Anthony Metivier's Blog, page 11

Visual Memory: What It Is & How to Improve It

Some people say that visual memory boils down to recalling what things look like. 

That’s part of the picture, sure. 

But if you really want to understand visual memory thoroughly, you need to dig deeper. 

And that’s exactly what we’re going to get into on this page. 

Visual memory ranges from the concrete to the incredibly abstract. It is essential for navigating the world and you can improve it. 

So if you’re ready to “see” what visual recall is really all about, let’s get started. 

What Is Visual Memory?

Visual memory is not merely the ability to recall what you see. This kind of “visual recall” may include:

ObjectsWordsPeopleActivities and eventsMental images that appear in your imaginationDreams

How do you use it? To take just a few examples, a healthy visual memory helps you:

Remember where you put your keys and other things you want to stop losingSpellingIncidents that you describe after the factCopying notes from textbooks and screens

Thus, visual memory is technically any kind of memory formed by information that enters your mind through a visual system. 

This foundational principle is where things get really interesting. For example, there are types of synesthesia where some individuals might experience sounds in highly visual ways.

And if you think about it, most of our experience in watching a movie is built not from what we see. The brain builds 70% of the experience (or more) from what we hear. 

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We often think of movies as a visual medium, but studies have shown that our brains build pictures largely from what we hear.

With that in mind, Steven J. Luck and Andrew Hollingworth define this term in their book Visual Memory like this:

“The memory must retain properties of the original perceptual states generated when the memory was encoded.” 

This definition of visual memorization means that you could feel something but if your brain translates it into a visual concept at any time, it will count as a visual memory. 

Let me give you an example:

In choreography, many people close their eyes to help them remember moves. Later, they will picture themselves or others going through these movements. There are granular details they can visually focus on in their imagination without ever having “seen” them. 

As Susanna Siegel points out in The Contents of Visual Experience, there are a number of ways information (content) enters our minds:

We have beliefs about what we see before it is seen (which can cause us to mistake what we’re seeing)What we see guides our physical actions in concrete ways (like when you open your hand to a particular size to accommodate a door handle)We introspect about what something might look like (as in the choreography example above)

You also have to think about situations where the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic branch has been stimulated – such as when your pupils dilate. Optical illusions often draw upon these automatic responses to trick our minds.

Some of these points might seem abstract, but everything comes down to one word: context. Keep context in mind when defining visual memory and you will enjoy greater accuracy when describing it.

How Does Visual Memory Work?

As we’ve just discovered, the context matters. 

For example, if we’re talking about memorizing the content of scenes or events, we need to take how our eyes move into account. 

As John Henderson demonstrates, eye movements are very important to understanding how we remember various scenes and events. These directly impact on how the brain makes a “composite” mental image of what we’ve experienced.

This means that visual memory is not really experienced or built. It is composed after the fact in collaboration with our working memory.

If we’re talking about short term memory as it relates to visual and spatial memory concerns (visuo-spatial), Mitchell R. Riley and Christos Constantinidis urge us to look at neurons in the prefrontal cortex. They conclude that focused attention is the main role the brain performs before visual memories can form.

According to Greg D. Reynolds and Alexandra C. Romano, the real place to get an understanding of visual memory is to look at early development. In an article called “The Development of Attention Systems and Working Memory in Infancy,” they show that eye fixation is involuntary. 

This means that something in our brains drives us to look at things and fix on them until our “posterior orienting system” develops voluntary abilities. In other words, our visual memory trains us to “remember” how to control our eyes by controlling them for us!

How is visual memory tested? 

Typically, you’ll see scientists using the Arthur Benton Visual Retention Test.

But here’s an important learning tip:

If you’re looking for visual memory examples, it’s useful to look at each stage of life, rather than a blanket approach. How visual memory works when you’re an infant is very different from when you’re age one or ninety one. 

How to Improve Visual Memory: 13 Visual Memory Exercises and Activities

Now we come to the question of improving visual memory.

Yes, you can.

Keep context in mind as you go through these twelve approaches, however. Your exact definition of visual memory in a specific context matters if you want to reach your goal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht7Kj...

Exercise One: Describe Objects Without Using Certain Words

Can you tell me what color an orange is without using the word “orange”? 

This is an incredible visual memory exercise and perhaps the most challenging. 

For more challenges, try to describe these objects without referring to them by name:

TruckMapPencilElfExercise Two: Use Number Rhymes

Have you ever heard of this memory technique for memorizing lists?

If you had to memorize the word orange as the first listed word, you could associate it with a gun. 

That’s because one rhymes with “gun.” You would imagine the gun shooting the orange and the resultant explosion. 

If you had to memorize “map” as the second word, you could have it rolled up and inserted into a shoe. Shoe is the image for two because the two words rhyme. 

Come up with your rhymes or learn this pegword method and then memorize ten items in order by causing your rhymed words to interact with the list. 

Exercise Three: Visualize Acronyms In Space

You know what “FBI” stands for, right?

But have you ever tried visualizing the letters floating over your head? 

Here’s a robust list of acronyms to work with, along with a few more related visualization exercises.

Exercise Four: Recall An Entire Day

When you’re lying in bed tonight, try to recall as much as you can of the day. Make sure you see what’s happening from the minute you wake up and sustain continuous recall as long as you can.

If you have aphantasia and can’t see images in your mind, focus on other representations. You can also try my hyperphantasia guided meditation.

Exercise Five: Recall Your Dreams

Keeping a dream journal is a powerful way to exercise your visual memory. 

For many years now, I’ve hardly skipped a morning without remembering my dreams. You can learn more about how to remember dreams if you’d like an established procedure to follow. 

Exercise Six: Visual Meditation

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There are many ways to meditate. Many will improve your visual memory in a general way.

But did you know there are 9 powerful visual meditation exercises you can complete? Try them all!

The trick with visual meditation is to pick interesting and engaging material to work with.

And you can increase the challenge over time.

For example, start with a simple candle flame. Bring an imaginary flame to mind and animate it.

Then meditate while thinking about a memorized poem or song lyrics. Try to see the lyrics coming out with correct spelling as your favorite singer performs the song.

Can you tell just how much more challenging this second exercise will be? It’s this additional level of challenge that makes it so powerful for your growth.

Exercise Seven: Scan Pictures

Get out a magazine and look for the main details on your first pass. Name them out loud. 

Then, take a second pass. Look for things that you missed the first time around, including shadows. 

Consider visual aspects like the height and width of objects. Also mentally measure the distances between things in the image. 

Finally, try to figure out the vanishing point and the negative space. These are skills that artists develop, and they are good for your visual memory. It also counts as a powerful cognitive activity that is especially good for adults. 

Exercise Eight: Verbalize Pictures

A simple way to improve your visual memory is to talk about what you see when looking at art. 

Take this medieval art, for example:

It’s challenging to describe, isn’t it? 

That’s why giving it a go will help your visual memory grow. 

As you describe what you see, work in different directions. For example, you can start with the birds at the top and work your way down. 

Then, on your second pass, you can start with the man on the left and move to the right (or vice versa). 

As you proceed, monitor yourself. Try to make sure that you’re using unique words as much as possible. 

Instead of always saying “man,” add some variety with words like “monk,” “penitent,” etc. 

Exercise Nine: Draw A Story From A Book

Stephen King says in On Writing that readers rarely imagine characters as he visually describes them. That’s why there aren’t a lot of details about clothing and the like. 

One excellent way to exercise a number of visual memory aspects is to draw what you imagine with your own hands. 

If you struggle to visualize characters at all, you can start with ones that you have seen. For example, here’s a drawing of Bender from Futurama I did to create a mnemonic device for myself.

You don’t have to be an artist to benefit from the visual memory exercise of drawing characters you know from books, movies or TV programs.

Exercise Ten: Draw A Story From Your Life

We all have many interesting experiences. 

But few of us take time to visualize them in a meaningful way. 

One theme I’ve noticed in my life is the ongoing lack of a stable, permanent home.

When I completed this visual memory exercise, I expressed the pain by using fire.

Then, I colored a stylized letter “I” in a cooling color. Finally, I added an acronym-poem to help feel okay about this lack of stability in my life.

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Of all the visual memory strategies I know, this has been the most rewarding. It also plugs deeply into sensory memory and gives it a good exercise.

If you like this kind of activity, also consider giving mind mapping a try.

Exercise Eleven: Teach Something

This approach can take a bit of patience, but it works for a clear and obvious reason.

When you teach someone else a skill, you access at least two parts of your visual mind:

Your mental image of how you do itA new mental image of how the learner sees an alien task

As a bonus variation, try to remember learning to tie your own shoes. You might have a memory of someone explaining it to you as well. 

Moving between first and third person points of view on a teaching and learning experience is a great way to stretch your visual skills. 

Exercise Twelve: Study Resemblances And Patterns

Do owners really look like their pets?

I don’t know, but the more interesting point is to work out why your brain thinks so.

Study the picture above. Can you spot the exact characteristics that make you think that there’s a relationship between these two? 

Write out your answer to verbalize what you’re seeing. Feel free to get your hand out and trace certain features, or even draw them out. 

You’ll learn a lot in the process. 

Exercise Thirteen: Use A Memory Palace

One of the most effective visual memory exercises involves the Memory Palace technique.

It’s a fun way to take locations you see with your own eyes everyday and turn them into a tool that helps you remember things better. 

To get started, you’ll want to draw your first Memory Palace and then select a few things you want to remember – like words from a language you’ve always wanted to learn.

Then, you mentally navigate your way through the rooms you’ve selected, literally using your mind’s eye to help you “see” a journey.

I can’t think of a better workout for the visual aspects of your memory than this ancient technique. To learn more about how it can help you exercise your brain and help you remember anything, enrol here:

Short Term Visual Memory Vs. Holistic Hyperphantasia

Over the years, thousands of people have told me that they want to improve their short term memory.

Although that’s fine, really what we all need to be focused on is holistic memory improvement that includes visual improvements. 

For that, you might benefit from developing hyperphantasia (the opposite of aphantasia). Here’s a guided meditation for that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAz3_...

By extending your practice into the multi sensory aspects of your brain, you’ve got a much better chance of eliminating any visual memory deficits currently holding you back.

And now you have a ton of exercises you can run through to experience rapid improvement.

So what do you say? 

Which exercise are you going to add to your memory workout first?

What Is Intrapersonal Intelligence? (And How to Improve Yours)

Intrapersonal intelligence is one of the most powerful psychological assets you can develop.

Why?

Because it’s the key to studying independently.

This is because intrapersonal intelligence allows you to imagine what other people think and the thought processes they use to accomplish their goals.

In other words, if you want to succeed like Einstein, you need to be able to create a mental image like he did.

Fortunately, this is easier to do than most people think.

And as you’ll discover, intrapersonal intelligence can not only be developed readily by anyone.

It is the key to improving how you learn a wide variety of topics, from math to languages, philosophy to acquiring new skills.

Ready to improve this aspect of your intelligence?

Let’s dive in!

What is Intrapersonal Intelligence?

“Intrapersonal” literally means within a person. It is a form of insight typically arrived at through reflective thinking.

Another way of thinking about it involves realizing that you are not one fixed personality. Rather, your personality is built from multiple parts.

Sometimes these parts compete with one another. For example, research has shown that young people choosing vocations might not yet have enough insight about the different parts of their personalities to make solid career decisions.

Yet, when these students are given insight into the theory of multiple intelligences, they feel less confused and more confident in the choices they make, even at a younger age.

As another study puts it:

“Intrapersonal intelligence is the ability to understand oneself and act on that understanding which includes awareness of moods, intentions, motivations, temperaments, desires, self-discipline and self-respecting abilities.”

In other words, it’s not just about understanding the different parts of your psychological experience. It’s about using that insight to act in particular ways to produce positive outcomes.

Origins and Research

Much of the research into intrapersonal intelligence stems from Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.

Although many people have criticized Gardner’s approach, it has led to many positive changes to education. In particular, many teachers now know how to help young people cultivate metacognitive thinking skills.

Helping students improve their intrapersonal intelligence has even been shown to improve math scores. They experience better outcomes because of their increased analytical thinking abilities as such.

Similar research has shown improvements in other skills, such as artistic ability and the medical sciences. Indeed, as we learned from Dr. David Reser on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, medical students who learned memory techniques as a group by tapping into aspects of their personalities that often go unexercised.

Intrapersonal Intelligence Examples

To sum up, intrapersonal involves finding the different aspects of your personality and then utilizing them as resources.

Many incredible example are available, so let’s get started with some of the most impactful.

One: Image Streaming

Einstein wasn’t just smart. He was imaginative.

And he took every opportunity to visualize the problems in physics he was trying to solve.

One technique he used was image streaming.

Not only does the technique (as I teach it), walk you through multiple aspects of your personality. It helps you experience the fullest range of sensory visualization modalities. Once you start experiencing these different resources within yourself, you’ll be able to take action on them.

Not only that, but if you’ve ever worried that your intelligence is fixed, image streaming helps prove that it isn’t.

Two: Masterminding

Although it would be a stretch to call Napoleon Hill scientific, many accomplished people have used a technique he called “masterminding” in his book, Think and Grow Rich.

In brief, you call up people you’ve read about (like Einstein) and ask them to help you solve various problems.

It sounds ridiculous on its face. But in a letter to Lucy Donnelly, the highly influential philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote:

“And another thing I greatly value is the kind of communion with past and future discoverers. I often have imaginary conversations with Leibniz, in which I tell him how fruitful his ideas have proved, and how much more beautiful the result is than he could have foreseen; and in moments of self-confidence, I imagine students hereafter having similar thoughts about me. There is a ‘communion of philosophers’…”

I often hold conversations with philosophers myself and it is a tremendous tool for solving problems.

