Anthony Metivier's Blog, page 31

The 2016 MMM State Of Your Memory Address

[image error]Was 2016 as amazing for you as it was for me?

If you did anything to experience memory improvement, I’ll bet it was great.

Probably even Magnetic.

My top highlight?

Getting interviewed on my own show by none other than SuperLearner Jonathan Levi.

So even there though’s a lot of groovy things to read on this page and year end links to explore …

Scroll up and hit that play button. Jonathan helps me dig deep into the Mind of a Memorizer.

And it’s all kind of fascinating, because when you think about it …

 

Who Knew You Could Still Improve

The Ancient Art Of Memory Improvement?

 

Hard to believe, but totally true.

And you can do it even if you were a “delinquent youth,” which is just one of the topics we touch upon in the interview.

We also talk about dealing with Manic Depression without medication …

The nature of truth and memory …

And my top book and movie recommendations, including:

Books

The Republic

The Nichomachean Ethics

Better Never To Have Been: The Harm Of Coming Into Existence

Movies

Lost Highway (best memory quote in cinema history)

eXistenZ

The Matrix

And while you’re jamming your way through those great movies, I have to say that my all time favorite video course from 2016 has been SuperLearner 2.0:

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Thanks to my friendship with Jonathan, you can now take a free trial of the SuperLearner Academy. Thanks for that, Jonathan!

An Easy Way To Learn Chinese That Works For People Bored By Mindless Repetition

Except for the threats, the sirens and the guys with guns … last night was amazing for my memory.

First, April got invited to make dumplings to celebrate the last day of Autumn and the first day of Winter on the Chinese calendar.

I love the Magnetic Memory Method because I was able to remember those words in Chinese …

秋天 qiūtiān (Autumn)

冬天 dōngtiān (Winter)

Crazy thing is … I’d only heard them once in my life and used an impromptu Memory Palace to memorize them.

Months later …

 

Still Intact

 

Sure, I had a bit of a pronunciation problem, but that’s muscle memory. It’s understandable that words you don’t use for months that you only heard once don’t exactly snap into place.

But what a GREAT feeling to be able to remember them! And all by doing something I really love:

Using my memory.

After that, we were shooting video and getting into more of the particulars about how all this works.

 

We Got Lost!

 

We wound up getting a bit lost and keeping warm inside the bank machine area of a building.

And that’s when the threats and guns appeared.

Turns out, that a guy didn’t like me having the camera on while April was teaching me how to say, “I’m lost” in Chinese.

Good thing the Magnetic Memory Method teaches relaxation as part of the memory technique …

You certainly need to be calm when a stranger starts telling you what you can and cannot do.

It’s hard managing your defensive instincts and memory at the same time.

(You’ll laugh when you see my reaction in the video and the guns that were there to keep us safe all along).

So yes, April and I survived.

 

Perfect Recall … Even Under Duress

 

And the coolest thing is that I was still able to memorize “I am lost” in Chinese.

I can still remember exactly how to say it this morning.

Not to mention a couple of other words and phrases.

Like, “Smells good!”

And “garbage can.”

 

Instantly Memorized!

 

No sweat.

No tears.

No index cards.

No software.

But as I was editing the video this morning … it occurred to me that not everyone learning Chinese has access to native speakers.

And in the video I was talking about some solutions. They’re all part of The Big Five of Language Learning.

But then I remembered something really special I’ve been following for awhile.

It’s a website called MandarinHQ.

And when they released a course on real spoken Chinese, I jumped at the chance yesterday to grab access to it.

It’s called The Real Spoken Chinese Vault.

Yes, I laid down some cash even though I have a Chinese native speaker in my family.

 

Why?

 

Partly because I like to support awesome people out on the Internet who do good work.

But also because I do memory research.

Lots of it.

And I also want to support  because what I’m about to tell you helps solve a huge problem for people learning Chinese.

It’s the “Can you please repeat that?” problem.

 

Chinese Native Speakers On Demand

 

Imagine having a video course where you get access to vocabulary and short phrases that lets you …

Instantly click a button …

… and then instantly hear that phrase again.

That would be cool, wouldn’t it?

Well, The Real Spoken Chinese Vault isn’t just about audio.

 

You Can Hear Them And See Them

 

The Real Spoken Chinese Vault also has video.

And you get strategically placed buttons so that you can see and hear 4-5 different native speakers repeat key phrases you’ll need to learn.

It’s the kind of button I wish I had in real life when learning a language.

 

For When You Can’t Put Life On Pause

 

Because, yes, I can memorize information in real time.

But sometimes it’s nice to be able to slow the world down and repeat things so I’m sure I’ve heard it right.

In fact, most of my memorization errors from real-time memory work come from now having heard it right.

What you’re about to learn about solves that problem.

Again, you get to SEE and HEAR native Chinese speakers.

 

A Lot In The Form Of Important

Questions And Answers

 

Just like you’ll need to know in every day speech.

But there’s more.

Not much more, but just enough more to make this powerful package a no-brainer:

Because the program really wants to help you learn Chinese without overwhelming you …

Imagine a progression of exposure to the language in each lesson.

You start with seeing and hearing the speaker.

 

Progressive Exposure

Reduces Cognitive Overwhelm

 

You can repeat each one delivering the phrase as many times as you like.

Then, when you’re ready, you can see the pinyin.

Same principle applies.

Click that magic repeat button all that you like as you watch and listen.

And then move on to the next stage.

 

When You’re Ready …

 

Then, and only then will you see the Chinese characters on the screen.

Your magic repeat button is right there, ready for use.

This program truly is one of the only times I will support hard-repetition. It’s very smartly done.

It’s not boring.

It’s not painful.

And you learn in a way that doesn’t waste your language learning time.

I also like that each module ends in a quiz.

 

You Get To Test Yourself

 

So far, I’ve done really well and LOVE this program.

And you can get lifetime access now at a HUGE discount (time is running out, though!)

So let me introduce you to my friend Angel to explain her “listening framework” in detail.

If you want to join me in the course, before the deadline …

I’m going to do you even one better:

I’m going to make you a short video course of what I’m doing to memorize the material I need from the course using the Magnetic Memory Method.

But here’s the thing:

This bonus is only for people who take Angel’s course and keep it.

She’s being VERY generous with this discount for early adopters on LIFETIME ACCESS.

And I only want to reward people who take it for 30-days along with me.

