Memory Masters | Journey towards becoming a Memory Champion

“Your mind never wanders away; it only moves towards more interesting things.”

Welcome to Day 2 of my journey to become a memory champion! This blog will serve as a daily journal of my progress, insights, and secrets as I strive to master the art of memory and compete on the world stage.

A Memory champion is a person who has demonstrated exceptional memory skills through competition. These competitions often involve memorizing large amounts of information, such as numbers, playing cards, or historical facts, in a short period of time.

This week my goal is to collect information from famous books on this topic. So, today I finished reading "Unlimited Memory" by Kevin Horsley. This is a short book, about 125 pages, and it took me few hours to finish.

Who would you be without your excuses?

As it turns out, I don't actually have a bad memory. We were just never shown how powerful our memories really are. After being burdened for years, and feeling sad for myself for not having a good memory, I now realize that it was just an excuse.

Why this book?

This book is low on fluff, which is how I like it. It's filled to the brim with practical application. I had modest expectations, but i'm giving it 5 stars because:

Grandmaster Horsley showed me that my memory was a LOT better than I thought it was
All I needed was the right strategies.
He is one of the world’s first five people to have been awarded the title ‘International Grandmaster of Memory’ by the Brain Trust
He is also a World Record Holder for the matrix memorisation of 10, 000 digits of Pi.

The matrix record is known as ‘The Everest of memory tests’.

He was also a World Memory Championship medalist.

Ok! Focus Time..

“Take responsibility; it is as simple as having a reason and making a decision that you want to change your beliefs.”

our memory is a fixed trait, like our height or eye color | False
having either a great or faulty memory is something we are born with | False
there’s nothing we can do to change it | False

our memory is flexible and not fixed | True
we can strengthen our memory capacity depending on our beliefs | True

Our beliefs are crucial

in incorporating different techniques to enhance our memories.
If you think your memory is horrible

you’re more likely to give up trying out various techniques.

negative belief will also most likely

preven you from actually enhancing your memory.

How to fix this?

change these limiting beliefs
accept that change is possible for you
this way you’re also changing your ability and mindset
this allows you to succeed in the face of difficulties and challenges.

This concept is generally known as Identity-Based habits.

Our long-term actions are driven by what/who we think we are.
You can trick yourself into going to gym or stop eating chips once or twice

but your identity is what drives it on a long term.

Imaging this like being a passport

You may want to travel a lot of places
But you only get to go where your identity allows

Not knowing your core identity is also ok

Doubt can still play a "good" role in driving you to try different methods

Mistake that we usually do

We start by focusing on outcomes:

I want to read 1500 words per minute
I want to memorize 20 books

These are only surface level things

These are OUTCOMES
they come out of who you are
if at core you are lazy and you think you have a bad memory
the outcome would not be what you want

Outcomes comes from inside out

Example:
a person smokes during stress

if he believes he needs a cigarette to overcome the stress

a person drinks at a party

if he believes he needs to be drunk to enjoy anyone's company

Eliminate negative beliefs

Realize that you may have limiting belief #1

-- I'm too old to remember this

-- As you get older three things happen. The first is your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two

-- I'm too old to learn new things
Question your limiting beliefs #2

-- Ask: What are my beliefs about memory?

-- Are they true for me?

-- How much is this belief going to cost me?

-- Is it really true? Can I say it’s one hundred percent true?
Ask yourself why you want to change #3

-- Have a clear reason “why” you want to change

-- How enhancing your memory will help you stay focused?

-- How will it help and propel you toward better?
Focus on one thing at a time #4

-- big part of memory is concentration

-- Multitasking is the killer of memory

-- avoid multitasking when learning new topics

-- avoid multitasking when doing tasks you need to remember

Here's a quick overview of all methods mentioned in this book:

# Unlimited Memory ## SEE - Senses - Exaggerate - Energise ## Car Method ## Body Method ## Journey Method - Method of Loci ## Pegging - Rhyming system - Shape system ## Linking - Thoughts + Stories ## 4 Cs - Concentrate - Create - Connect - Continuous use

All of us are visual creatures, and our memory works in pictures and videos it constructs.

Use the SEE method to remember things more easily

To enhance our ability to remember things, we can use these mental images and videos to our advantage, especially when remembering information that is harder to imagine, such as facts or lists.

SEE method
- Senses
- Exaggeration
- Energize

Practice the SEE method:

First, use as many senses as possible

create more depth to an internal image.
If you want to remember a horse

imagine how it looks, hears, or smells.

Then, exaggerate the image

by making it big or small and outrageous
In the case of the horse

create a mental picture of it wearing a bikini.

Finally, energize your mental picture

by stimulating your images
with movement, color, and excitement
or make them weird
example

seeing a dancing horse rather than one that is still.