Rest assured, I have no belief that I’m actually talking to my favorite philosophers. But provided I know their writing well, it’s a perfectly reasonable way of accessing my intrapersonal intelligence and taking action on what comes out. It’s also another reason why philosophy is so important.

Three: Battling Monkey Mind

Many people struggle with thoughts gone wild.

But recent psychological therapies like Internal Family Systems therapy have been helping people tap into their intrapersonal intelligence to deal with psychological problems. In No Bad Parts, Dr. Richard Schwartz helps people identify and tap into their many “sub-minds.”

This approach has even shown positive outcomes for certain kinds of chronic pain.

Likewise, I have worked with a metacognitive and memory-based meditation technique that helps you experience the multiple parts of the mind.

As I shared in my TEDx Talk, this approach works by using questions that help you identify the different parts of your mind and then neutralize them.

Four: Bringing Science to Your Intuitions

Has anyone ever told you to “follow your gut”? So you did, and yet you still wound up failing badly?

Chip and Dan Heath explain why our intuitions often fail in their book Decisive.

It’s not that you shouldn’t rely on your intuitions forevermore, but rather, they should be tested. They suggest using their W.R.A.P. technique, which essentially draws upon different aspects of your personality:

Widen your options (patience and due diligence)Reality test (analytical thinking)Attain distance (giving yourself space for reflection)Prepare to fail (maturity and discernment)

They also recommend talking with experts as much as possible, something that builds your own inner expertise as you learn new skills.

Another tool you can use is taught in The Wise Advocate. One of my favorite exercises from the book has you asking yourself if you feel limited or expansive when faced with a decision.

By consulting those feelings within yourself, you’ll be sure to make better decisions because you’re using structure to test them. That’s not only what scientific living is all about. It’s also a reliable way to improve your IQ.

Five: Mental Strength

Often called “resilience,” this intrapersonal strategy involves finding inner resources to help you overcome obstacles.

But at an even higher level, you want to set the stage so that you don’t have to call upon resilience in the first place.

To help yourself with that, give my mental strength exercises a try.

6 Intrapersonal Intelligence Activities That Can Increase Your Skills

Now that we’ve seen some examples of how intrapersonal intelligence plays out, let’s dive into some activities.

Please don’t feel that you have to try them all. Pick the ones that make most sense to you.

Journal About Your “Selves”

Using a journal is an excellent means of self-expression. But we often lock it into the myth of our identity as some kind of unified whole.

For the purpose of this exercise, explore different aspects of your many selves.

To give you a personal example, I’m responsible for a ton of different activities related to the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

As a strategy for maximizing my time as a solopreneur, I keep multiple journals. One is for my “Inner CEO.” Others are for my content creator, my marketer and my researcher.

By journaling for each of these aspects of my personality, I’m able to nurture them all and keep this project growing without burning out.

Use Memory-Based Meditation

There are many kinds of meditation. For example, here’s a number of concentration meditation techniques to explore.

But by memory-based meditation, I mean more specifically learning and reciting specific material from memory.

The material I have found most successful comes from the work of Gary Weber in books like Happiness Beyond Thought and Evolving Beyond Thought.

I’ve summarized the material and teach you how to memorize it in a book called The Victorious Mind.

Read Multiple Biographies

Once while being interviewed, I told the host that my hardest lesson in life has been remembering that other people do not think the same way I do.

As soon as I heard myself say it, I realized that I needed to read more biographies and autobiographies. I was literally starved for perspective!

So what’s the trick?

Compare and contrast your way of thinking with the thought processes of the people you’re reading – as many other people as possible. And pay extra-special attention to their problem-solving models.

Practice Taking Action On Discoveries

As you now know, the definition of intrapersonal intelligence is not just insight about your inner workings. It’s about taking action on those insights.

How?

Try this simple exercise:

When you observe an aspect of your personality, create a vision statement around it.

If you follow the specific guidelines I give for crafting such a statement, you’ll thoroughly vet the actions you want to take. They’ll be focused towards positive outcomes that will reveal even more about your many inner resources.

Write Fiction

Even if you have no plans to storm the world with bestselling novels, taking some time to write simple stories will help you explore different aspects of your own personality.

When you make up characters or base them on people you know, you’ll be exercising that inner reflection so central to this psychological skill.

Plus, because writing is action, you’ll have the full definition covered as you flex your imagination and take action by writing.

Learn a Language

Without a doubt, language learning is about talking with others.

But it creates great internal exercise as you explore different aspects of language as it flows through your mind.

It also gives you the opportunity to use a Memory Palace. This learning strategy involves using multiple people and locations in combination to help you absorb vocabulary and phrases faster.

As you do, you’ll utilize and improve multiple levels of your personality.

Improve Your Intrapersonal Intelligence

As you can tell, all it really takes to boost this aspect of your life is a bit of self-reflection and consistent action.

You now have a bunch of activities to explore and scientific studies to read.

And if you’d like the ultimate learning experience that will help you remember everything you encountered today, consider signing up for my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

It comes with four videos and a number of worksheets you can fill out as you improve your memory.

The more you explore your memory, the more you’ll exercise your intrapersonal intelligence.

After all, what are we other than the quality of our memory abilities? And where else is our intelligence stored?

So what do you say?

Are you feeling equipped with knowledge about intrapersonal intelligence and how to improve it?

Just shout out if you have any thoughts or questions. I appreciate you visiting the site today and hope to hear about your experiences with this form of personal development soon!

 

How to Remember a Story Using a Memory Palace

If you want to remember a story, the process is actually pretty simple.

You can be as detailed as you like, or just recite the general gist of a tale.

And by the end of this lesson, you’ll be able to entertain people at parties or include stories in your speeches and presentations.

Or maybe you want to better convince your friends to read stories and watch the movies you love. That will be much easier for you to do as well.

If you want to become a better writer, nothing will help you more than knowing stories inside and out.

Even better than that, on this page, I’m also going to show you how to memorize the ins-and-outs of plot.

Who am I to teach you about remembering stories?

Well, in addition to having told a story at a TEDx event that now has nearly 2.5 million views, I spent nearly a decade as a Film Studies professor.

I also spent a few years working as a story consultant on movies that actually got made. And I’ve written two well-received books about screenwriting.

Indeed, I got my story consulting gigs partly because of the books I’ve written on screenwriting. I even have a writing credit on my IMDB profile.

Anthony Metivier on the set of Bailout with Eddie Furlong, Dominic Purcell and Uwe Boll

Although I certainly don’t know everything under the sun, I’ve proven that I can write and help craft successful stories. I’ve memorized detailed stories and delivered them before the masses.

And if you’re ready to remember any story, I’m confident my tips will help you out

So let’s get started!

What is a Story Anyway?

One of the most interesting aspects involved in memorizing stories, is that you soon discover every narrative is composed of many different kinds of information.

Just about every story will involve:

Names, places, locationsDescriptionsSpecial terms (sometimes foreign vocabulary)Quotes and epigraphsActionsDialogueNumbersThemesPlotCharacterizationDetails about the author, publishing history, audience reception

The more you divide these types of information in your mind, the more you’ll be able to approach the story as a whole with dexterity.

With these different types of story information in mind, let’s look at the process step-by-step.

How to Remember A Story in 7 Easy Steps

As you go through these steps, keep in mind that you don’t have to master each and every one the first time you commit a story to memory.

The more you allow yourself to grow with the story memorizing process, the more success you’ll have.

That said, it’s important to focus on these fundamentals. We don’t want to put the cart ahead of the horse and wind up frustrated. That’s why I’ve done my best to arrange the steps in order of priority, keeping beginners with no prior experience with remembering stories in mind.

Step One: Decide on the Exact Goal

Before you start committing any of the story to memory, think about your exact goal.

Are you:

Delivering the story as part of a memorized speech?Committing scripture to memory?Memorizing stories to prepare for any type of exam?Required to recite the story verbatim?Or are you allowed to work from bullet points?

I ask these questions because when I gave my TEDx Talk, I memorized the entire story word for word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvtYj...

 

But when I was a film professor and summarized stories as part of my lectures, I usually memorized just the bullet point version of those stories. Because I know all of the plot points by memory, I often didn’t even need to do that. (We’ll talk more about the plot points method in a moment.)

When I memorize scripture, I sometimes include the verse number, which involves knowing a technique called the Major System or 00-99 PAO.

Step Two: Get Familiar with the Story

This probably goes without saying, but you’ll want to read the story in its entirety first, or watch the movie in full.

And I would suggest you go a few steps further.

In addition to going through the material thoroughly, read about the story.

One thing I used to do as a Film Studies professor was to read the screenplay before watching a movie. Then I’d watch the movie and read as many reviews and critical interpretations as I could find. If I had time, I’d watch the movie at least one more time before writing my lecture.

In the case of short stories or novels, there is no screenplay. However, you can follow-up by reading articles, interviews with the author and reviews on bookseller pages and book reviews.

All of these efforts will help build a larger web of associations in your mind that make the actual memorization a lot easier. It also makes everything a lot more fun because you’re making yourself an expert about the story itself.

Do this enough times, and you’ll come to think about the place of the stories you remember in the context of history, philosophy and the culture at large, all of which is very rewarding.

Step Three: Create a Primary and Secondary Memory Palace

When you really want to know a story well, I suggest you have at least two Memory Palaces instead of just one.

What’s a Memory Palace?

It’s a simple mnemonic device that allows you to create mental versions of locations. Typically, you would base them on homes, offices, schools and any location you’re familiar with and can easily organize into a simple journey.

Why two Memory Palaces?

I’ve found it very helpful to have all the names of the characters and location names in one Memory Palace, and the major plot points in another.

This approach is useful even if you’re memorizing the story verbatim. It helps you get some of the harder elements out of the way first. And knowing character names also serves as a kind of time signature. It’s easier to remember parts of the plot because you’ll remember the names of the characters and place names with knowledge of the order in which they come up.

If you like, you can extract the character names while you’re reading by using the technique I teach in how to memorize a textbook.

Step Four: Memorize Word for Word

To memorize verbatim is a simple affair.

You just need to create associative images for the words and lay those associations out along your Memory Palace journey.

Now, if you’re new to the practice, you might need more images than a more experienced memorizer. For example, there are tons of operator words, like “to,” “it,” “he,” etc.

For these words, it’s no more or less difficult to come up with images than it is for more complex words. Basically, everything comes down to your level of skill with the techniques and completing the exercises in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

Often, you can get away without having an image for such words. When I memorized the story I told in my TEDx Talk, I managed to relate it word-for-word by just encoding the keywords. Because I know English, most of the smaller words fell logically into place. And if they were slightly different here and there, it did not change the theme or message of the story I told.

The final part of this step is to segment the memorization. Rather than expect to memorize the entire thing in one go, break it down. I like to memorize for 5-10 minutes, then take a break.

This might seem slow to you, but in the end, it’s actually faster. You’ll make fewer encoding errors and spend a lot more time with your full mental powers charged. If you plow on while drained, you’ll wind up spending too much time correcting issues that didn’t need to be there in the first place.

Step Five: Robust Rehearsal

Once you have any amount of material memorized, it’s important to start reviewing it.

For this, I use a process called Recall Rehearsal. It taps into the memory science of active recall.

To make the process as effective and efficient as possible, I follow these steps:

Find a quiet place where I won’t be disturbedHave pen and paper readyWrite out the memorized narrative material in forward orderCheck the accuracyUse the memory techniques to correct any unacceptable errors

But when I really want to present at my best and feel “bulletproof” on the stage, I go further.

I write out the speech in reverse order and out of order.

For example, the odd numbered sentences are typically on the odd-numbered stations in the Memory Palace I use. That means I can write the entire speech forwards with only the odd numbered sentences forward.

Then I write the even numbered sentences on the second pass, but this time in reverse order.

Why do this?

The answer is simple: It gives each sentence extra doses of primacy effect and recency effect.

Not everyone has to go to this extent. But I always do it when I want to speed up the memorization process and feel extra-familiar with each and every word I’m delivering on the stage.

Step Six: Practice Your Delivery

Although writing out the story from memory is a form of practice, it’s important to practice verbally delivering your story as often as you can.

Thomas Kraft suggested that I walk while reciting the talk. Since I could take my walks in the Memory Palace I used for my TEDx Talk, I did exactly that.

Since I walk relatively quickly, I slowed down so I could pace the talk with my progress along the Memory Palace path.

I also recorded myself delivering the talk so I could watch for opportunities to improve the delivery.

Step Seven: Memorize and Recite More Stories

Mastery won’t come from memorizing just one story. You’ll want to carry on and remember many more.

It’s also advisable to remember several kinds of stories:

Short anecdotesJokesNarrative poetryParables

The more variety you work with, the more your skills will grow.

How to Remember Plot Points

Again, the Memory Palace will be your go-to technique for this.

I would string out the following narrative elements along a journey, perhaps using the story method.

The major plot points in most stories are:

Character is haunted by a ghost from the pastThe world is in some kind of flux or changeCharacter has a driving ambition that is in conflict with an unconscious needCharacter encounters a problem that must be solvedThere is a period of delay as the character resists the dilemma or thinks through multiple avenues of actionA crisis forces the character to take action (usually the least desirable option)Along the way to solving the problem the character either:Gathers allies that helpUndergoes a training sequenceDuring the battle, the character experiences a self-revelation that resolves the ghost and the conflict between the driving ambition and the unconscious needFollowing the problem-resolution, the world of flux resolves to a stable state

Note that not all of these plot points necessarily unfold in the same order in every story. And not every story has all of them.