So that means I’ll be sending you your access to the MMM Chinese Vault Supplemental 30-days after you grab The Real Spoken Chinese Vault before the deadline.

Just click here right now to check out The Real Spoken Chinese Vault now.

Can’t wait to share more of my Chinese memory journey with you soon!

Sincerely,

Anthony

P.S. Remember: This amazing opportunity for LIFETIME access to Angel’s The Real Chinese Vault with its unique listening and viewing framework closes soon. You should at least look it over.

P.P.S. You’re right. One bonus from me isn’t enough.

I’m also going to throw in a video I’ve already made about how that I quickly memorize Chinese poetry.

The poems are usually only 4 lines long, but I only need to hear them once. Recall is so strong that I am delighted by the response of native Chinese speakers.

Just check out this email I received after dinner the other night:

“Dear Anthony,

It was definitely happy time having dinner with you.

Especially, I checked out your website, that’s amazing. Those techniques, please forgive me that I call them techniques, help people memorize things. Actually, I was shocked that day, with your Mandarin.

As you know, not even all of real Chinese people speak 100% correct mandarin. And the way you were trying to memorize the few Chinese poems is cool. When I was trying to memorize the same poem at very young age, I don’t know what those words/characters mean. I just repeat it again and again. Those are ancient/classical Chinese words and very different from nowadays.”

​If you’d like to get emails like that yourself from native Chinese speakers, don’t miss out on my bonus. Scroll and click that link for The Real Chinese Vault now.

P.P.P.S. Oh, okay, yes after 30-days in The Real Chinese Vault, you can also get access to my Secret Chinese Vocabulary Facebook Group.

Unlike some of the other FB groups I run, this one isn’t free and the fun for language learners who use memory techniques is only getting started …​​​​

Scroll up, click the link and check out The Real Spoken Chinese Vault now.

The post An Easy Way To Learn Chinese That Works For People Bored By Mindless Repetition appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.

Memory Palace Science: Proof That This Memory Technique Works

[image error]In the modern world of omnipresent information access, memorization is almost a thing of the past.

And this shift has occurred very quickly. Little more than a decade ago, it wasn’t uncommon that a person had to memorize a sizable list of phone numbers belonging to partners, siblings, parents and close friends.

Now Many Of Us Forget Our Own Cell Phone Numbers!

 

Despite this, there are situations in the modern day that still require memorization. Perhaps phone numbers and historical facts are better left to Google, but not everything can and should be searched via a computer.

A notable example which is becoming conversant is “language” – which requires that you memorize a huge amount of vocabulary and grammar.  Until now, there isn’t a technology effective enough to replace human ability to learn and master a language.

In the past, having to memorize information was not optional because information wasn’t easily accessible. Up until the 19th century, paper was expensive, especially for quantities required to make a book.  To add to it was that not many people could read and write so the ability and need to memorize and recall information was critical.

 

Why The Greeks Adored Memory Palace Science

 

That’s why a powerful memorization method was adored by the ancient Greeks. This technique is used even as at today by memory experts to commit huge amounts of information to mind.

One such memory expert, used it to memorize Pi to over 100,000 digits. This memorization technique is called the Method of Loci, or more commonly the “Memory Palace”. It is a memorization method that not only has held the test of time, but has been shown to be effective through modern-day studies.

You may even have heard of the Memory Palace technique without realizing it because it has been featured in multiple books and media.

 

The Silence Of The Memory Palace

In Fiction And Movies

 

For example, the technique was employed by the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter in the novel series “Hannibal” written by an American author Thomas Harris. In several passages of the novel, Lecter was described as mentally walking through an elaborate memory palace to remember facts. That’s the basics of the Memory Palace technique.

Although relatively unknown, this method can be a game-changing technique for people who want to improve their ability to retain large amounts of information. You might be a student trying to master information for an exam, or an aspiring polyglot trying to learn Italian. You might be aging and finding it more difficult to recall routine information.

Whatever memorization challenge you face, the Memory Palace technique is a proficient way to finally help you achieve your goals.

 

How the Memory Palace Technique Evolved

 

The origin of the Memory Palace technique was traced to ancient Greece. As mentioned earlier, in the olden days, people had higher incentives to create effective methods of retaining information. Writing and writing materials were difficult to access.

The Memory Palace technique was introduced to the ancient Romans and the world via Greek rhetorical treatises.

The Roman Cicero described the Memory Palace technique in his writings on rhetoric, called De Oratore.

In De Oratore, Circero claims that the method originated from the Greek poet Simonides. Simonides was commissioned to recite a poem praising a group of nobles at a banquet. After the recitation, Simonides left the hall and shortly after the edifice collapsed and killed all the people in the banquet.

The bodies were so badly mangled that not even close relatives could identify the corpses of their own people. However, Simonides was able to identify each of the corpses by name based on their location. Based on this experience, Simonides devised the Memory Palace technique (Bower 1970).

Whether this story is reality or myth, it illustrates the basic idea behind the Memory Palace technique. Luckily, you don’t have to attend a tragic banquet to master the technique and start using it to improve your information retention.

For a true story that will rivet you from beginning to end, check out The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci.

 

How to Create a Memory Palace

 

The basic idea behind the Memory Palace Technique is to associate pieces of information with a location that you are very familiar with. A prime example would be of your home.

If you close your eyes right now, you can probably picture your home with a high degree of detail. You know where the furniture is found, what colors the walls are, and even where small objects are placed.

The Memory Palace technique has to do with associating information with specific areas of that familiar location. As you walk through that location, you place pieces of information that you wish to memorize in specific areas. When you want to recall the information, you go through that mental route, and the information will be easily accessible.

The technique is made more effective when you add surprising or out-of-the normal features to the information.

For example, assuming you would like to memorize this sequence of words:

hero
drill
spacecraft
music

You could imagine yourself at your front door, with a hero standing next to you. Here you’ve made an association between your door and a hero.

You can increase your ability to memorize and retain this by making the memory more distinctive or unusual. For example, you could imagine the hero opening the door for you, or banging on it before you enter.

You then walk down your hall, and before your feet is a drill. To increase the power of this imagery, imagine that it is turned on and you have to leap to avoid being hurt.

You then turn the corner and see a spacecraft flying out of the window leaving behind itself a trail of glitter.

Finally, you sat down on the couch, and as your bottom touches the cushion, your favorite song starts playing. You might even imagine the word “music” written on the cushion before you sit.