Turn abstract concepts into images.

you want to remember the list of presidents or Japanese vocabulary
link nouns and adjectives to images you previously already have mental pictures for.
This can be done by thinking of what the word sounds like already.
This takes some creativity on your part.
Example:

Spanish word for sun = sole
‘sole’ is associated with the shoe
you can picture a shoe being burned by the sun

Example:

Japanese word: 木 (ki) - meaning "tree"
Image association: Imagine a key (sounds like "ki") hanging from a tree branch, indicating that the tree is the key to nature.
Japanese word: 魚 (sakana) - meaning "fish"
Image association: Visualize a sock (sounds like "sak") shaped like fish (sakana).
Japanese word: 本 (hon) - meaning "book"
Image association: Envision a honey jar (sounds like "hon") with books stacked inside it, symbolizing knowledge and sweetness.
Japanese word: 猫 (neko) - meaning "cat"
Image association: Imagine a necktie (sounds like "neko") transforming into a playful cat, walking on a desk.

Use common anchors to store information

Use everyday anchors for lists and information storage.

Create images of what you want to remember
place them in certain parts of either your body (feet to head)
or your car (front to back, etc.).
You can also do this for locations with strong anchors, such as corners of your bedroom.

Study more efficiently.

by looking at the overview of the content and
highlighting the parts you need to remember.
It's also a good idea to make

a vocabulary list for words that keep popping up
a keyword list of main ideas
a mindmap

Our minds have an incredible ability

to remember pictures and locations.
we can even create folders by combining pictures in certain locations.
use locations we know very well

such as our cars or body parts.

Example

suppose you want to remember a list of groceries
you can picture the items on the list

such as apples, milk, butter, and other groceries,

you’d like to put them in a folder so they won’t escape your memory
to do this

start by imagining a familiar place—your car
place each item on specific anchors of the car.
You can use a car’s front, back, passenger seat
and trunk while attaching the image of your grocery list.

Practice

Using the method described, here are some examples of how you can remember a list of shopping items by associating their names with car locations:

1. Apples - Imagine a giant apple tree growing on the hood of your car, with apples falling onto the windshield and rolling down the front of the car.
2. Milk - Visualize a river of milk flowing from the backseat of your car, filling up the entire back area, and spilling out of the windows.
3. Butter - Picture a massive stick of butter melting on the passenger seat, with the seat becoming slippery and shiny from the melted butter.
4. Bread - Envision slices of bread stacked up high in the trunk of your car, forming a bread tower that reaches the roof.
5. Eggs - Imagine a group of chickens sitting comfortably on the roof of your car, each one laying an egg that rolls down the windshield.
6. Cereal - Picture a cereal bowl the size of your car's steering wheel, filled with colorful cereal loops spinning around as you drive.
7. Orange juice - Visualize a massive orange squeezing itself over the car's roof, with the juice cascading down the windows and leaving a refreshing aroma.
8. Chicken - Picture a live chicken sitting on the passenger seat, wearing sunglasses and holding a drumstick in its wing.
9. Pasta - Imagine a spaghetti tornado swirling from the trunk, wrapping around the car, and forming a pasta canopy over the vehicle.
10. Salad - Envision a giant salad bowl balancing on the roof of your car, filled with fresh greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers, spilling salad dressing all over the car's body.

Remember to engage your senses, exaggerate the images, and add movement to make the associations more memorable and vivid.

“Remember you always need your long-term memory to assist your short-term memory.”

Key to remembering abstract information

use nouns that rhyme
suppose you want to remember the number sequence,
“one, two, three” - example
think of the nouns that rhyme with each number
“one,” it could be “bun,”
“shoe” for “two.”
three sounds like—a tree.

Using rhyming words and associations

to things that sound like a particular number
can help us remember the sequence more easily
you can still go a step further

by creating a story using these associations.
imagine someone stepping on a bun with their shoes
and as a result, a tree grew out of it.

By using your imagination, you can easily remember the odd visual and the numbers that seem abstract.

Use rhymes and associations to remember abstract information

Use rhymes to remember numbers.

If you want to remember the sequence of the numbers 1-10, for example, think of the words that rhyme with each number. Then, create a visual story depending on what numbers you want to remember.

Use associations to remember complicated information.

When learning something abstract, like a name, try breaking up the word into bits. For example, if you want to remember Washington, you can separate it into components associated with the word, such as wash and tin. Then imagine someone washing a tin bucket.

“There is no such thing as a good or bad memory for names. There is only a good or a bad strategy.”

Remember new people’s names

forgetting names is a common occurrence but it shouldn’t be understated.
To remember new people’s names

repeating a name right after someone introduces themselves
making the right associations

picking a vibrant facial feature cue or
associations with celebrity names.

Make an effort #1

-- Repeat the name

-- so you can grow a stronger memory connection

-- comment/compliment on the name
Make comparisons for names #2

-- comparisons or associations

-- if the name Jill sounds like hill

-- use comparisons of a name

-- you meet someone named George, think of George Clooney
Make a face connection #3

-- Everyone has distinct facial features

-- met a woman with striking blue eyes named Janice

-- Compare Janice = Chain + Ice

-- Associate = chain of ice coming out of her eyes or any other absurd imagery
Connect to location #4

-- we tend to remember the places where we meet new people more easily

-- link their names to the place we’ve met them

-- meet a person named Bob at a coffee shop that just got remodeled

-- associate his name with “Bob, the Builder.”
Review the name #5

-- take your time to review the names of the people you just met

-- Ask yourself, “What was their name again?”

-- Asking this solidifies your memory

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