But if you commit this general structure to memory, they will start leaping out at you as you read stories and watch movies.

And this knowledge of story architecture itself will help you remember stories much better.

Remembering Stories Is Easy

So, what do you say?

Are you ready to commit your first story to memory?

How will you do it?

Verbatim or just based on the general plot?

I suggest you spend some part of your life mastering both. It’s tremendously rewarding.

And if you’d like more context with respect to lines of dialog, check out my article on how to memorize lines next.

Linear Thinking: What It Is and How It Can Help You

Have you been told that you’re a linear thinker?

You might have received it as a compliment or a criticism.

Either way, people use the term in so many different ways, it can be hard to figure out what exactly linear thinking is supposed to be.

Well, if you want to become a better thinker, you’re in the right place.

We’re about to think linearly about linear thinking together.

And we’re going to think about it in some alinear ways too.

The best part?

By the time you finish reading this page, you’ll be equipped to think in a variety of ways, in any direction you wish.

Perhaps even in an “impossible” direction that follows no line at all because it is completely free from having a point of view.

Intrigued?

Let’s get started!

What is Linear Thinking?

Before defining linear thinking, let’s take a step back. Ideally in a “straight” line.

When trying to define any kind of thinking, we’re assuming that there are multiple kinds of thinking or thinking styles.

This means that we have to sort out the relationships between these thinking styles. But more importantly, we have to think about who is creating their definitions.

Linear Thinking in Entrepreneurialism

Researchers Charles Vance, Kevin Groves and Herb Kindler devised the LNTSP or Linear-Nonlinear Thinking Style Profile.

Their assumption is that linear thinking is characterized by logical and analytical thinking. Nonlinear thinking, they claim, is defined by intuition, insight and creativity.

In a follow-up study, they proposed that entrepreneurs would think more linearly than actors. As a subset of this, they predicted that entrepreneurs would also think more linearly than accountants and managers.

Is it really true that thinking styles exist? And what did they find out?

The answer is complicated because entrepreneurs are often visionary in nature. They respond in off-the-wall ways to unseen market demands only they can perceive.

Creativity Can Be Linear

The notion of “creativity” when it comes to acting is also problematic.

For one thing, there are many different kinds of actors. Method actors, for example, might need to be incredibly logical in order to play the role of a certain character, but use creativity and intuition in order to create the illusion that they are such a person. In other words, actors often “reverse engineer” characters they did not create and base them on studies of people who actually exist. This approach often involves just as much mathematical precision as it does going with gut instinct. Even a highly responsive comic like Robin Williams knows the structural rules that govern how a joke works.

Thus, Vance et al’s study ends with the call for more research, noting that educational background experiences might hold the ultimate key to why some people wind up thinking in the ways that they do.

If we were to think in a “straight line” about these findings, we would want to note that these researchers are using their own definition of linear thinking. And they’re using their tool for testing their hypothesis. I’d humbly suggest that the entire study is suspect at best, a case of inventing solutions for invented problems without carefully demonstrating that thinking styles exist in the first place.

Linear Thinking In Philosophy

Now, I’m not saying that thinking styles don’t exist. But as Tesia Marshik has shown in her TEDx Talk and other research about learning styles, such notions are complicated.

When it comes to linear thinking in philosophy, Patrick Finn sees linear thinking as a negative aspect of critical thinking. In Critical Condition, he indicts “regulated systems of education” as using “a muscular, linear form of thought” to “control information and training citizens to think in a particular way.”

He sees this as a problem in politics, science and especially education. As he points out, universities are no longer related to the meaning of the word:

Universitas: the whole. The word for university came from this Latin root. To be educated at the university was to engage with the whole – the whole being, the whole body of knowledge, and the whole of society.

Although I don’t disagree with Finn’s discussion of the meaning of this word, it’s not clear to me that knowledge is a “body.” But if it is, it probably doesn’t have any straight lines, and his point is taken.

The notion of knowledge as being rounded, rather than straight, is a point made by Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus and other co-author works. They think of knowledge, not as a top-down structure, or a tree as Renaissance scholars like Petrus Ramus described it.

Linear Thinking As Escape or Destination?

Rather, Deleuze and Guattari think of knowledge as rhizomatic, a lattice-like structure that travels in multiple directions at the same time. In another book called What is Philosophy?, they claim that “to think is always to follow the witch’s flight.”

I’m not sure, but I think they are referring to the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz, who sometimes chases after Dorothy in a straight line. But other times, she flees in frustration from Dorothy, as if trying to escape.

This means that thinking is not always directed at arriving somewhere. Sometimes we do it just to flee the present conditions, commonly known as escapism.

The witch also disappears in a puff of smoke after she’s killed. Perhaps Deleuze and Guattari are referring to their notion of deterritorialization as the thoughts of an individual ultimately disappear after they die.

Or they might be thinking about philosophy’s ability to neutralize unwanted thoughts, which was the subject of my TEDx Talk. In it, I discuss the highly linear use of good thoughts to remove unhealthy and unpleasant thought patterns – as if they were disappearing into a puff of smoke.

Linear Thinking And Time

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote a lot about what he called the Eternal Recurrence of the Same. He challenges us to think about how we would live today as perfectly as possible so that we could make full use of it should a “curse” cause it to repeat again and again. In other words, he’s anticipating the movie Groundhog Day by over 100 years. 

But his concept is a bit more complex than that. As Heidegger explores this idea in his second commentary on Nietzsche, Heidegger suggests that all of the past appears in the present.

In other words, all thinking is both linear and alinear. If time is traveling in a straight line, then all thought unfolds as having a beginning, middle and end. Yet, if the entirety of the past is contained in each present moment, then any thought you have in the present moment has perhaps transcended any and all notions of the straight line as we understand it.

Linear Thinking In Art

Art is either representative or abstract. Representative art is often called pictorial, but art that seeks to explore the representation of representation itself is often called an example of linear thinking.

That said, M. C. Escher often used linear thinking in pictorial ways. He frequently drew upon the impossible cube as a reference in many of the rooms he created featuring people navigating impossible staircases, or waterfalls that fed themselves after flowing upwards.

Linear Thinking in the Movies

Many movies start at the beginning and conclude at the end. Or at least, movies typically start when a character encounters a problem they need to solve and then end when the solution is found.

But not all movies work this way. There’s a great western called The Searchers. Like a Greek tragedy, it begins in medias res, or in the middle of things. A lot of subtle clues in the dialog and how the character Ethan dresses fill you in on what his past was like. You need to think in a nonlinear way to properly understand the complexity of his motivations.

David Lynch makes movies that mess with time in very intense ways. Both Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive employ a fugue narrative, or what is sometimes called a Möbius strip applied to a story.

It’s difficult to explain, but if you read the plot of Lost Highway, you’ll get a sense for how two things are happening at the same time. But you can only really think it through when you see the movie for the second time.

More recently, Christopher Nolan has made films that employ similar nonlinear plot devices, such as Inception and Tenet. In fact, Nolan’s The Prestige is adopted from a Christopher Priest novel. Priest has been playing with such nonlinear narrative structures since at least writing his novel The Affirmation.

All of these movie and novel examples give you the opportunity to experience nonlinear thinking, noting that it all takes place or unfolds in linear time in your mind. David Lynch uses words like “melt” to describe the effect he’s trying to create, as in story, time and your mind fusing into something else as you experience recursion.

By “recursion” I mean the term in the sense of programming where you define a problem in terms of itself, usually a simpler version of the problem. Storytellers using this kind of narrative form ultimately construct an experience of consciousness itself by creating a simpler version of what we imagine consciousness to be in story form.

An excellent book that will help you understand this aspect of self-referential thinking further is Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel Escher Bach.

Linear Thinking in Magic

In a book called The Illusionist Brain, Jordi Cami and Luis M. Martinez detail how magicians take advantage of how people think.

Magicians are incredibly linear thinkers, even if they appear quite creative. This only highlights the problem of trying to divide linear and nonlinear thinking.

Magic is an example where logical and linear thinking is used to establish astonishing feats of creativity.

There are many books in the world of magic that demonstrate just how logical and linear true creative thinking needs to be. A few quick suggestions include:

Designing Miracles by Darwin OrtizShattering Illusions by Jamie Ian Swiss

In sum, magicians often describe an illusion they want to create and then call it a “problem” they need to solve. There are often many possible solutions, and magicians use linear thinking to find the best possible strategies for creating the illusions, both as individuals and as communities.

The community aspect is part of what can make their linear thinking seem alinear. Different magicians sometimes arrive at various solutions independently and only work out later how to attribute “credit” for the solution to an illusion. This process sometimes creates controversy in the magic community, but they typically use logical reasoning to sort things out charitably in the end.

Understanding the Linear Thought Process

With all these definitions in mind, let’s look at linear reasoning as a process.

Typically, we use reasoning to solve problems. One of the best ways to start is by gathering as many possible solutions as possible.

This stage of the process is called divergent thinking. You’re literally focusing on quantity over quality.

During the convergent thinking process, you filter those ideas, combine and refine them.

Linear Thought Process Example

I do this week after week on my blog, podcast and YouTube channel using mind mapping.

Mind mapping using linear and nonlinear thinking at the same time in order to help create multimedia content.

Using the topic as a central keyword, I move outward in clockwise formation. Each tributary is an idea that helps explain the central concept.

Once a set of divergent ideas have been collected, I let them sit for a while. And I often come back and add a few more ideas, stimulated by having the mind map in my environment.

Then, I converge the ideas into a linear outline. Finally, I write the article and record the audio visual component.

Ultimately, this is a linear thinking example even though it contains some alinear elements. Using a circle instead of top-down structure in the beginning makes it easy to incorporate arrows that show connections at a glance. If it were created in a document, it would wind up “locking” material onto individual pages.

Either way, the process unfolds over time and is much more linear as a result. And even if people consume my content “out of order,” they still take in the snippets according to the flow of time.

Linear Analysis

Of course, creating diverging ideas and synthesizing them through convergence is not enough.

Once you’ve arrived at the final product, you need to put it out there and analyze the response.

Depending on your field, there may be just a few diagnostic tools you use. Or you might need to combine dozens in order to get a picture of what the data is telling you.

When it comes to a mental performance activity like memory training, the metrics for analysis are usually quite simple. You have very few gray areas because you’ve either remembered something or you haven’t. 

But you can test how much of a Memory Palace worked vs. how much gave you issues. And you can look at how many of the Magnetic Modes you used and chart out a path for improvement by making sure you also include more.

In the case of the mind mapping I use before creating content on this blog, I analyze multiple metrics, including:

How many people visit the contentHow long they interact with itHave they interacted with other content before and what kindsWhat part of the world they’re fromWhat time of day they visitedDid they leave comments or notDid they share or not

Because I have thousands of multimedia articles I’ve produced over the years and they are all live and online at the same time, the data pool is intense.

To help think through everything as thoroughly as possible, my team and I visualize the data by transforming the raw numbers into charts and graphs.

A linear reasoning example using a graph to help make decisions about content creation.

Using linear reasoning, it’s useful to think about what kinds of content to create more of and what to deemphasize.

Although this kind of data science sometimes leads to brutal decision making that temporarily feels like it’s squashing your creativity, that’s not really the case. True creativity comes back to solving problems like a magician in order to achieve your goals.

Expect in this case, there are no illusions and the success is real.

Linear Thinking vs. Nonlinear Thinking

As we’ve seen, some scientists approach the definition of these two kinds of thinking quite simply. They divide logic and rationality from creativity and intuition.

But as I’ve shown, there are many creative arts that involve strict linearity in order to create innovations.

Ultimately, I’m not convinced that “nonlinear” thinking exists, if only because the stuff of thought unfolds in time. We not only think forwards, but also consume and interpret information following time’s arrow.

Plus, just because we might be consciously aware of having followed our intuitions, this does not mean that the unconscious mind that gives birth to intuition isn’t linear.

Although controversial, this was the great contribution of psychoanalysis, which boils down to the idea that a hidden part of our mind makes calculations on our behalf. One thinker, Jacques Lacan, argued that the unconscious is in fact structured like a language.

Symbolic Thinking

Instead of approaching it as the difference between linear and nonlinear thinking, he thought it was more a matter of deep structures and surface structures – but not quite.

Imagine that you have three different kinds of minds at the same time. One is tracking the real world, one is creating the world as it needs to be in order to avoid overwhelm, and the third is constantly tapping into a mind that symbolizes the entire species.

Lacan called these three kinds of simultaneous thinking:

SymbolicRealImaginary

Many cultures, philosophies, and thinkers have presented similar ways of describing thinking.

What makes Lacan’s interesting is how he discussed the impossibility of speaking the truth for human beings. We cannot represent the real in human language because, as he put it, there are simply too many words. We always have to choose a certain set of words at the expense of not using others.

Let’s face it:

Reality is not made of words, or at least it doesn’t seem to be. And no one has time to speak or listen to an attempt at arriving at the truth through words. It would take too long and there are too many potential words a person could use.

Yet, the brain uses imagination to help us approximate the experience of truth at a metaphorical level.

And the symbolic thinking level, sometimes called the “Big Other,” is a mental representation of the human species at large. If it exists, this “Big Other” helps us behave properly, according to this theory, because it creates the sense it monitors our every move. It helps us feel guilty when we transgress social codes and encourages us to follow the moral compass our cultural upbringing has helped us imagine.

In this way, we can say that there is a lot of nonlinear thinking going on, insofar as Lacan and similar thinkers are correct. Jung’s collective unconscious is another, similar model from the 20th century, and you can look to schools like Zen and Advaita Vedanta for earlier examples from different parts of the world. They all share the linguistic character of Lacan’s approach.