As you can see, the technique takes a vivid visual imagination. However, when done correctly, you can memorize a very large amount of information relatively quickly.

You can use any home or location with which you are familiar. You can even use small areas, such as the inside of a broom closet. You can even use your own body, attaching information to different limbs.

If any of this seems odd, continue reading to be convinced of how seriously well the Memory Palace technique works.

 

The Science behind the Memory Palace Technique

 

Many studies have been conducted to analyze the effectiveness of the Memory Palace technique.

In a study conducted by J. Ross and K. A. Lawrence in 1968, the Memory Palace technique was tested on a group of 40 students. The students were asked to memorize a list of 40 items. They were given only a few minutes to do so, yet were able to recall an average of 38 out of 40 items upon immediate recall.

The next day, the average recall rate dropped to 34 out of 40 items – still very impressive!

Nature Magazine did an investigation of so-called superior memorizers (SM) in a 2002 paper (Maguire et al). They studied a group of 10 champions who had competed in the World Memory Championships.

The researchers first wanted to know if these SMs had some special natural advantages that other people do not have, such as a higher IQ.

They first found out that SMs did not have exceptional cognitive abilities. In fact, they did not even show superior performance on visual memory tasks (for example, the recall of faces).

The paper further investigated the brain structure of these SMs, and found out that their brains were not significantly different from average brains (Maguire et al 2002).

The scientists also performed functional MRI scans to see if the SMs brains were activated differently when actively memorizing. Here the SMs brains differed from normal brains – SM’s brains activated particularly when memorizing (Maguire et al 2002).

Significantly, scientists found out that SMs all used mnemonic techniques to aid in their memorization. Nine out of ten of these subjects were specifically using the Memory Palace technique (Maguire et al 2002).

The different activation patterns observed were associated to the fact that SMs used mnemonic techniques, namely the Memory Palace technique, to memorize information (Maguire et al 2002).

 

No Need For A Huge IQ To Use A Memory Palace!

 

It’s not that SMs are smarter or have bigger brains than the rest of us. It’s that they use mnemonics, and specifically the Memory Palace technique to memorize information. That is the secret behind their impressive abilities. And because these SMs had been practicing the technique for a little over 11 years on average, they were really good (Maguire et al 2002).

This suggests that anyone with average abilities can use this technique to improve his/her memory.

Even if you are not seeking to learn large amounts of information, the Memory Palace technique still has something to offer. There is evidence that the Memory Palace technique can help maintain a healthy brain during old age.

 

Benefits of the Memory Palace

Technique for the Aging Brain

 

As we age, our memories become weaker. In elderly people, this might lead to a frustrating situation where they are struggling to recall routine information.

There has been much study on age-related memory loss, but so far not many effective solutions to this problem.

Happily, the Memory Palace technique holds promise in aiding the enhancement of memory in the aging brain.

One study conducted in Norway in 2010 employed expert instructors, who taught the Memory Palace technique to 23 volunteers. The average age of these volunteers was 61 (Engvig et al 2010).

After training, these volunteers were able to memorize a list of 30 words in sequential order in under 10 minutes – impressive!

A control group, a set of volunteers of the same average age, sex and education was included in the study. They were not trained in the Memory Palace technique, and were instructed to memorize the list as well (Engvig et al 2010).

Afterwards, both groups were released into the world to live normally for eight weeks.

When they returned to the study, researchers challenged both groups to a recall task.

They first flashed a list of 15 unrelated words, each for only a second. The volunteers were then instructed to recall the words in order.

Researchers then showed them a list of 30 words. Half of these words had been displayed in the initial 15 word list while the other half was completely new.

The volunteers were asked to pick out words that had previously appeared and also identify their correct position in the first list (Engvig et al 2010).

Volunteers trained in the Memory Palace technique outperformed the non-trained volunteers for recognizing the position of the words (Engvig et al 2010).

The study also measured the amount of brain thinning that occurred in the trained versus untrained groups of volunteers. Normal age causes the brain to shrink. The brain of the individuals showed thickening in areas of the brain which were key for visual abstract memory (Engvig et al 2010).

 

Why The Memory Palace Technique Is Not Snake Oil

 

This research and others like it have shown that the Memory Palace technique is not snake oil.

Sadly, most adults in the modern world are not encouraged to use their imagination. It might therefore be slightly challenging for someone newly using the technique to really get into it.

However, after practice, many find out that the technique is not only effective in memorization, but is also very engaging. Certainly more engaging than the traditional rote memorization technique.

With some practice, you’ll be impressing all of your friends and family with how good your memorization has gotten in no time.

 

References & Further Resources

 

Limited time only: Magnetic Memory Method Bonuses for Michael Hyatt’s Best Year Ever 

Bower, G. H., “Analysis of a Mnemonic Device: Modern psychology uncovers the powerful components of an ancient system for improving memory” American Scientist, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 496-510, September–October 1970 Web. 21 Jan. 2016..

Engvig, Andreas, Anders M. Fjell, Lars T. Westlye, Torgeir Moberget, Øyvind Sundseth, Vivi Agnete Larsen, and Kristine B. Walhovd. “Effects of Memory Training on Cortical Thickness in the Elderly.” NeuroImage 52.4 (2010): 1667-676. 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2016.

Fan, Shelley. “Can a Mnemonic Slow Memory Loss with Age?” Scientific American Blog Network. 20 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Jan. 2016.

Maguire, Eleanor A., Elizabeth R. Valentine, John M. Wilding, and Narinder Kapur. “Routes to Remembering: The Brains behind Superior Memory.” Nature Neuroscience Nat Neurosci 6.1 (2002): 90-95. Web. 22 Jan. 2016.

The post Memory Palace Science: Proof That This Memory Technique Works appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.

How To Combine Mind Mapping And Memory Palaces With Phil Chambers

[image error]You’ve heard about Mind Mapping and Memory Palaces, right?

Well, if you’re anything like the hundreds of people who have emailed me about it, you’ve probably wondered …

“Can I bring Mind Mapping and the Memory Palace together?”

To help me answer the question, I asked the reigning World Mind Mapping champion Phil Chambers to talk about Mind Mapping and how to bring this creativity, memory and learning tool together with a Memory Palace.

Turns out that we had a lot more than just that to talk about. Tune in to this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast and learn all about.

How To Combine Mind Mapping And

Memory Palaces With Phil Chambers

⊕ The techniques Phil uses in his personal daily memory practice.

