – a BUN topped with melting yellow PARMEsan cheese
2 – Heraclitus – a SHOE worn by HERACLes (Greek Hercules) glowing with a bright LIght
3 – Empedocles – A TREE from which the M-shaped McDonalds arches hang hooking up a bicycle PEDal
4 – Democritus – think of going through a DOOR to vote in a DEMOCRaTic election.
5 – Protagoras – A bee HIVE being positively punched through (GORed?) by an atomic PROTon
6 – Socrates – BRICKS falling onto a SOCk (with a foot inside!) from a CRATe.
7 – Plato – A plate with angel’s wings flapping around a white cloud
8 – Aristotle – a friend called hARRY clutching a bOTtLE of wine possessively slipping on a SKATE (sorry Harry!)
9 – Zeno – A LINE of ZEN buddhists meditating
10 – Epicurus – a HEN’s egg being mixed into an EPIleptics’s CURe.
The Number/Shape System
The Number/Shape system is very similar to the Number/Rhyme system. As with the Number/Rhyme system it is a very simple and effective way of remembering lists of items in a specific order. It is another example of a peg system.
How to use the Number/Shape Technique
This technique works by helping you to build up pictures in your mind, in which the numbers are represented by images shaped like the number, and are part of a compound image that also codes the thing to be remembered.
One image scheme is shown below:
1 – Candle, spear, stick
2 – Swan (beak, curved neck, body)
3 – (rotate shape though 90 degrees!)
4 – Sail of a yacht
5 – A meat hook, a sea-horse facing right
6 – A golf club
7 – A cliff edge
8 – An egg timer
9 – A balloon with a string attached, flying freely
0 – A hole
If you find that these images or shapes do not attract you or stick in your mind, then change them for something more meaningful to you.
As with the Number/Rhyme scheme, these images should be linked to images representing the things to be remembered. We will use a list of more modern thinkers to illustrate the number/shape system:
1 – Spinoza – a large CANDLE wrapped around with someone’s SPINe.
2 – Locke – a SWAN trying to pick a LOCK with its wings
3 – Hume – A HUMan child BREAST feeding.
4 – Berkeley – A SAIL on top of a large hooked and spiked BURR in the LEE of a cliff
5 – Kant – a CAN of spam hanging from a meat HOOK.
6 – Rousseau – a kangaROO SEWing with a GOLF CLUB
7 – Hegel – a crooked trader about to be pushed over a CLIFF, HaGgLing to try to avoid being hurt.
8 – Kierkegaard – a large EGG TIMER containing captain KIRK and a GuARD from the starship enterprise, as time runs out.
9 – Darwin – a BALLOON floating upwards, being blown fAR by the WINd.
10 – Marx – a HOLE with white chalk MARks around it’s edge
Try either visualizing these images as suggested, or if you do not like them, come up with images of your own.
Once you have done this, try writing down the names on a piece of paper. You should be able to do this by thinking of the number, then the part of the image/shape associated with the number, then the whole image, and finally then decode the image to give you the name of the philosopher. If the mnemonic has worked, you should not only recall the names of all the philosophers in the correct order, but should also be able to spot where you have left philosophers out of the sequence. Try it – it’s easier than it sounds.
You can use a peg system like this as a basis for knowledge in an entire area: the example above could be a basis for a knowledge of ancient philosophy, as images representing the projects, systems and theories of each philosopher can now be associated with the images representing the philosophers names. The sillier the image, the more effectively you will remember it – see the article on Using Mnemonics More Effectively to see how you can dress up the picture to help it stay clearly in your mind.
People
–System Needed here–
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Places
–System Needed here–
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Foreign Names
–System Needed here–
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QUOTES AND PASSAGES
–System Needed here–
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