Paraconsistencies

Another example of nonlinear thinking comes from the world of Dialetheism, a branch of logic. This term descends from the ancient Greek word for truth, and “di” means “two.”

In other words, we’re talking about two seemingly contradictory things being true at the same time without contradiction. A simple example is trying to quit caffeine for health reasons. You can both want and not want caffeine at the same time. Both states are true without any contradiction.

Where nonlinear thinking comes in is how you’re going to find strategies for one of those truths to win. If you want to avoid drinking coffee, for example, you have to think ahead of yourself to build strategies that prevent you from letting one truth out-truth the other.

Now let’s circle back to where we started:

It’s perfectly possible for linear thinkers to be creative and follow their intuitions in linear ways. You can analyze creativity in a linear fashion and reproduce the creativity of others by unfolding specific steps with the exact timing they used.

This kind of analysis is possible in just about every field of performance, from martial arts to chess, music, philosophy or learning a language.

Thinking from No Point Of View

A.W. Moore is a highly accomplished philosopher who thinks it is possible to think from no point of view at all.

This is the subject of his excellent book, Points of View.

One issue more raises involves the fact that some knowledge cannot be put into words. He talks about physics and how it uses symbols to represent truths about how the universe works.

But there is more. We have knowledge about our own experience and what it is like to be alive. Yet, this experience is “ineffable” and impossible to describe. Jacques Lacan would say that there are too many possible words for any individual to even get started explaining the experience of life.

The paradox Moore is gunning for is that we know what life is, yet when we try to describe it, either nonsense comes out or we can only get at part of the description. Although Moore does not use the terms Dialetheism or paraconsistency, much of what he’s talking about gets at the same point. The only way to think linearly about complex issues like the nature of being is to allow for and even embrace contradictions.

And in order to do that, you need to change your point of view and turn toward the concept of infinity so you can at least try and experience what it would be like for all possible combinations to play out. As another philosopher named Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz put it, “Everything possible has an urge to exist.” When we think about this from the perspective of infinity, which is from no perspective at all, it is possible for us to think in all possible directions at once.

You Are A Linear Thinker

As a result, I feel we can all rest assured that each and every person is a linear thinker.

Certainly, you can go with the uncomplicated science story that divides the two. But the research we looked at above is ultimately inconclusive and seems to contradict itself. At best, it reveals a paradox, which we have used linear thinking to identify as a paraconsistency.

If nothing else, I hope you walk away from this article with a new way of thinking about thinking itself.

I realize that some of these ideas are complex, so if you’d like to understand them better, here’s why I suggest.

Learn to improve your memory. The more memory power you have, the more you can rotate these ideas around in your mind and experience deep knowledge.

For that, I have a free memory improvement kit you can sign up for here:

Give it a try and just take it one step at a time.

The more you think about memory itself in a linear fashion, the more you’ll be able to experience and use your mind in both linear and nonlinear ways. 

Even better, you stand a chance to go quite beyond this world of name and form as you experience the unfolding plane of thinking itself.

After all, thinking is what we use to solve problems. And what bigger problem do we have than solving, like a magician, the mystery of why anything exists at all?

If just one of us can do that, perhaps all of us can be free.

How to Stop Forgetting Things Once and For All

Why do I keep forgetting things?

I’m an internationally acclaimed memory expert, after all.

The answer is actually very simple, and it will probably surprise you.

But even better than shock and amaze you, I think the answer will help you tremendously.

You see, there are some incredibly simple techniques that will help you remember just about anything you want.

And when you do forget, your annoyance with losing track of the information will completely disappear.

Follow the steps on this page, and you may wind up never being bothered by forgetfulness again.

Ready?

Let’s dig in!

Why Do I Keep Forgetting Things? The Answer

Forgetting plays an important role in human experience.

And yet, some people have doubted that forgetting actually exists. For example, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote:

The existence of forgetting has never been proved: we only know that some things do not come to our mind when we want them to.

Nietzsche clues us in on something very important with this quote:

In order for things to come to mind, they need to have entered the mind in the first place.

My point?

It’s this:

One: Not Paying Attention in the First Place

A major reason we think we’ve forgotten things isn’t a reason at all. If we haven’t paid proper attention to a detail, then it never entered long term memory in the first place.

It can be humbling to admit that we haven’t been attentive. But it’s one of the keys to experiencing improvement, as we’ll discuss in a moment.

Two: Storage Failure

Let’s say that you did pay attention, however.

It’s possible that a memory was formed, but it was nonetheless not stored correctly.

This can happen because incoming information often has to compete with other stimuli. For example, when you’re meeting new people, you might also be given details about where they live and their occupation.

Another term for this is cue overload. As a result, the flow of multiple data points somehow corrupts how the main detail you wanted got stored.

John Wixted outlines a few different kinds of interference. In addition to competing stimuli, you might also experience storage failure from:

Proactive interferenceRetroactive interference

The first happens when something you’ve learned before messes with the learning of something new. For example, if you learned something that was incorrect in the past and discover a correct version of that fact, the primacy effect might maintain the storage of the inaccurate data despite new learning. Your brain thus fails to store the truth.

The second kind of interference happens when something about the way you’re learning a new detail interferes. You might experience this kind of storage failure when ineffectively using a software like Anki or even old-fashioned flashcards.

Three: Retrieval Failure

Let’s assume that your brain has recorded everything absolutely correctly.

You might still forget something if something interferes with the retrieval process. These kinds of interferences can literally cause information you know very well to evaporate.

Scientists have found this kind of forgetting interesting, but don’t yet know exactly why it happens. Endel Tulving linked it to cue-dependent forgetting. The research basically suggests that if words are grouped in categories, you might remember more of them better. But when randomness is introduced, forgetting goes up.

Part of the issue relates to how memory works, particularly spatial memory. And that’s why when someone prompts you or gives you a trigger that relates thematically or categorically, you can sometimes get back the information that you forgot or felt lingering on the tip of your tongue.

Four: The Influence of Time

Did you know that it’s possible to forget your mother tongue without suffering a brain injury or symptoms of a disease? 

The problem is called linguistic deskilling. I experienced it myself while living in Germany and speaking hardly any English.

Basically, this kind of forgetting follows the “use it or lose it,” principle. Or, more scientifically, we can think about the forgetting curve, which helps predict how time will degrade the ability to remember things if they aren’t recalled regularly.

Five: Repression

Sigmund Freud is a controversial figure. But many people forget the value of his goals.

For example, in Remembering and Forgetting Freud in Early Twentieth-Century Dreams, John Forrester reminds us that psychoanalysis was meant to be “self-annihilating.” When it worked, the point was never to need it again or even think about it.

To help heal people from their ailments, psychoanalysis explores ways to uncover repressed memories. The theory goes that because these memories are still lingering in the unconscious mind, they are trying to “return” so that you’ll attend to them. This is the so-called “return of the repressed” that has been so influential on the horror genre in novels and film.

More sophisticated psychoanalytical research has extended the notion of repression to a kind of filtering. Dr. Robert Langs, for example, influenced many practitioners with his suggestion that the unconscious prevents certain “threats” from getting noticed by the conscious mind.

If true, his theory explains why we are sometimes told by our partners and loved ones critical details. We not only can’t remember the details. We can’t even remember being told. For whatever reason, the unconscious mind has perceived it as a threat and completely filtered it out.

Six: Adaptation

Another reason people forget is that some information is simply deprecated.

For example, there’s zero reason for me to remember the phone number my family had when I was 7 years old. I can remember our area code, but that’s because the information is still useful. The actual phone number, which hasn’t been used in decades, is not.

I also can’t remember the exact number of the house, though I can still remember the street name. Again, this kind of forgetting happens because specific details are no longer useful. I still refer to that street and the entire neighborhood when using a Memory Palace, but the exact house number has no particular function.

How to Stop Forgetting Things Once and For All: 7 Tips

Now that we’ve looked at the many reasons why we forget, let’s remove the problem altogether.

I said that the solution might surprise you, and I’m confident it will.

When you operate in this way, I think you’ll soon be completely unbothered by forgetting, even if it still happens from time to time.

Tip One: Pause, Label, Carry On

I give many presentations. Even though I’m a memory expert who exercises my mind regularly, I still forget things. I probably forget things more than the average person because I present off-the-cuff so often.

Over the years, I’ve learned that the best thing to do is to simply call a spade a spade. Specifically, I do this:

Pause to give myself a second to see if I’ll remember the detailIf I don’t, I label it as “yet to come” and state, “it’ll probably come to me in a second”Carry on with the presentation or conversation

I don’t have an exact percentage, but much more often than not, the information I was looking for will suddenly pop into my mind.

Tip Two: Run the Alphabet

An alternative strategy I’ll use when I really want to remember a detail is to start reciting the alphabet.

This strategy isn’t as foolproof as the first tip, but can still be effective. It’s also great mental exercise.

The reason I think it works is that it tackles the Ugly Sister Effect head on. Instead of getting overwhelmed by many possible names of actors or whatever you’re searching for, you actually cause your brain to run through a list in a structured manner.

As an example, let’s say I’m trying to remember an actor’s name like Tom Cruise. If it doesn’t come to mind, I’ll start silently naming actors I can remember by starting at A. (Adam West… Bill Murray… Christian Bale…) etc.

Give it a try the next time you forget something.

Tip Three: Memorize a Wide Variety Of Information Types

Although I do still forget things – usually temporarily – one thing I believe helps reduce this from happening is memorizing multiple types of information.

In your personal memory practice, I recommend you balance your time by practicing memorizing:

VocabularyNumbers using the Major SystemVerbatim material like scripture or a speechSymbolsMusical information like the key signature or notes on a guitarFigural elements like the shapes and colors in paintingsTip Four: Use a Memory Palace Network

Simply the best tool for exercising your memory is a technique called the Memory Palace.

Basically, you bring rooms that you’re familiar with to mind and then imaginatively layer associations on the walls and furniture. These associations help you recall things in turn.

It’s fast, fun and like a video game you play in your mind.

If you’d like to learn it, give this free course a try:

Make sure to use your Memory Palaces in combination with Recall Rehearsal for best results.

Tip Five: Creative Repetition

Another major reason people forget things is that they use rote learning.

Not only does rote learning suck the life out of engaging with information. It’s been shown to harm your ability to think critically.

The alternative is creative repetition, which involves elaborative encoding and following the rules of active recall.

As a quick example, to help remember that ALF is an acronym for “accelerated long term forgetting,” I will:

Imagine Alf from the show about an alienHear his voice in my mindCompound in an image of Alfred, Batman’s butlerLayer in the feeling of holding a butler’s tray in my hand and forgetting it’s thereFeel Alf’s emotional reaction to the horror at forgetting such an objectImaginatively taste and smell the coffee on the tray

Then, when mentally recalling all of these details, I’ll trigger those different creative sensations. Operating this way encodes memories so much faster and more thoroughly for the long term.

Tip Six: Focus On Laser Specific Learning Goals

Some people are so focused on having it all that they can’t think analytically about how the universe really works.

In reality, we only have so much time and no one has to remember everything about any single topic.

Instead of trying to have it all, focus on well-selected and carefully formed learning goals. There’s an art and science to how to select and create such projects, so you might want to check out Read with Momentum for information about how to do that.

Specificity is itself a memory aid. The goal is to create a strong network of references. These help you trigger off the information you want to remember because the knowledge web is tight by design.

There’s another reason specificity is so important.

You’re here because you searched for how to stop forgetting things. The problem is that this term could mean anything whatsoever.

A sure fire to forget more is to learn and live in unstructured ways. But when we focus our memory training on dedicated outcomes, our results are astonishing.

Tip Seven: Value Forgetting

As you’ve discovered, we forget for a variety of reasons. Some of them are normal and healthy, such as information that will never be used again.

If we couldn’t forget, we’d probably experience torture. Jill Price’s experience should be a wakeup call to anyone who fantasizes about having photographic memory, for example.

There’s another reason I value forgetting:

If I didn’t forget from time to time, I wouldn’t have discovered the tips you’ve learned today. And I wouldn’t have been able to find ways to improve my personal use of memory techniques.

As a result, it would be fair to say that forgetting has been more valuable than remembering in many ways.

So, what do you say?

Was Nietzsche right? Has forgetting never been proven to exist?

Or does it have a healthy place in our lives?

Although I take Nietzsche’s point and find it useful as a philosophical question, it’s clear to me personally that forgetting is a powerful asset.

And whenever we want to remember? We can. We just need to use the tools and strategies that work.

 

11 Brain Exercises That Ensure Memory Improvement

Lots of people do brain exercises, often in the form of brain games. 

You’ve probably even tried a few, right?

That’s all fine and dandy, but there’s a catch:

Playing mental exercise games on your “smartphone” is not necessarily brain exercise.

It might not even be mentally stimulating.

Not by a long shot.

But don’t worry.

I’m about to reveal some memory exercises that actually work. That’s because they really do exercise your brain. I’ll show you how to put them into action and also help you understand why they boost brain health.

Yours Free: A Private Course With Cheat Sheets For Becoming A Memory Master, Starting From Scratch.

>>> Click Here For This Special Free Offer.

To help you navigate this post, here’s a preview of what you’re about to discover:

Brain Exercise and Memory Exercise? – What Makes Them Good?The 11 Best Brain Exercises For Memory ImprovementWhat Is The Best Brain Activity For You?How To Stimulate Your Brain To Be Smarter and FasterHow To Improve Concentration And FocusBrain Exercise And Memory Exercise? – What Makes Them Good?

Let’s face it:

Smartphone-based brain games don’t exercise your brain at all.

Any exercise you get is quickly wasted on the ads you’ll be shown and tracking graphs that no robot can accurately help you understand.