⊕ How to capture and store ideas using memory techniques – even when you’re driving.

⊕ The number-rhyme technique to take action on to-do list items. (Not to be mistaken for the Major Method/Major System.)

⊕ The perfect Mind Mapping definition and where to learn more about mind mapping techniques

⊕ Why there are always new things to explore in the world of memory techniques. Once you start using them, you will never cap out on new angles to explore and increase your skills.

⊕ The difference between semantic memory and episode memory and how using the journey method capitalizes on the power of both. This is the most “natural” way to use your memory.

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Hanging out with Phil Chambers and Tony Buzan

⊕ The reasons why memory competition skills translate directly into every day memory needs we all face.

⊕ Why the principles behind Mind Mapping never changes, but Mind Mapping software continues bring new enhancements to the art and craft of this thinking, learning and planning tool.

⊕ Details on how to bring Mind Mapping together with the Memory Palace technique.

⊕ Why and how Mind Mapping uses all of the classic memory techniques.

⊕ The major criticism about memory techniques as regurgitation of knowledge and not learning – and why it’s misguided.

⊕ Why Phil’s title as a World Mind Mapping champion is up for grabs and exactly how to take his title.

⊕ The exact criteria by which world class Mind Mapping is judged.

⊕ Why you should never worry about your artistic ability when creating Mind Maps.

⊕ Phil’s Mind Mapping examples of how to schedule your week and get more done.

⊕ How Mind Mapping your daily schedule gives you many more details than a to-do list. Not only that, but you’ll often be able to double your efforts in ways you wouldn’t have otherwise seen on a page with linear notes.

Further Resources

 

101 Top Tips For Better Mind Maps By Phil Chambers for Kindle

Phil Chamber’s website (where you can subscribe to his newsletter!)

Phil Chambers on Twitter

Phil Chambers on YouTube

Phil Chambers Talks About The Outer Limits Of Memory Skills

The post How To Combine Mind Mapping And Memory Palaces With Phil Chambers appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.

Joanna Jast On How To Hack Your Habits

[image error]Remember Joanna Jast and all those tips she gave you on how to improve focus and concentration while you work on memory improvement?

Good news.

Joanna’s back with a new book called Hack Your Habits and in this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we’ve got her here to talk about it.

As always, I’ve got the interview transcript for you below and would love to hear your comments and questions in the discussion area below. Enjoy!

 

Why You Don’t Have To Have It All Mapped Out

To Get A Handle On Your Habits

 

Anthony: You go into your personal story in the introduction. Why do you think you faced so many challenges and what was the turning point?

Joanna Jast: It’s interesting you’re asking me this question. I actually thought about it the other day on my way to work. And – I don’t really have the answer. I suppose it’s the combination of many factors: my temperament – which is like emotional and behavioural building blocks for personality and to large extend is hardwired, inborn, so my temperament, my upbringing, the environment I grew up in, the challenges I faced in life and the solutions to those challenges I chose to follow etc.

I haven’t got it all ‘mapped out’, but I think the key reasons why I’ve faced so many difficulties is my low threshold for boredom, poor ability to delay gratification, my self-compassion, which drives many of my willpower failures with: ‘But you deserve it, Joanna… you’ve had such a bad day’.

The turning points? There have been quite a few. But if I was to choose the key turning points that led me to create my own system for building better habits, it would be the following three:

The first one the day when my study routine was born. It was actually accidental – I wrote about it in my book Laser-Sharp Focus. It was the moment when I decided to stop trying to study in the evening, sitting on the sofa or on the bed and start doing it in the morning, at my desk.

To cut a long story short, I suddenly realised not only how much more productive and effective my study sessions became, but also how much happier I became – with better grades, more energy and time to do other things in life.

Now, 20 years later, looking back at what happened, I realise that back then I created a study routine, which over the years became my productivity and now writing routine that has transformed my life. My study routine happened to be one on those keystone habits – habits that create a ripple effect throughout our life, creating space and energy for more healthy habits to emerge and grow stronger, ultimately transforming our lives.

 

How The Secrets Of Behavioral Economics

Can Improve Your Life

 

The second turning point was the day when I heard about Behavioural Economics for the first time. It was during a lecture on marketing. I went home, did more research, read books, articles, did a course and… fall in love with the approach. I thought this could be something that would work for me. So I started experimenting with various behavioural economics strategies. Initially, I applied them to sort out my finances – so paid off my debts and started saving money. Then, I started experimenting with my exercise routine and eating habits.

And the third pivotal point was, when I refined my exercise routine, my running routine to incorporate all the lessons I’d learnt about human nature and my own difficulties in forming habits, and particularly – my previous failures in establishing a reliable exercise routine. I used many of the behavioural economics strategies I’d learn about when doing it. And now I’ve got a running routine, where I run 3 times per week, whether I feel motivated or not (and at least once a week I don’t feel motivated at all), whether is raining, or 100% humidity, or my foot is sore. I just do it.

 

The Truth About Your Age And Your Habits

 

Anthony: Is the problem of habits age specific? Does it apply to all ages equally?

Joanna Jast: I don’t know, really. I think this is a problem of our times though – so this modern age. We become more aware of the role and the impact of habits, good and bad, on our health, happiness, success, on our lives, and also we realise that motivation and willpower have limits. And that’s why we think about our habits more, we become interested in strategies for improving them.

You can say that ‘habits are in fashion these days’. And it’s nothing negative – on the contrary. I’m very happy to see that many people are turning away from relying on unreliable motivational strategies towards using more practical approaches to transforming their lives.

So it’s not only scientists, or health and fitness fanatics who are exploring habits. Many people, of all ages, are seeking better understanding of habits, and their own habits in particular, to improve their health, happiness, wealth, relationships and many other aspects of their personal and professional lives.

Anthony: Talk about putting systems on autopilot. It sounds too good to be true. What does “autopilot” mean and how can a person get started?

Joanna Jast: Putting a system on autopilot is about creating a system that makes you perform certain behaviour, or a sequence of behaviours without thinking much about it, without putting much energy into it. It’s like getting up in the morning and washing your face or brushing your teeth.

Most of us do it automatically, without thinking: Oh, geeesh, first, I need to wash my face, then, I need to brush my teeth, and then – I comb my hair. These are things that most healthy adults would do automatically every morning. These are habitual behaviours – well engrained in our brains, within the neural pathways.