Instead of helping you, brain game apps train you to get good at completing tasks within the world of those apps. This is called context dependent memory.

Any mental fitness you enjoy from such software rarely applies to the aspects of your life where you need to be sharp, such as during conversations or on the job.

Bottom Line: Use Concrete Brain Exercises And Avoid Abstract Ones

If you’re exercising your brain on an abstract level but not directing the fitness at specific life improvement goals, you’re missing out. Your brain fitness must be targeted at specific goals to get tangible results and avoid cognitive decline. 

Real brain exercise must also follow these four rules:

It always involves new learningIt is always reasonably complex (and sometimes unreasonably complex)It is always varied and interestingIt is always engaged in frequently

Without following these rules, it is unlikely that the exercise will improve your memory.

But on this page, I promise you will experience a number of fun exercises that stimulate both short-term memory and long-term memory.

Ready?

Let’s get started!

How to Exercise Your Brain: The 11 Best Brain Exercises For Memory Improvement1. The 4-Details Observation Exercise

Gary Small talks about memorizing four details of people you encounter out in public.

For example, let’s say someone is wearing a black hat, has blonde hair, a triangular ring, and a green sweater.

Illustration of the 4 Details Exercise

The goal is to observe the details first and then recall them later.

Some scientists call memory exercises like these “passive memory training.”

They’re passive because you’re not using any special memory techniques. You’re just asking your mind to do what it was designed to do: to remember.

Why does this matter?

It matters because we don’t ask our minds to practise observation enough.

Because we don’t practice observation, we fail to observe and receive the memory exercise simply asking our brains to recall information brings.

We also fail to observe things that we aren’t seeing – making it impossible to make mental pictures of them. I teach you all about how to do that with these 3 simple visualization exercises. 

If you’d like to be a better observer of the world around you, noting and visualizing details will help far better than brain training software like Cogmed.

It’s also scalable. You can start by observing just one person per day. Once you’ve gotten good at recalling four details of just one person, you can add more information or more people (or both).

You can scale this memory exercise even further by memorizing the details using a Memory Palace.

If you like, you can also notice details about buildings, cars, movies or series and foods that improve memory to boost your cognitive abilities.

But focusing on real people is the more potent memory exercise. Being observant of others around you is a great social skill.

2. A Number Exercise That Will Skyrocket Your Concentration 

I can’t emphasize this enough:

Numeracy is a powerful skill to boost your cognitive abilities. It’s something I work on to boost logical thinking – both with and without memory techniques in play.

“Add 3 Minus 7” is a fun numerical memory exercise you can try today. To get started, all you do is pick any 3-digit number. Then, add 3 to that digit 3 times. Then minus 7 from the new number 7 times.

Repeat the process at least 5 times and pick a new 3-digit number the next time. You can also take a different route and start with a 4-digit number and use other numbers to challenge your working memory further.

For example, you could start with 1278 and add 12, 12 times and minus 11, 11 times.

It’s up to you and the amount of numbers to dictate the level of challenge. Remember, this brain exercise strengthens your working memory because of the amount of detail you need to hold in mind to complete it.

Yours Free: A Private Course With Cheat Sheets For Becoming A Memory Master, Starting From Scratch.

>>> Click Here For This Special Free Offer.

4. Number Skipping

In a book called Happiness Beyond Thought, Dr. Gary Weber shares a powerful means of experiencing your conscious mind directly.

It sounds deceptively simple, but it’s actually quite a challenge.

To complete the exercise, you count from one to ten.

But instead of visualizing each number, you skip the even numbers on the way up.

By “skip,” you don’t count 1, 3, 5, etc.

You actually pause on where the even digits should be. But you actively try to not represent them.

There are a few variations on this technique, so if you want more nuance, give this tutorial a view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7NPi...

 

Important Tip: Don’t make the memory exercise so easy that you get bored with it. We all need challenge from our brain exercises in order to grow.

You can also skip using the alphabet by exploring a Renaissance brain exercise called The Field:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRFNX...

 

5. Repeat What People Say In Your Mind 

We all know in our hearts that no one is really listening when we speak. And that’s sad.

But here’s the good news:

You don’t have to be another person who is just nodding your head like a puppet while actually thinking about something else.

You can train your brain to focus on what people are telling you and remember everything they say.

It all begins by creating presence in the moment in an easy way:

Follow the words being spoken to you by repeating them in your mind.

For example, imagine that someone is saying the following to you:

“Tomorrow I want to go to a movie called Memory Maverick. It’s about a guy who cannot forget. He’s hired by a group known only as ‘The Agency’ to infiltrate a competitor. But once the hero learns the secrets, he doesn’t want to hand them over. But since he can’t forget, The Agency starts making his life miserable.”

All you would need to do to complete this brain exercise is repeat everything the person is saying silently in your mind. You’ll automatically boost your cognitive function and remember more by doing this.

It works because simply asking your memory to recall information exercises it. The more challenging the information, the more exercise your brain will get.

5. Visualization Exercise Secrets Of A Memory Maverick

To remember even more, you can practise creating pictures in your head.

But go beyond the visual. Also add in multisensory elements.

For example, using the sample conversation above, you might see an image of Mel Gibson as he looked in the movie Maverick trying to remember something. Imagine that you are trying to feel what this is like as if you were Mel Gibson yourself.

Or you might get a picture in your mind of an agency building and scenes of evil men in suits torturing the hero. Feel their clothes on your skin. Smell the air through their nostrils. Hear the world through their ears.

For more cognitive exercises on remembering what people are saying with visualization practice, check out this interview with Jim Samuels on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast. He has some great ideas, and the benefits include:

Being more present.Remembering more of what was said.Showing people that you’re interested in them and their lives.Easing conflicts when they arise because you remember the issues in greater detail.

As people speak, they “translate” their ideas into pictures, feelings, related concepts and even tastes and smells.

Take this training seriously:

You’ll feel better about your connection to people because you’re really with them. 

6. The Metronome-Clapping Exercise

Back in grad school, I had a great professor named Matthew Clark. For some reason, he told our class in Classical Literature about a great concentration exercise that I’ve practiced ever since.

It’s simple: You put on a metronome at a slow speed and then practice “covering the click.”

Such neurobic exercises can help us focus on things that our brains have been automated to perform. The increased focus that neurobic exercises develop helps you zero-in on your surroundings to boost your memory skills.

If you’d like a practical example of the metronome exercise on video, please check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaiF3...

To be clear:

I don’t think this memory exercise helps memory in any direct way.

But it is excellent for improving concentration and presence.

Here’s why these mental states matter:

Both concentration and presence are cognitive skills we all need. The more concentration and presence we have, the more we can remember by default.

The better you get at this mind exercise, the longer the amount of time between clicks you should place. Accurately covering the metronome with a minute between clicks would be impressive!

7. Create A Memory Palace

The ultimate brain exercise to boost overall cognitive function is also the easiest. It involves nothing more than a simple drawing that follows some simple principles.

What’s a Memory Palace?

It’s a mental recreation of a familiar location. You use it to chart out a simple journey that you can follow with your mind.

Then, using associations, you “place” mental images along this journey that help you remember things.

Why is creating a Memory Palace such a powerful memory exercise?

First, complete my FREE memory improvement course and find out for yourself:

Second, creating a Memory Palace draws upon your spatial and visual memory.

It’s also a great recovered memory and autobiographical memory exercise.

As far as mind exercises go, the Memory Palace training exercise works kind of in reverse.

Why?

Because you’re accessing visual memory cues that are usually blueprinted in your mind outside of your awareness.

Think about it:

You’ve rarely gone into a new home or store with the conscious intent of memorizing its features.

Yet, if you think back to the last home of a friend you visited, here’s a fact:

Most people can recall an insane amount of detail with visual memory. Creating a Memory Palace lets you exercise that inborn ability.

You can even use it for memory and learning stunts like memorizing all the Prime Ministers of Canada.

Second, creating a Memory Palace is creating a tool that you can use for life. Once you have one and you’ve mastered using it, you can create dozens more.

And if you can do that, you can do great things with your memory, like how Matteo Ricci learned Chinese in record time. You can also at events and accomplish any memory-associated goal.

And what goal doesn’t involve memory?

8. Learn a Foreign Language

You’ve probably heard that bilingualism is good for the brain, right? 

It is, and one of the reasons why is that you are continually asking your brain to recall information. 

Take advantage of your brain’s neuroplasticity and learn a new skill at any age to keep it active and ticking!

This is a great brain exercise for people of any age because it keeps you talking with people.

Regular conversation also helps stimulate the production of healthy chemicals for better mental health. Ideally, you would have conversations about books you’ve read. That way you dig into memory at multiple levels, especially verbal memory.

But if you don’t like to talk, you can also sing. Or do both. For a double-whammy of health and brain benefits, singing has been shown by researchers like Gunter Kreutz to increase cortisol and other chemicals involved in healing.

For this reason, singing in a foreign language you’re learning can increase the impact and effectiveness of this brain exercise.

However, that isn’t all – you get more health benefits. 

Researchers conducted a study that found that learning a second language can delay the onset of cognitive impairment like dementia in Alzheimer’s disease by around 4-5 years!

The best part?

Learning anything new is good for your brain!

Whether it’s learning to play a new musical instrument or working with your non-dominant hand, new neural pathways will form – helping you boost your brain power.

9. Mind Mapping For Maximum Brain Health

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Tony Buzan’s approach to mind mapping.

And that’s because I used to mind map in ways that weren’t effective at all.

But after training with Tony and world mind mapping champion Phil Chambers, I discovered a new route and I’m way better at the practice and share it in real-time on my YouTube live streams:

What is mind mapping?

It’s a graphic means of brainstorming and planning. You can even use it for note taking and review.

The question is…

Why is mind mapping great for boosting cognitive function?

One reason Tony Buzan hints at is very compelling. The process reproduces the role of nerve cells on the paper.

Think it through:

Just as a brain cell has a central nucleus with synapses that flow outward like a river, the mind map has a central idea that feeds several streams with mental power. By creating mindmaps, you’re making it easier on your brain – thereby increasing its processing speed. Just like more water increases the flow of a stream.

Interested?

Give these 10 mind mapping rules a try whenever you want a cognitive training workout.

Yours Free: A Private Course With Cheat Sheets For Becoming A Memory Master, Starting From Scratch.

>>> Click Here For This Special Free Offer.

10. The Memory Exercise Of Sports And Fitness

I love physical activity like aerobic exercise.

And not just to workout my muscles and boost my heart rate.

Physical activity is a great place for including a mental workout.

For example, you can memorize the number of sets and reps you complete using the Major System.

You can also rehearse the content in your Memory Palaces during and after your workout. I often recite Sanskrit I’ve memorized or perform number skipping while I’m at the gym.

11. Memory-Based Meditation

Did you know that you can clear out old memories that you’d rather not have?

You can even help reduce symptoms of PTSD and depression.

These outcomes are produced by creating a “Happy Memory Palace.”

I started doing this after reading Tim Dalgleish’s research on using the method of loci to help heal the mind.

For this exercise, you’ll need a Memory Palace and 5-10 happy memories. Then, along the journey, you’ll place each memory in a strategic location.

In my Happy Memory Palace, I used a small office I had when I was a graduate student. On the first corner, I placed a memory of when I graduated with my PhD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs9UH...

 

Then, when I feel down, I revisit this Memory Palace and start feeling better quickly. The trick is to keep creating these Memory Palaces. When something good happens to you, the brain exercise is to transport it into a Memory Palace and revisit it often so that the memory sticks.

What Is The Best Brain Activity For You?

At the end of the day, memory exercises are best when they’re applied to problem-solving in our daily life.

For example, forgetting important details can turn our lives upside down.

You can now choose a brain activity that can help prevent memory loss while showing you how to be happy and positive.

Not being able to focus on numbers leads us to making all kinds of mistakes that prevent us from memorizing information quickly. The simple game you’ve just learned is just one step towards improved numerical memory skills.

You’ve also learned to listen better, be more present and develop concentration for extended periods of time.

In many ways, repeating the words of others in your mind or “covering the click” can help you meditate and practice mindfulness – skills known to improve memory.

But what matters above all is that the best memory exercises are the ones that you actually use. If sudoku is what works, then go for it. If it’s brain teasers – then that’s fine too.

Remember, you cannot get the benefits from them without consistent application.

Yours Free: A Private Course With Cheat Sheets For Becoming A Memory Master, Starting From Scratch.

>>> Click Here For This Special Free Offer.

How to Stimulate Your Brain To Be Smarter & Faster!

Now that you have this pile of authentic exercises, consistency is the key.

In order to show up regularly enough, I recommend that you start tracking your time.

That’s right. Instead of making a to-do list that you’ll probably ignore, start by writing down where you time has gone on a day by day basis.

For this, I like to use a Snapshot Journal.

These are wonderful tools because you can keep them on your desk and see them every day. They remind you of your goals for you.

The Snapshot Journal I’m using

You just fill them out with what you’ve accomplished during the day, and each day gives you a reminder of how far you’ve come. You can see your progress for up to five years at a glance.

I haven’t missed a day and am in my fourth year now of the current Snapshot journal. It’s wonderfully fulfilling to see all of the many accomplishments build up over time.

How These Free Brain Games For Adults Improve Memory and Concentration

For example, thanks to constantly reminding myself of my goals, I’ve found time to practice juggling, writing with both hands and writing backwards to involve both my brain and body.

As you can see in this brain exercise challenge, I’ve managed to bring both worlds together in a way that is easy and fun.

You can also get out to art galleries. Then, exercise your memory by recreating a painting in your mind. I’ll walk you through this exercise here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJbRK...

Not only will you get a great memory workout. Visiting an art galley gives you physical exercise too.

The Truth About How To Improve Concentration And Focus

It’s not just about concentration exercises.

It’s also about making sure we don’t fall into the traps of smartphone and video game addiction.

Sure, you can get some great brain fitness reading from the Kindle app or solving online crossword puzzles. Maybe you excel at Nintendo’s brain age game.

But if you’re constantly interrupted by notifications on your reading device, you’re damaging your focus and concentration more than helping improve it. Memory exercises truly require the right environment.

Brain Rehabilitation Exercises For Overcoming Depression

Just so you know, the reason I’m so passionate about sharing my knowledge about how to improve brain function, it’s because these activities saved my life.

I once nearly lost my life. But these exercises helped save me along with general memory improvement efforts, like those I discuss in my book, The Victorious Mind.

You might also want to consider learning more about vitamins for memory improvement because the ones you’re taking now might be causing more damage than good to your cognitive health.

If you’re looking for information on how to boost brain activity, definitely add dietary considerations to your neurobic exercise routine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MlDe...

Summary Of The Most Potent Brain ExercisesThe 4-details mental workout is excellent for “passive memory training.” Number exercises result in better working memory, an increased attention span and greater numerical memory skills.Repeat and Recall exercises also increase your concentration and ability to pay attention to others for longer periods of time. You’ll also remember more.Create images, associations and other related sensations as you listen to people speak. This will create intense brain fitness to reduce the chances of memory impairment.The Metronome exercise. This simple device can be found at any music store or downloaded as an app. “Covering the click” has many mental benefits and provides a fun challenge as a solo effort or group activity. You can perform such neurobic exercises several times a day.Create and use Memory Palaces. Both of these activities create a lot of mental exercise.Learn a language consistently over time. It might not feel like brain workout, but it is and the benefits of being bilingual provide ongoing mental benefits. These include helping with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and cognitive decline associated with brain age.Mind Map. There are many interesting rules you can follow to maximize the process. Following them is part of what creates the mental benefits of this creative brain game.Use memory techniques while getting physical fitness. Using your body and mind at the same time maximizes your time and is a win-win for total psychological and physical optimization. Don’t forget to sleep enough, though!Brain exercises must follow the four rules outlined above in order to qualify.Improve Your Memory With Games

What are your thoughts about the brain exercise principles discussed in this post? Are these amazing free brain games, or what? 

Do you think these are activities you will bring into your life? Did you develop better memory? Is there anything I’m missing?

Let me know in the discussion area below and I’ll gladly respond and update this post.

In fact, for more brain training games that really improve your memory, please read Brain Games: The Truth You Need To Know For Memory Improvement.

Or, if you’d like more practical, hands on help, join my…

Brain Exercise Bootcamp!

 

This exclusive training comes packed with over 40 brain and memory exercises. You’ll be taken step-by-step through everything you need to create a detailed program of fitness that keeps you focused and sharp for life.

So if you enjoyed the 11 memory exercises on this page, don’t hesitate to dive in deeper and enjoy 40 more! Take your brain for a spin!

How to Overcome a Memory Block (Guide From a Memory Expert)

My worst mental block happened back in 2008 while giving a lecture.

I was standing behind the podium when a huge panic attack burst inside my chest.

Although I’m usually very good at remembering what I want to say, when I want to say it… during that moment, I found myself speechless.

I had no idea what I had just been talking about and couldn’t find the thread needed to get myself back on track.

Embarrassed beyond belief, I dismissed the class and retreated home. I decided I would never be caught cold like that again.

Fast-forward to February 2020. I made a small error while delivering a TEDx speech.

Using the techniques you’re about to discover, I rapidly recovered because I not only had the thread firmly in my hands. But overcoming mental blocks under pressure has become my speciality.

Are you ready for all my best tips?

Great! Let’s get started!

What is a Mental Block?

Mental blocks can be defined in a few different ways. I think Tobore Onojighofia Tobore gets the definition best when he relates the sudden inability to focus and remember to a failure of learning and mental representation.

Tobore gives us an important way to think about it because mental blocks can happen to anyone, no matter how skilled or experienced they might be.

There are also levels of mental blocks a person can experience.

For example, think of the difference between writer’s block, when the person can’t write at all, and writing a bad book. 

An experienced author should know better than to produce second-rate work, yet even Stephen King has admitted in On Writing that he’s capable of producing a dud. He may not have been blocked from writing altogether, but something in his brain failed to remember what makes a story great.

Likewise, a student can show up to an exam and often remember enough to answer the questions. But they might struggle to recall the nuances that make the difference between a C+ and an A.

Tobore thinks that it boils down to the strength of your neuronal connections and their resistance to disruption.

The 5 Main Mental Block Causes

If Tobore is correct (and I think he is), this means that the typical explanations for why we experience mental blocks are incorrect.

Typically, we’re told that we experience them when we’re:

OverwhelmedTiredStressedUnrested

Although these states certainly can contribute to poor focus and an inability to access memory (stress in particular), they are not strong explanations.

We know this because many people who play Jeopardy, act on stage or give speeches face all of these factors and yet still perform well. Athletes also have to access procedural memory under grueling conditions, so it just doesn’t make sense that these oft-cited factors are to blame.

I know from personal experience that they aren’t to blame because I often perform perfectly well despite suffering all of the above issues, including chronic pain.

So if we can’t point the finger at those issues, what factors do reliably explain our mental blocks when we have them?

One: Lack of Preparation

Most people experience blocks because they simply haven’t prepared themselves thoroughly enough.

They may have skimmed or scanned books instead of reading them thoroughly. This prevents the brain from forming enough connections to frame a complete enough picture. Instead of a study foundation, you wind up with sand that easily blows away in the wind.

When I had my panic attack in front of the lecture hall, I was still a rookie. A huge part of my problem was that I hadn’t put a lot of thought into how I was going to end the lecture. I was okay up until the close and thought I could wing it. But I was wrong and that led to me experiencing a massive mental block.

Two: Lack of Practice

As a professor, I’ve marked hundreds of exams and essays.

It’s easy to spot the work of students who have put in the practice and those who have not.

When I myself had field exams and a dissertation defense to pass before getting my Phd, I practiced each and every one. It was as simple as getting friends to test me and following the rules around what is called dedicated pactice.

Performance-wise, when I gave my TEDx Talk, I wasn’t feeling all that well. But it didn’t matter because I’d practiced reciting the talk multiple times. I’d even memorized it and written it out by hand three times to make sure I knew it inside and out.

That way, no matter how tired, overwhelmed or stressed I felt, I knew I could rely on memory consolidation alone both in terms of the procedural memory of delivering the talk and semantic memory of the words and phrases.

Three: Communication Challenges

Some people have congenital issues or brain disease. For example, some people might suffer from aphasia and need to be trained to rely on formulaic speech patterns. But because the flows of normal speech are not necessarily tidy, people with these issues can quickly find themselves blocked.

Although you could interpret such situations as “overwhelm,” it is a very specific kind of overwhelm based on the fact that parts of the brain have been impaired.

Looking back at the panic attack I had in the lecture hall, it happened during a time when I did a lot of drinking. This left my brain dehydrated and because I privileged alcohol over nutritious food, it’s little wonder I couldn’t even innovate a conclusion to my talk that day.

Four: Focusing On The Block

It’s easy to get caught like a deer in headlights when a mental block arises. Instead of easing your way out of it, you wind up doubling down on the symptoms. This happens because your brain focuses on the problem instead of possible solutions.

Options include:

Taking a few deep breathsGetting a drink of water and/or a snackTaking a walk or stretching

If you’re in an exam, you might be pleasantly surprised by how generous your examiner might be if you need to take a break. But if you hyper-focus on the problem, you might not even think about asking.

In the case of my lecture, I could have easily excused myself for a moment and used a few breathing routines I knew to bring myself back to center. I was too involved in the panic attack itself to even think about pursuing this possible solution.

You might doubt that taking a few deep breaths will help. However, studies have shown that there’s a relationship between breathing and memory formation.

Five: Negative Patterns

Related to focusing on the mental block itself, it’s easy to repeat negative thoughts that make the problem worse.

For example, students often tell themselves during exams, “I don’t know this!” They repeat the statement like a mantra instead of moving on to the next question and coming back to where they’re blocked.

Even as a person experienced at speaking and taking multiple exams, that day in the lecture hall, I found myself repeating, “I’m freaking out!”

Although it can be good to acknowledge whatever state you’re in, you need to label it as fear, not participate in the fear. This is an important finding of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which reveals that people are often more afraid of the fear itself than they are of the consequence of failing or looking silly because they forget what they were going to say.

Research in this area is relatively new, but some researchers have found that practicing giving public talks in a virtual reality environment can help people with public speaking anxiety learn not to get into such mental downward spirals just as well as CBT. Such findings substantiate Tobere’s argument that mental blocks ultimately come down to the strength of memory consolidation at the cellular level because strong neural connections help prevent falling into the spiral in the first place.

How to Overcome Any Memory Block in 9 Steps

Now that you know what really causes mental blocks, let’s look at removing them on demand. These suggestions will work no matter how overwhelmed or stressed you might find yourself.

Do they require extra effort?

Sure.

But at the end of the day, it’s usually the absence of effort that leads to the problem in the first palace.

And since you’re here, you obviously want to be a top performer. Let me share my best solutions, earned from the trenches of having suffered myself from mental blocks.

If some of my solutions seem quirky, it’s because things like getting enough sleep or chatting with friends just weren’t options for me.

Plan Ahead and Finish Early

I suffered anxiety for many decades, not just during my first years as a university professor.

As an undergrad, one of my go-to strategies for making sure I got top grades involved discovering what would be required of me as far ahead as possible.

To do this, the moment I knew what courses I would be taking, I would email my professor and ask for the course syllabi. They weren’t always willing to give them ahead of the class start day, but often enough they would.

Then, I would get the exam and assignment dates on my calendar and start reading. In courses where I had to wait for the start to get this information, I would immediately add those dates.

Because I usually worked at least one, but sometimes two or more jobs while studying, I reduced my stress and overwhelm by starting the essay assignments early. When professors were receptive to it, I would hand them in early as well and try to get advance feedback. That way I could improve them before the due date and get even better grades.

This might seem over the top, but the top grades I earned helped in earning scholarships that kept my student debt as low as possible. As a result, I had much less stress. 

Customize the Questions

In my last year as an undergrad, I was required to complete a fourth year level course in Romantic literature.

I loved the topic, but for some reason, the professor was hard on me. When I asked for an alternative assignment to giving an oral presentation because I was still getting used to shaking from lithium I had to take, he made me spend my precious study time getting a letter to prove that I had the issue. And he wouldn’t accept the letter from my doctor. He wanted it from a counselor at the university’s Behavioral Sciences department.

When I finally got the alternative assignment, he made me read Goethe novels that were 3x longer than the material I would have read for the oral assignment. This meant that I had less study time for the final exam in the course.

During the final exam, I was unprepared for an entire question on a play called Cain by Lord Byron. Rather than leave the question blank and accept a zero for such a huge portion of the exam, I scratched out the question. In its place, I wrote, “Explain the difference between Coleridge and Wordsworth’s approaches to Romanticism.”

I’d relied on this tactic a few times before and thought for sure that this particular professor would still give me a zero. But as things turned out, I passed the course with an A.

Learn and Practice Depth Relaxation

I have been interested in meditation since high school. But it wasn’t until my PhD years that I really got into practicing it seriously. And as part of my research into friendship, I took a course to become a certified hypnotherapist, largely to explore the role of persuasion in friendship.

In the hypnotherapy program, I learned to relax myself deeply on demand. The guided visualizations I learned to create for myself were golden. I still struggled with panic attacks from time to time, largely because I still drank and would sometimes show up unprepared, but overall, I enjoyed a much more relaxed life.

One thing that I’ve found tremendously helpful is to relax while studying. Like Pavlovian conditioning, it seems to help bring the feeling of relaxation back when drawing upon the material. Although not entirely scientific, the advantage this brings possibly relates to what is called context dependent memory.

Expand Your Context

One reason we experience memory blocks that we can’t get out of is that we simply don’t have a wide enough frame of reference.

But by expanding what we know through effective reading strategies, we’re less likely to get blocked in the first place. Our minds will find related topics to discuss or near-substitutes.

All people get mentally blocked, but if you watch enough smart people give talks or interviews, you’ll notice that they are expert at finding detours when the perfect answer doesn’t immediately come to mind.

And the best speakers of all will use rhetorical devices. For example, they’ll say, “I’ll get back to this in a moment, but let me first talk about _____.” Often, when an expert uses a phrase like this, it’s because they’re buying time.

Place the Focus Elsewhere

Although I’m a memory expert, I sometimes can’t find the word or reference I’m looking for. When this happens, I simply call a spade a spade and say, “It will come back to me.” 

Usually, simply by being willing to admit what’s going on in my mind and focus for a moment on something else, the original thought I was looking for pops up on its own.

Consult the Alphabet

Sometimes when I can’t find the names of people I’m looking for, I choose a simple strategy instead of getting frustated.

It happened to me today, for example. I was thinking about Dan Harlan, and for some reason, his last name just wouldn’t come to me.

Why?

Well, I was tired. Hungry. And frankly, I had no particular big reason why I needed his name at that moment.

Nonetheless, I’m a person who works on my memory, so I wanted to remember it.

One of my favorite tactics to nudge such information out of memory is to simply run through the alphabet. Like this:

Dan A…?Dan B…?Dan C…?Etc.

I actually went past H without getting it, but it wasn’t much further before his last name popped into my mind.

The next step is to use memory techniques, which we’ll discuss next.