For me putting a system, say an exercise routine, on autopilot is about creating a system that kicks in as if with a push of a button, and makes you go out and run three times per week, rain or shine, whatever your motivation level, or the mood of the day.

 

How To Harvest The Power

Of Your Desired Outcome

 

Anthony: How can you get started?

Joanna Jast: I suggest you start with the end result in mind. Start with what you want to achieve. You need to understand what problem you are trying to solve, but more importantly, what you are trying to achieve.

I like the concept of Desired Outcome, which I’ve borrowed from user experience design field. Desired Outcome is what we really want. Not what we think we want. Not what other people are telling us we should want. But what we’re really really want.

In my new book, Hack Your Habits, I write about my own struggle to cut down on my carbohydrate intake. I’ve got a sweet tooth and sadly, also use sweets as a reward and a way to boost my ‘motivation’ or willpower to carry on with tasks I don’t really want to do, tasks that are too difficult, too complex, etc. There was a time I was eating a lot of sweets. I was going through a stressful time personally and professionally, and this was my way of dealing with stress. So I wanted to cut down on my carbs.

So initially, I thought about this task as a cutting on my carbs task, a diet-changing task. I was all motivated to do that, and all. But it didn’t work.

So I looked at the whole issue again and really wanted to zoom in on what I cared about. And don’t get me wrong, I do care about my health, but the instant gratification monkey that lives in my brain always tells me that I can start again tomorrow, and now – I can have that biscuit.

So I had to start with the Desired Outcome. Yes, I wanted to eat less carbs, but what I really wanted out of it was to be able to resist sweets and toast with jam.

So I reframed my goal, taking into consideration my personality, my temperament, my weaknesses and strengths. I’ve got a competitive streak, I’m an achievement junkie, and I get excited with new ideas and testing them. So this ended up as an exercise in self-control and I did really well.

 

2 Of The Most Powerful Questions You’ll Ever Ask Yourself

 

So the Desired Outcome is where you need to start. What do you want out of it? Do you really care about it? And it has to be something you really care about, you care about. If you don’t care about it truly and deeply, it won’t really happen.

Anthony: You talk about getting the diagnosis right when tackling a problem. What does this mean and how does one get started?

Joanna Jast: I really like this quote from Albert Einstein:

’If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute solving it’.

And I would do the same.

If you’re trying and trying and trying to solve a problem, say of your unhealthy diet, or an unproductive study routine, and you’re constantly failing, it may be that you’re using an ineffective strategy, but it may also be that you’re trying to solve the wrong problem.

In medicine, getting the diagnosis right is crucial to an effective treatment plan. And getting it wrong can really result in people dying. This is not as serious as that with habits, but in the end, if you don’t understand, if you don’t define your problem correctly, you can waste a lot of time, energy, and even money on trying to fix something that is not the reason for your struggles.

Let me reiterate it: the better you understand what’s wrong, what’s not working, the more targeted your solutions, your treatment will be.

How to go about diagnosing your problem? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as doing an X-ray or a blood test, but it is doable.

Start with self-reflection, and be honest with yourself.

For me there are two major components to understand any problem you have: you – how you operate, your personality, motivation, strengths and weaknesses and your context.

The context is the external environment, your internal environment and your social environment. And they all come with their own limitations – what’s possible and constraints – what’s appropriate.

 

Why It’s Never Mind Over Matter

 

And it’s important to include that context -your physical environment, and your social environment as well. The power of those external systems that force us into behaving in certain ways is really undermined by many people. We think it’s all mind over matter – but if your physical environment or social context, is not conducing to exercising, or a healthier diet – it makes the change much, much more difficult. So don’t underestimate that.

And once you’ve got a good understanding how you and your problem or your habits goals sit within you and your context, you are in a good position to start tackling it.

So self-reflection if used with a healthy dose of honesty, is a great tool for discovering, diagnosing your problem. You can ask other people for their opinion what they think is not working for you. But then, they will be biased and what’s more important – they may not have access to some of your hidden motivations, or aspects of your personality or life you don’t share with others.

 

How To Get Started Fixing Persistent Problems

 

To get a really good grip on what’s wrong when fixing persisting problems, I ask myself two questions:

The first question is: What is this for? What is this doing for me? What purpose does it serve? What need does it meet? And this works really well with habits, because every habit serves a purpose. And most bad habits, such as overeating, procrastination, or shouting at your kids usually either helps either deal with boredom or with stress.

And the other questions I ask myself is: why have I failed at addressing it so far?

And once you’ve got it figured out, it will fall into those categories I’ve just talked about – you and your context. It should give you a better understanding of what it is and why you’re struggling to address it. And from this point, finding the best solution is quite straightforward really.

 

Exactly When You Should Run From

S.M.A.R.T. Goals Kicking And Screaming

 

Anthony: Talk about SMART goals. What’s your major concern with this popular approach to goal setting?

Joanna Jast: The SMART goal setting framework is very popular, and it does work for most things, but in my opinion it does not work for habit goals, and for a number of reasons.

First of all, let’s look at the last letter of this acronym: T – time-bound. Setting a habit-based goal with a deadline for achieving it is not a good strategy. Why? Because habits take as much time as they take to develop. Some of it is in your control, but let’s not forget we’re talking about creating or rearranging neural pathways in your brain. That takes time to shift.

Studies shows that habit formation depends on many factors, and most importantly on the person working on it – their motivation, personality, their context, as well as on the complexity of the habit itself. A simple habit can take a few days to develop, a more complex one, such as exercise – up to several months.

So if you give yourself a deadline for your habit goal, you may be bitterly disappointed if you don’t achieve it before it. That’s just setting yourself up to fail. So when setting habit based goals, don’t give yourself a deadline, but rather create a schedule for your new routine.

Then, there is the matter of measurability , so the letter M- how do you measure your success in a achieving your habit. In my opinion, it’s important to look at it carefully and measure what you want to achieve. And my advice is to link it with your desired outcome.

So if you, like me, testing your ability to resist marshmallows, you measure your ability to resist marshmallows, not the side effect, the healthy eating side effect of it, or weight loss. When I’m building a new habit, I’m not interested in performance measures – I don’t care how far or how fast I run (I try not to at least), but I’m focused on getting it done every time I’m supposed to do it. So practice is more important than performance when working on developing a new habit, and we should measure accordingly.

 

Why You Need To Be Realistic With Your Habits

 

And there are two more aspects of the SMART framework I have an issue with it’s the A and R – achievable and realistic.