Use Memory Techniques

That said, if you use the Memory Palace technique effectively, such mental blocks will happen to you much less frequently.

The trick is to use the technique properly. It’s a real skill and like other skills, can only serve you to the extent that you master it. If you need help learning to use it, register for this FREE COURSE:

In it, I’ll guide you through a number of simple exercises and steps to follow so that you have multiple Memory Palaces.

Here’s a simple use case:

To make the name Dan Harlan stronger so I get it more immediately the next time, he is placed in a Memory Palace. In this case, it’s a building I’m aware of in Harlem, New York.

I imagine him standing out side of this location with a giant harpoon. I choose this image because harpoon has the Harlan sound in it.

Then I have him harpooning a LAN Internet device with a Lando sticker on it (the character from Star Wars) in that location. After visiting this association a few times, Dan Harlan’s name should come back with much greater ease in the future.

Use Other Accelerated Learning Techniques

There’s a vast world of tactics you can use in addition to memory techniques. You can learn to read faster and mind map, to take just a few examples.

However, don’t be a dabbler. None of these techniques will help much if you don’t pay them their due. And that’s why the next point is so important.

Practice Thoroughly

As I mentioned above, I’ve spent a lot of time practicing for exams and presentations.

When it comes to practice, the amount of time you practice usually isn’t as important as what you practice during the time you have.

Plus, you have to think deeply about the exact area you need practice in. How you practice for taking tests will be different from practicing to give a speech or to perform a magic trick.

Know what the masters in your field practice and model them so that you know you’re maximizing the time you have at your disposal.

By getting out there and taking the exams or giving speeches from memory, you’ll give yourself important frames of reference. If you don’t make mistakes, it’s hard to see what to improve.

Develop the Right Attitude

In The Positive Mental Attitude Pocketbook, Douglas Miller talks about having “firelighters.”

These help you stop mental blocks and get back on track. They include:

Avoiding limiting descriptions of yourself, (i.e. I’m a failure)Find the source of the problemEvaluate the situation from a broad perspectiveDon’t let one failure derail you completelyExpect future success

Each of these points have helped me tremendously. Whereas I used to repeat negative phrases about myself compulsively, now I recite Sanskrit phrases I’ve memorized instead. Instead of thinking the smallest failure is the end of the world, I zoom out and think of all human and cosmological history and how my life is merely a speck in the grand scheme of things.

And regular readers of this blog might find this surprising, but I not only expect future success. I expect and embrace future failure too.

I know that mental blocks are coming, but I keep moving forward anyway. Case in point:

At the very end of my Read with Momentum program, I was tired after seven hours of live streaming. I probably shouldn’t have tried a memory demonstration, but I believe in taking my best shot anyway.

Names had come up, and to help answer some questions for Robert, I pulled up a software used by some memory competitors.

Now, I actually didn’t do that bad when I typed out the names, but I made a critical error. I was so hyper-focused on encoding the names that I didn’t pay attention to the faces on the screen. But instead of getting blocked by this obvious failure, I opened a new tab and typed out what I remembered anyway.

I fully expect that if I’m going to continue this work, I’ll wind up making “errors” like this in the future. It’s just part of what’s involved in memory as an art, craft and science.

But if you have the right attitude and expectations, you’ll always learn from whatever happens. And in the future, you can use those past experiences as “firelighters,” as Miller calls them.

Say GoodBye To Memory Blocks

We’ve talked about a lot of circumstances in which you can experience a mental block or temporary memory loss.

A subtheme throughout today’s tutorial is that life itself is a kind of exam.

When you treat it that way, and always show up prepared to do your best, you’ll do so much better.

As a final thought, I would suggest that you be willing to let go of the outcome. As I often tell my memory students in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass, you have to be like a samurai. You have to be prepared to execute one final perfect move, even with your head cut off.

In the memory demonstration that failed, I did my best to squeeze in one more name than I thought I could.

Although I wasn’t able to place the names next to the faces, the names I did recall were mostly correct. And I had one syllable for one last name that I hadn’t even mentioned during the demonstration.

True, the demonstration was far from perfect. But the one last move, the one I made while admitting my head had been cut off, produced an audible gasp.

But it was only possible for me to have the guts to make such a mistake in front of so many people because I am willing to let go of the outcome.

And if you want to stop mental blocks from holding you back, I suggest you cultivate this skill too. When you do, you’ll develop the reinforced mental representations Tobore’s research has discovered. In other words, the more you practice being your best possible self, the easier it will be for that person to emerge, fully knowledgeable and perfectly capable, even when the chips are down.

So what do you say? Are you ready to treat life itself like an exam and show up with your best possible attitude?

Mental Stimulation: Everything You Need to Know About Brain Health

Did you know that you can use mental stimulation to cause new brain cells to grow and connect?

It’s true. The process is called neurogenesis and anyone can do it.

But you might lack confidence when it comes to understanding and using the techniques.

And I can’t blame you. Tinkering with your brain can feel scary.

But rest assured. I do it all the time, as do millions of others around the planet.

It’s safe, healthy and really does boost your brain.

So if you’re ready for a simple explanation of the science and a list of fun steps to follow, let’s get started.

What is Mental Stimulation?

Think about the difference between your brain and your mind.

You’ve probably seen documentaries where surgeons use electrodes to stimulate parts of the brain. Sometimes touching a part of the brain causes the patient’s limbs to move. Other times, they might think they are smelling toast.

This is the difference between stimulating the brain’s connection to the body and its connection to mental imagery. Whereas brain stimulation that causes muscle movement is physical, stimulation that triggers a mental experience is mental stimulation.

Do the two types of stimulation ever combine?

In a word, yes.

One of the scientific terms for the physical aspect of brain stimulation is called “neuromodulation.” As Clement Hamani and his co-authors show in Neuromodulation in Psychiatry, manipulating physical brain structures has a long, and sometimes troubling history.

For example, gamma knife radiation, normally used to treat lesions and tumors, has been used experimentally to treat obsessive compulsive disorder. Some positive results have been seen in how such patients think and behave. But there have also been some not so positive outcomes as well.

However, this is not what we usually mean by mental stimulation. Usually what we mean are topics like the ones categorized by John Clement in Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students: The Role of Imagery, Analogy, and Mental Simulation:

Using your imagination to mentally simulate experiences like using image streamingConducting thought experimentsUsing analogiesThinking philosophicallyReasoning through problems objectively and subjectivelySpatial reasoningPlaying a musical instrumentThe Impact of Mental Stimulation

The benefits of such activities can increase creativity, memory, productivity, consistency, decision-making and goal completion.

Mental activity is key in each of these areas. As the co-authors of The Wise Advocate show, thinking in particular ways helps improve brain structures. It also helps new neural pathways form, helping people lead themselves and others much better.

Plus, you’ll also feel sharper when you stimulate the brain. The question is, what kinds of activities do this effectively and efficiently?

Let’s have a look at some of the best.

Mental Activities That Can Stimulate Your Brain

As we dive into this list, please beware of other lists that talk about improving your blood sugar, cholesterol or other aspects of physical health. While all of those things are good in themselves, to get the benefits of brain stimulation, we need to engage in mental exercises.

Authentic mental activities will stretch you. If they don’t, they’re probably not stimulating enough.

To make sure you’re getting proper levels of challenge, make sure that the activities you choose to get mentally stimulated involve:

Learning or relearningReasonable complexityVariationFrequent engagement

If you’re missing any of these criteria, make sure to include them in for a good brain workout.

One: Learn a Language

One of the most proven ways to increase what is called “cognitive reserve” is to study a foreign language.

What is cognitive reserve?

It is robust brain health that people free from Alzheimer’s and Dementia show in old age. It’s well-known that keeping your brain active throughout life, but especially in old age helps increase this aspect of mental fitness.

Some studies I’ve discussed in my post on bilingualism show that learning just one language can provide up to 32 years of cognitive reserve.

Luckily, learning a new language provides a range of challenges, and is also really fun.

Two: Study Music

Music provides a similar level of challenge as language learning. There are at least as many ins-and-ands you’ll stretch your brain to accommodate.

Whether it’s learning the key signatures or the names of the notes for each string on a guitar, your brain will benefit.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to learn an instrument. Studies have shown that even just regular singing stimulates the brain so much, people who do it recover better from surgeries than those who don’t.

Plus, you can also stimulate your brain by learning about the history of different musical styles, along with the biographies of great composers and musicians.

Three: Long Form Reading

Many people graze in their reading. They dip in and out of things.

But long form reading stimulates your brain much more profoundly when you read:

Multiple books on the same topicA variety of books by the same author so your mind can build a paracosmSeveral books that compare and contrast topics to expand your perspective

There are many other reading strategies, but the three listed above are some of my favorites.

Four: Neurobics

If aerobic exercise gets your lungs and heart to change their normal resting pattern, neurobics changes the normal patterns of your brain.

A simple example is changing your route to and from work. It can even be just a simple detour down a street you’ve never explored that awakens your brain.

Or, you can:

Brush your teeth using your non-dominant handUnlock your door with your eyes closedLearn to recite the alphabet backwardsFive: Brain Exercise

Brain exercise is controversial. Tons of companies have created apps that claim they will help keep your brain sharp.

However, as I discussed with Dr. Christine Till, there’s little to no evidence that they have any effect.

That said, there are a number of mentally stimulating brain exercises you can engage in that will stretch your figural memory. For example, you can imagine taking different letters of the alphabet apart and reorganizing them in unique ways.

Six: Puzzles and Games

Solving puzzles is very stimulating.

But I don’t mean crossword puzzles, where the temptation to cheat is strong.

I’m talking about physical puzzles that require you to complete a picture. For the strongest possible challenge, choose densely colored abstract images to work on.

When it comes to games, check out my list of the best adult brain games.

Seven: Memory-Based Meditation

Many types of meditation are fantastic. But the most stimulating tend to involve chanting and mudras.

To get started, I suggest learning Kirtan Kriya. It’s good for reducing stress while improving concentration and memory.

For greater levels of challenge, memorize chants like the kind I discuss in my book, The Victorious Mind.

If you need help memorizing long chants, it’s also great mental stimulation to use a Memory Palace. You can ultimately tie this form of meditation back to language learning, such as by memorizing a book of chants in another language.

Eight: Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills

In a world filled with so much gullibility and strife, it’s easy to stand out just by being a reasonable person.

But how do you get started if you’re currently struggling with falling for bad ideas and disinformation?

Here’s a simple exercise that Lisa Mendelman rightly argues sounds simplistic, but is incredibly effective.

As you read, circle the concepts and the images authors use to try and persuade you. For example, in this section, you might circle the word “strife.”

This in itself will help you think more critically. But to take it to the next level, start questioning while reading. Ask questions like:

According to whom?What’s the evidence?Who benefits if this claim is true?

This kind of real-time reflective thinking is incredibly stimulating – and beneficial.

Can You Really Boost Your Brain?

As we’ve seen, this is not really the right question. What we need to do is stimulate our minds.

Or course, there’s a time and a place for stimulating the physical brain, ideally with physical exercise.

But when it comes to stimulating the mind so that it really does get a boost, we need to challenge it.

I’ve shared a bunch of powerful activities on this page, and you can rest assured that your intelligence is not fixed. You even stand to improve your IQ if you set goals around learning and complete them.

For some people, the real challenge is going to be taking on the challenge in the first place.

And no doubt. Modern life is hectic. Many of us are tired. Digital amnesia has frazzled our brain and Johan Hari has gone deep into how and why this has happened in his book Stolen Focus.

But if you’re stuck, there are always options.

One of those options is memory training. It is perhaps the most stimulating option of them all because it works out multiple levels of your memory.

Get my FREE MEMORY IMPROVEMENT KIT now if you’re interested:

The mental stimulation you’ll receive in this course includes stimulation of your:

Spatial memoryProcedural memoryAutobiographical memoryEpisodic memoryShort term or working memoryLong term memoryVisual memoryProspective memory… and much, much more

All you have to do is dive in and get started.

It truly is up to you. All you have to do is take that first step.

So what do you say?

Are you ready for some authentic mental stimulation? Stimulate yourself now by saying yes and I can’t wait to read your progress reports.

In case it hasn’t already leapt to your mind, engaging in correspondence is yet another powerful way to invite more mental stimulation into your life. All the more so when you’re taking on the challenge of expressing your experiences of taking on more challenges.

How to Remember What You Study (Almost Without Trying!)

Want the best way to study and memorize?

Without all the pain and hassle of boring scientific explanations that are themselves hard to understand?

You’re in luck.

I’ve sat for some of the most competitive exams that exist over eleven years of university.

Despite many personal challenges, I managed to get my Ph.d. and have picked up many other certifications along the way. 

I’ve even used what you’re about to discover to help me learn languages and earn certifications for both German and Mandarin.

So whatever you’re studying, I’m qualified to help you get some quick wins.

Ready?

Let’s dive in!

How to Remember What You Study Fast: 10 Quick-Win Strategies

Later, I’m going to give you a more robust strategy that will take you approximately one weekend to learn.

But we’re going to start with some powerful strategies that you can start applying today. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-95LB...

One: Get Your Mindset Sorted

Negativity is a major reason that so many people fail.

They play a little story repetitively through their minds about how “hard” everything feels.

Instead of focusing on the task at hand, they visualize the stress of the exam and the consequences of failure.

This is not helpful.

The alternative?

Relaxation and deliberately letting go of the outcome.

Simply being willing to fail if that’s what was going to happen was the number one strategy that helped me most before and during the toughest exam of my life.

Sound hard?

It isn’t really when you have mental strength exercises to guide you.

Even if mindset isn’t a problem for you, it’s useful to focus on the positive.

Two: Take Intelligent Breaks

Many people force themselves to study for hours at a time.

You cannot expect to succeed by doing this – at least not many of us can.

Personally, I love studying for long periods at a time, but I do take plenty of breaks.

I get up, walk around, drink plenty of water and practice the next tip. It’s one of the simplest ways to help you study and remember.

During your breaks, you can also spend time on relaxation, meditation and breathing exercises.

Three: Switch Things Up

The special technique I use as part of taking breaks is to read other kinds of books.

They can be either related or unrelated to the topic at hand.

The point is to switch things up so that your brain has time to percolate the ideas you’re learning and make unexpected connections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U34n...

You don’t have to follow any particular pattern, but an easy way to take action with interleaving is to have three books at all times.

Switch from book one to book two and then book three on a loose pattern.

Don’t “try” to recall different elements or connect them. Just plow forward and enjoy the benefits of what your mind will do for you on autopilot.

This is one simple strategy where the “let go of the outcome” attitude is really important.

Four: Use Your Hands

We often hear about different note taking and mind mapping techniques.

Although neither of them are the best way to study and memorize, they’re great because of how they get the hands involved.

But scientists have shown that the deliberate use of gestures helps you learn.

You can also use your fingers to learn different ideas.

For example, take an example of abstract thinking you want to learn.

Name the concept out loudPress your thumb and pointer finger togetherFocus on mentally “linking” the idea to the connection between thumb and fingerTake 2-3 deep breaths as you focusRevisit the connection throughout the day

This simple technique can be used in combination with gestures.

True, it’s hard to imagine how it will scale to help you remember dozens of ideas. But give it a try. If you can make it work for one idea, you can reuse the technique to help you remember dozens.

Five: Draw

I used to struggle to understand charts and graphs. This is because I’m easily overwhelmed by too much information displayed on a page that isn’t text.

Then Tony Buzan gave me the idea of re-drawing those charts and graphs with my own hand.

While taking a few minutes to manually reproduce information charted out visually, I was able to explain to myself their meaning.

I’ve since used this technique to help me remember harder vocabulary in various languages that other memory techniques for some reason could not penetrate.

Six: Verbalize

When I was struggling to understand various aspects of French philosophy, I read it out loud.

Back then, iPhones were still a daydream. I recorded myself reading into a micro-cassette recorder.

Then, I would listen back to the recording while reading the book.

You might think, “That sounds time-consuming!”

It isn’t.If you’re spending time reading and failing to comprehend the material, that’s 100% consuming time you

cannot get back.

But narrating material and then listening back to it in a way that captivates your mind so information can integrate into memory?

That’s just smart learning.

Seven: Use Spaced Repetition Properly

People love their spaced-repetition apps.

Yet, so many fail to show positive results despite spending hundreds of hours using them.

Worse, they might be able to answer correctly on the app. But in the real world?

No such luck.

This is because spaced-repetition must involve active recall in order to be truly effective.

To get more out of each and every card or slide in your app, do this:

Add multisensory associations to the informationNever show yourself the answer until you’ve tried to recall the information through associationBe suspicious of the answers you give the app (in other words, be honest)Recall information even when the app isn’t asking you to learn

For example, let’s say you’ve got a list of medical terms.

Rather than have “edema” on one side of the card and the definition of the other, try this:

Imagine a famous person named Ed and an emu or someone named Emma swelling up with fluid. Hear the sound of them stretching. Feel it physically, as if it were your own body. Imagine the emotions involved and focus on what the situation would look like.

You might even write out this scenario on the card instead of the word or the definition. When you try to recall the word, treating it like a puzzle to solve will help your brain create connections.

A faster and more physical way to do this is by using physical index cards. Learn more by reading my how to memorize a textbook post.

Eight: Study In Multiple Locations

One of the quickest wins of all is to keep moving.

The best part is that moving from spot to spot while you’re studying not only helps your memory. It’s an easy way to incorporate taking breaks and getting a bit of physical fitness.

There are at least three ways to approach this principle:

In your homeOn campusAround town

While at home, pick 2-3 locations you can tackle your study materials. For example, your room, the kitchen table and the back porch. Deliberately switch things up over twenty minutes or so.

On campus, have a few different spots in the library. Move to a cafe and look for empty lecture halls or classrooms you can park in to read a chapter or two.

Now that I have a Ph.d., I don’t have the benefit of a campus anymore. But I still cart my books around with me for my current research projects. I read at the beach, in front of stores while my wife is shopping, on the bus, etc.

Nine: Use Those Locations

Although it’s beneficial to move around, you can get even more bang for your buck by turning those locations into Memory Palaces.

This technique is more robust and will take at least a weekend to learn thoroughly.

To use it, turn any location into a mental reference tool.

If one of your study spots is the kitchen, use the walls to create associations and hold in place.

For example, instead of placing the “edema” example we used before on a card in SRS software, you can mentally project it onto a wall.

There are a few ins-and-outs to learn, so if you’d like more info, please grab my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

Ten: Make It A Game

A lot of learning apps try to “gamify” the learning process.

I think they’re heading in the right direction.

However, I think they’re missing a piece of the puzzle.

It relates to the mindset issue we mentioned at the beginning.

Anything can be a game if you simply decide to make it one.

And the best games we play are the ones we design ourselves.

My personal philosophy around the best designed games is simple:

Only play the games that you are happy and willing to play again and again.

Voluntarily.

At the end of the day, those kinds of games are easy for me to define:

They involve tons of variety and plenty of options for flexibility and personalization.

As for rewards, sure. They can be useful.

But for the best possible results, make playing the game itself a reward. Not even the toughest topics will ever seem boring to you again.

Why can’t I remember anything I study?

If you’re still asking that question, chances are you haven’t turned learning into a game you can win.

So to sum up:

Work on your mindsetTake breaks properlyUse interleavingGet your hands involved in multiple waysCopy hard graphs you cannot understandVerbalize and recordUse spaced-repetition correctlyChange your location frequentlyMaximize the locations by using the Memory Palace techniqueMake learning a game

Even if you pick just 2-3 of these tips and get started with them, your ability to remember what you study will quickly soar.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to get more out of your study sessions? This set of tips truly is the best way to study and remember fast.

Let me know in the comments and enjoy the blessings of knowledge!

The Surprising Difference Between Philosophy and Psychology

Although philosophy and psychology have always been intertwined, the surprising difference you’re about to discover is incredibly valuable to understand.

You see, there are a lot of simplistic discussions about philosophy vs psychology.

For example, some people will say things like:

Philosophy studies wisdom while psychology studies the soulPhilosophy and psychology both study humans and how they behaveWhereas philosophy leads to one set of career options, psychology leads to anotherPsychology can observe behavior in laboratory settings, but philosophy cannot

Although there is some truth to some of those statements, frankly, they’re all missing the most important point.

So if you’re a lifelong learner and ready to solve the riddle, let’s dive in.

What’s the Difference Between Philosophy and Psychology? 4 Things to Know

Both philosophy and psychology are rich fields that involve many branches. Arguably, philosophy gave birth to psychology, and there’s a simple way to demonstrate why this is true.

Let’s look at this simple fact first and then explore other things you need to know about the differences between these two fields.

One: Philosophy Is What We Use When We Don’t Have A Science

Technically speaking, psychology is a science. There are many kinds of psychological sciences, ranging from cognitive neuroscience to the study of personality, forensic psychology and more.

In order to study aspects of the human mind related to cognition, performance at work, development from childhood into adulthood, etc, psychologists use tools of observation, measurement, analysis and scientific writing.

But when we have questions about the nature of existence for which no such scientific tools exist, we use philosophy. This is not to say that philosophy cannot be scientific. Much of the best philosophy draws upon all the science the philosophy has on hand.

However, it would be ridiculous to say that anyone has tools to measure concepts like infinity.

Yet, we still manage to think about the infinite in a variety of ways despite not having a science of infinity. You don’t even have to understand mathematics particularly well to arrive at certain conclusions about this aspect of reality. This is why philosophy is important.

When I say that philosophy gave birth to psychology, I am pointing to the fact that most of our records show that philosophy predates psychology. People seem to have been asking questions about the nature of reality somewhat before they were asking about the nature of the mind.

Two: Philosophy Combats Confusion, Psychology Creates It

This point might have you scratching your head.

Why on earth would psychology create confusion?

It absolutely does because it is a science.

Science is a tool that allows us to ask hypothetical questions and then produce evidence that either confirms or denies our hypotheses.

There’s going to be confusion along the way any time science is correctly performed.

Philosophy, on the other hand, looks at confusing data or stimuli and tries to make sense of it. Indeed, this is precisely why we have the philosophy of science.

Because philosophy is concerned with truths about reality and science is concerned with providing evidence that helps clarify the validity of our questions, this difference between the two fields is essential. Science is much more concerned with validation than it is with truth, and that is why science must constantly test and retest.

And make no mistake. If you thought that science was about truth, this is simply not the case. In fact, there is something called the reproducibility crisis. An extraordinary number of studies that scientists have assumed give us an accurate picture of the world do not work when other scientists try to produce the same results.

If we did not have philosophy to try and help us figure this out, we would be in big trouble indeed.

Three: Philosophy Has Multiple Methods, But Science Boils Down To Just One

Although science is of course incredibly complex, it ultimately has just one method: the scientific method, or empiricism. Our claims are valid when they can be reproduced.

There are a lot of ins-and-outs to the scientific method, such as falsifiability. This is an important principle, so please look into it.

Philosophy, on the other hand, does not rely on falsifiability. It might refer to it, but more often than not, philosophers rotate problems through a variety of philosophical methods. For example, an individual philosophy might look at a given problem through the lenses of:

Ontology and metaphysicsEpistemology Related fields like psychoanalysis, economics, sociology and other disciplines

Indeed, a philosopher does not need to be a Marxist (or even a Marxoid) in order to benefit from wondering how such a person would try to solve a particular problem.

Likewise, a philosopher can provide incredibly useful ways of looking at things by simply wondering how a psychoanalyst would answer a question that has arisen either personally, regionally or on the world stage.

One problem we face in today’s world is that many scientists now use social media to share their views. Many people take those views to be scientifically valid because they are coming from scientists.

Doing so causes us a lot of heartache because those scientists are in fact being philosophical. But when you know the definition of philosophy, you know it’s possible to be philosophical without actually being a trained philosopher.

As a result, often their philosophical views are much weaker than they would be if they had as many methods as a trained philosopher typically uses.

Four: Philosophy Broadens And Deepens, Psychology Explains How That’s Possible

Although there is a field called philosophy of mind, often it tries to account for differences between mind and matter. It is highly speculative about where the mind ends and matter begins and vice versa.

But overall, philosophy’s main role is to help us broaden and deepen our understanding of reality, truth and answer the hard questions for which no science yet exists that can help us. As soon as a science emerges, philosophy tends to let it do its work and then help make sense of the data.

What makes psychology so exciting is how it works to tell us how it’s possible for the three pounds of brain matter in our skulls to produce philosophical thoughts in the first place. Psychology is literally the psychological study of how the many parts of this one organ called the brain collaborate together to create the experiences of thinking, using language to communicate and complete goals in competitive environments.

Certainly, philosophers have done a lot to help us learn how to cope with adversity. But psychology, not philosophy, is behind the development of pharmaceuticals. Many of them have been incredibly helpful for people around the world. And when ethical issues arise, philosophy is there to help us work out what is right.

Psychology vs. Philosophy: How Are They They Same?

As we’ve seen, there are several critical differences that make philosophy and psychology very different.

Yet, there is at least one way that they are the same:

They both combine many sub-disciplines.

They are also able to work together.

And the surprise ending I’ve been leading us toward all along?

It is this:

These days, you really cannot be a philosopher without understanding as much about psychology as you possibly can.

One would hope that psychologists would also be guided by philosophy, particularly in the realm of ethics. But let’s call a spade a spade. It is in no particular way necessary to know about philosophy in order to engage in psychology. Sadly, many people aren’t even aware of what philosophy really is.

But philosophers must be aware of psychology and that is because philosophy deals with the nature of reality. Science has evolved to become a very key part of reality indeed, and its importance is only growing.

The Future of Philosophy and Psychology

In order to ensure that psychology helps humanity flourish and doesn’t drown it in psychiatric pills or what Jerry Muller calls the Tyranny of Metrics, it’s imperative that we all practice philosophy at its highest level.

This means that we must practice free inquiry. We must keep our critical thinking skills sharp. We must be able to reflect deeply on how psychology affects our individual experiences and our global culture.

The ability of philosophy to help make sense of what psychology tells us about the human brain and how it produces our experience of mind should never nudge psychology out of the way.

Rather, we must use our philosophical skills to help us understand what is empirically justified in psychology. And as philosophy continues to evolve, we as sophisticated philosophers must recognize the limits of philosophy when it cannot be empirically justified.

When well-used, philosophy’s many methods bolster psychology’s main scientific method. And at the end of the day, the earliest philosophy on record points us to precisely this quest.

As discussed in A Companion to African Philosophy, the Ancient Egyptian philosophers talked about tep-heseb, or the “correct method.” They believed that correct thinking was possible. In other words, that thinking can and should be correct.

In that regard, our best philosophers and psychologists of today surely agree.

And if you’d like to remember everything we discussed today, please consider grabbing my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

I have combined the best of the philosophy of memory and the psychology of memory in this program to help you learn faster and remember more.

So what do you say?

Is the difference between psychology and philosophy clearer to you now?

I hope you can see that we don’t have to think in terms of psychology vs philosophy. Although they cannot be evenly weighted in any meaningful way, as the Ancient Egyptians indicated, they can be combined in ways that support “correct thinking” for one and all.