Call me cynical, call me a party pooper but I am not a big fan of being aspirational when setting your habit goals. It’s great to feel inspired and motivated to achieve greater things in life, but in the end the reality of my life is what It is, and no matter how hard I try to refrain from eating sweets by the sheer power of my willpower and my desire to be slim and beautiful, it’s going to collapse on day 3 or 4. That’s what the 30 years of my experience in doing it tells me.

So being realistic and setting habit goals that are achievable again refer to you and your context – your personality, your motivation, your inner world, your physical environment, your social environment and all these things that affect us with all their limitations and constraints.

Anthony: You mentioned two kinds of environment, internal and external. What are these and why is understanding the difference important?

Joanna Jast: The difference isn’t really that important. I just like having things organised in my head. I also like to make that distinction because it makes it easier to you look for solutions later on. And that’s how I look at difficulties in addressing habit problems. It’s again the same thing: the better you understand where your challenges come from, the easier it will be to find a solution to your problem. So we’re back to the importance of correctly diagnosing the problem.

Your external environment is what surrounds you – your physical environment, your house, workplace, the gym you go to, the supermarket where you shop; your financial situation, even the weather.

Your internal environment is the environment you create for yourself – your thoughts, your emotions, your motivation, your values, what happens with your body.

 

How To Use Cues To Hack Your Habits

 

Anthony: What are some of the “cues” you talk about? Which is the most important in your opinion?

Joanna Jast: Cues are very important. Cues remind us that we need to do something. They prompt us, trigger us to do what we’re suppose to do. They whole idea of a habit as a repetitive action in response to a cue, really relies on the cue being enough of a trigger.

So if you want to have an effective trigger, effective cue, find one that stands out in your environment. There is little point in putting your cue on a sticky note, and pinning it up on a corkboard full of similar sticky notes. You won’t see it.

I say: choose something that disrupts the fabric of your reality. Just like the sound of a notification ‘time to go for a run’ popping up on your screen. And it disrupts what you’re doing, right? But that may be not enough. If then instead of going for the run, you just snooze or close the notification, it’s just doesn’t work, does it?

So once again, it’s very important that the cue you choose stands out in your environment and is hard to ignore. The best cues are those that have a cost of ignoring involved.

 

The Cost Of Ignoring Your Cues

 

I’ll give you an example of what I mean by having the cost of ignoring the cue. So I run three times per week. And my cue is seeing my greasy hair in the mirror in the morning – I run on days when I need to wash my hair. This is how I know it’s my running day.

And the cost of ignoring this cue is that I’d have to go to work with my hair unwashed. That’s unacceptable. Or that I have to jump in the shower and wash my hair. I don’t like washing my hair in the morning. So if I wanted to back off and don’t go for a run – there is a cost involved. And it’s just so much easier to just go for a run.

Anthony: Talk about checklists. What’s the most important thing people need to know about them when building habits?

Joanna Jast: Checklists are fantastic tools. Checklists help saving lives, prevent infections and industrial accidents. Checklists are simple, effective, they lower your cognitive load, they have high reliability. Research shows that if you follow a checklist, you’re 75% less likely to miss any of the steps required – and reduce the likelihood of failure to carry out your desired behaviour from 23% to 6% .

I use checklists particularly early in the process of establishing new habit, when I’m still learning what to do, when, in what sequence. I can’t rely on my memory anymore and I don’t want to add any more cognitive load to it.

The best way of creating a checklist is to:

Focus on critical steps and use as few steps as possible (the more steps you have, the more intimidating the checklist looks and the less likely you are to follow the steps – that’s just human nature
 Ideally, you want it to fit on one page (my checklists need to fit on a standard size post-it note – no room for writing novels!)
Make sure the sequence of steps fits the flow of your behaviour (e.g. Don’t turn your fitness tracked on before you put your running shoes on)
Use simple sentences and basic language
Have it visible and ideally where you will be carrying out your new habit. So if you’re trying to create a productivity or a focus routine – have your checklist somewhere in your workspace; highly visible to you of course. If you have a checklist for working out – keep it either with your workout gear, on your phone if you use your phone for tracking your workouts, or maybe even in the pocket of your running jacket.

 

How To Make Your Habits Perpetuate Themselves

 

Anthony: What is a habit loop?

Habit loop is the secret formula for creating and remodelling habits. It’s a three-element self-perpetuating cycle that is behind any automatic behaviour. It consists of three key elements:

Cue (also called reminder or trigger) – which we’ve just talked about
Routine (sometimes called Behaviour, Action)
Reward

Every habit rests on these three pillars: Cue that prompts you to carry out the Behaviour, which is then reinforced by the Reward. The more of those habit cycles you go through, the more often the behaviour gets reinforced, the stronger the habit is ingrained in your brain, and the stronger the neural pathway that is created in your brain.

 

What To Do If You Fall Off The Wagon

 

Anthony: What should someone do if they miss a day on their habits? How about a week? A month? A year? Is there a difference when it comes to getting back on the wagon?

Joanna Jast: There are habit building strategies that rely on performing your action every day – for example ‘don’t break the chain’ but actually, research shows that missing on a day in your habit routine does not make a difference to our habit formation process, but psychologically it may.

I wouldn’t worry too much about missing a day. I do it sometimes, not very often and only for very good reasons. Because life does get in the way of best-laid plans, so I just accept that. Sometimes you will be just too busy or too tired, or maybe sick, or you may have something super-important to do. Don’t beat yourself up about not ‘turning up’ one day. But get back on track as soon as possible. Don’t let the not turning up become a pattern, because this is when it becomes a problem.

When it becomes a pattern? You may have your own individual ‘definition’ of pattern, for me it goes like that: once can happenstance, twice is a coincidence, three is a pattern.

The more days you miss, the harder it will be to return to your routine.

If you notice that you miss your routine are more and more often, you need to look at your system again. Because it means your system is not working as well as it could or should.

And for me, it’s going back to the beginning – maybe not necessarily to the desired outcome, but at least going over all those limitations and constraints that come from within me, or from my environment. Because it my system is not delivering as well as it used to, it means that something has changed.

And sometimes those changes are temporary. For example you are on holidays and working away and you’re struggling to keep your exercise routine up because your environment is different. And sometimes the change may be more permanent. For example if you just had a baby your productivity or sleep routine may be affected in a way you’ve never experienced before.

Things like that will happen, because that’s part of life. For me, it’s always about being mindful that your habit system will also be affected. So it is crucial that you recognise when it happens and adjust your system to cater for your changed needs, or changed life circumstances.

The key thing is to realise when a temporary change has become more permanent, and make appropriate adjustments in your system. Or redesign it completely.

 

Why Your Willpower Resources Are Limited

 

Anthony: You talk about how willpower needs to replenish itself. What’s this all about?

Joanna Jast: This is about the concept of willpower or ego depletion – the theory that the amount if willpower we have is limited. We have like a willpower tank, where only so much willpower can be stored. And every time you use some of that willpower from your tank, there is less left for later. The amount of willpower will not increase, until you are able to replenish it. And that goes back to the studies done by Roy Baumeister, who is a social psychologist and one of the key researches in the field of self-control and willpower.

However, newer research challenges this belief about willpower depletion, suggesting that we have as much willpower as we perceive it. So again, it’s all in the mind.

Personally, it’s not a scientific argument, I know, but personally I experience those willpower outages quite often, and I’m aware of typical situations that are likely to cause it.

I’m also very conscious that I don’t have much willpower and need to be careful in how I use it. I make sure that I’m able to recover safely before I make any silly decision when my willpower tank is on zero.

What helps with the process of replenishing willpower is rest, and sadly, something sugary, or at least of a sweet taste in your mouth.

 

How To Experience A Miracle Every Morning

 

Anthony: What is scribing?

Joanna Jast: Scribing is one of life SAVERs, as Hal Elrod calls them. One of the key elements of the morning routine he recommends in his bestselling book the Miracle Morning. (Silence, Affirmations, Visualisation, Scribing, reading, Exercise)

In a nutshell scribing is about taking a minute out of your time, in the morning, to write down what you’re grateful for, what you’re proud of, and the results you’re committed to creating for that day. Doing so, you put yourself in an empowered, inspired, and confident state of mind.

It’s scribing is journaling that encompasses gratitude – one of the key factors in creating the sense of happiness and fulfilment in life, positive affirmations, stock-taking, reminding yourself of your goals.

It’s an excellent to start your day.

 

One Of The Most Powerful Principles

You Can Ever Live By

 

Anthony: You have a bonus section in the book. What habits did you use to get in contact with all those high-profile authors and convince them to contribute to the book?

Joanna Jast: It’s not really about me or my habits. The people who contributed to my book, Steve SJ Scott, Hal Elrod, Stephen Guise and Martin Meadows – they are amazing people, who are very generous, humble, and have fantastic knowledge and experience to share and they desire to use it to help other people. And that’s really what it is about – collaborating in helping people become happier, live more fulfilling lives.

But from the practical point of view, what helped me in reaching out to them, it’s not a habit, but more a principle I live by – it’s about building relationships with people; it takes time and you need to invest upfront.

Anthony: What’s coming up next for you and where can people get in touch?

Joanna Jast: At the moment I’m very excited with the launch of my new book: Hack Your Habits. 9-steps to finally break bad habits and start thriving. I’ve been also getting a lot of emails and messages form people asking me to help them transform their habits, speed up the learning and adaptation curve. I’m not providing individual support at the moment, but I’ve been thinking about it. So watch this space.

Early next year, my previous book Laser-Sharp Focus will be published as an audiobook and I’m really excited about it, too. I’m also thinking about translating the into other languages, as people have been asking me about it.

For now, if you want to stay in touch – visit my website www.shapeshiftersclub.com and subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date and get some insider tips on habit hacking, focus sharpening and faster learning. You can also try to catch me on Twitter and on Quora – which is the only site I allow myself to browse when procrastinating.

Further Resources

Joanna Jast on Quora

 

Joanna Jast on Twitter

 

 

The post Joanna Jast On How To Hack Your Habits appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.

The Steps I Took To Memorize 3 Chinese Poems In 2.3 Weeks

[image error]Chinese poems thrill poetry fans around the world. They’ve been translated into umpteen languages and create wonderful images in the mind.

Here’s something even cooler:

As a student of the Magnetic Memory Method, it’s easy to encounter a new Chinese poem just once and memorize it with a high level of recall.

We’re talking 92-95% accuracy after 24 hours, with 98-100% accuracy thereafter using MMM Recall Rehearsal.

And the best part is:

 

Each Poem Is Easier To Memorize Than The Last!

 

So by now you’re probably asking …

How does the Magnetic Memory Method work for memorizing Chinese poems? And how can I do it too?

I’m glad you asked because the steps are clear, crisp, clever and concise.

 

1. Get some Chinese poems (Duh!)

 

In this regard, I’m the luckiest man on the planet. I’m married to a woman who knows a bunch of Chinese poems by heart.

But even if you don’t have a Chinese speaker in your life, it’s easy to find someone using a learn languages online service.

The important thing is to choose poems that are short, sweet and simple. This helps reduce the cognitive overload at the beginning.

 

2. Have More Than One Memory Palace On Hand

 

It’s no secret that I teach the Memory Palace technique as a skill of multiples. One is the most dangerous number when it comes to memory, so make sure that:

1) You always have more than one Memory Palace ready to go.

2) You have the ability to create an impromptu Memory Palace on the fly.

With these two abilities, you can either use a pre-existing Memory Palace or just whip one up on the spot.

In this case, each of the Chinese poems I’ve learned are only four lines each. I used a new Memory Palace for each.

I created the first two Memory Palaces on the fly, one in a hotel room, the other in an AirBnB. The third was in my current kitchen, a Memory Palace I’ve been using and reusing for Chinese since I started learning the language.

 

3. Create Your Associative-Imagery

Word For Word, Line By Line

 

Nothing creates more fun than creating associations that let you recall information like the lines of Chinese poems.

I like to get a sense for the word and let my mind do the work without force. Daily meditation helps because I’m relaxed, but I also tell April to give me a second when she feeds me the lines. In that second, I’m breathing and accessing the deepest reservoirs of relaxation I’ve cultivated over the years.

I also do a quick body scan and squeeze all my major muscles. This calms and centers me. My ego gets out of the way and all forms of resistance slip away.

Please don’t laugh at the meditation and relaxation. They are key to the success of most memorizers and memory competitions incorporate a version of it into the events.

 

The “Buttock Squeeze” Memory Technique

You Should Not Dismiss

 

I’ll never forget the Amazon reviewer who dismissed one of my books because I talk about relaxation and memory – including squeezing your buttocks. It was a seriously strange review.

But here’s the thing:

If taking a second to clear the mind and body good enough for memory competitors who demonstrate intense memory feats like memorizing a deck of cards in under 20 seconds, it’s good enough for my simple goal of memorizing some Chinese poems.

Don’t discount the power of relaxation in your memory practice. It makes a huge difference.

And yes, squeezing each muscle in your body – including your rear end – helps. Try it before you knock it.

Prime Ministers Of Canada: How To Memorize Them All

[image error]Life is good, isn’t it? You bet it is.

But for some reason, when times get tough, without knowing a thing about the Prime Ministers of Canada, people around the world throw up their hands and say, “It’s time to head to the Great White North.”

Here’s the thing:

You’ll find some beautiful terrain and plenty of peace-loving citizens. But as a nation, we do not lack our own host of colorful characters.

So if you’re coming over for a permanent BBQ in response to US election results or some dictator who’s been giving you the squeeze, it’s time to learn how to memorize the Prime Ministers of Canada. It’s important to know what you’re getting into, after all.

5 Ways To Get More Interested In Boring Topics You Have To Study

[image error]Studying about boring topics you don’t give a hoot about sucks, right?

Especially when you’re in a rush.

Especially when all you want is the grade, the certification, the knowledge.

Well, I can’t make any promises, but there might be a way to help make any topic much more interesting to you. At the very least, we can remove the sting of boredom. At best, we can make any topic we want 100% Magnetic.

1. Warning Signs That Your Mindset Is Off

 

I know, I know. You’re tired of hearing about mindset.

But let’s face it. We have minds. Every day we wake up with more or less the same world outside the window. Just like we have to make our beds so that the sheets won’t be sprawled all over the place, we have to set up our minds for success.

But that’s the problem, isn’t it?

Lots of people are happy to leave their beds messy all day long and then crawl into the unkempt mess at night. It’s cold because the mattress has been exposed and probably a bunch of insects have settled into the dune-like patterns. Sure, you might fall asleep okay, but there’s nothing like slipping into a made bed.

You know it’s true.

 

It’s The Same Thing With Your Mind!

 

Sure thing, you can get through life without setting up your mind for success, but it will be cold and exposed to the elements. The bugs will crawl in and lay their eggs, and you’ll never get the warmth you deserve.

But take just a few moments to tidy up and you’ll reduce the suffering that comes from studying things you don’t like.

Because that’s just the thing: A lack of mindset is probably the thing that got you into a position where you’re studying things you’re not passionate about in the first place. You’re probably studying material that produces no great excitement because you’re chasing after hopes and beliefs and dreams and wishes – not what you really want.

 

How To Set A Powerful Mindset For Learning

 

Whether you’re trapped or not, the process works the same. The best way to get your mindset in order is to set it each and every morning. As I talked about in the Mandarin Chinese Mnemonics And Morning Memory Secrets episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, having morning rituals is a killer way to conquer the day.

When it comes to creating a mindset for making the material you’re studying vibrant and exciting, all you have to do is write down in a journal how exciting it is to be studying and how grateful you are to have the opportunity.

And it’s true: Not everyone has the learning opportunities you do. A massive percentage of people in the world don’t have access to the Internet, schools, books or anything even remotely related to helping them develop their knowledge.

But you …

 

You’ve Got Everything You Need

 

So take a moment every day to recognize what an amazing opportunity you have. If that isn’t a recipe for injecting excitement into a boring topic … I don’t know what is.

 

2. Be An Info-Completionist

 

Okay, so now that you’re plump with self-hypnosis induced excitement for the privilege of study, you still have to sit down and learn the stuff.

The question is … How?

A lot of people ask me how I manage to read so much, and the answer is simple:

Get a book. Find a place to sit. Read the book. Repeat until you’re done.

I don’t say that to be flippant, but it’s the truth. If you’re trying to read in a place filled with distractions or on a device that encourages you to skip from tab to tab and answer notifications …

 

Stop Trying To Read Like That!

 

Seriously. It’s not a recipe for success.

Plus, you want to read in a way that helps you isolate the information you want to memorize. I have two posts with podcasts and videos that show you how to realistically memorize a textbook. Just check out the video for now:

If you want more information, listen to How to Memorize A Textbook and study the infographic.

True, my approach to realistically memorizing textbooks involves a bit of setup, but people who give it a try usually find that the process makes reading and remembering the key points of even the most difficult books much easier.

The best part:

By having a dedicated strategy for reading books, you make it a lot more fun. Like having a mindset, having a process you can follow without having to think about it makes everything more fun and interesting. Having operating principles and guidelines reduces cognitive load, and like Tony Buzan said when I studied with him, the rules set you free.

 

3. Look For The Parts That Do Interest You

 

One thing that you’ll learn from my training on (reasonable) textbook memorization is how to skip the parts that don’t interest you.

No, you can’t always do this. There are times when you have to slog through boring stuff you don’t care about.

But here’s the thing: by knowing what you do care about, you get more interested in things that connect with it. It happens automatically.

And when interest doesn’t spontaneously erupt, you at least get a clearer picture of why those other elements are necessary. The more you know about a topic changes the nature of what you don’t know. It makes it more attractive, more Magnetic.

And that which becomes more Magnetic is easier to attach to memory because you’re simply more interested in it.

4. Invite Information Into Your Memory

In other words, use memory techniques.

You knew this was coming, didn’t you?

Let’s face it: The best way to make dry and boring information more interesting is to make it part of your memory improvement lifestyle. That means organizing the information so that you can rapidly absorb it into a Memory Palace.

To do that, you get to invite the information into a place you’ve created in your mind. I don’t want to sound woo-woo, but there’s something ritualistic about this. It’s like anointing information, blessing it or touching its shoulder with the edge of your sword as if you were knighting it.

Once anointed, you start looking at the information through mnemonic eyes. You’re looking for how you can attach it to associative-imagery and place these images on your Memory Palace stations. You’re already getting excited about revisiting your Magnetic Stations and decoding the imagery to ease it into long term memory.

And before you know it … The information isn’t boring any more.

Far from it! That information has become …

 

The Most Interesting Information In The World!

 

This is without a doubt the finest thing you can do for the life of your memory and overall intelligence. When you privilege information and stop demonizing it by framing it in negative ways, it will want to enter your mind.

Even better: If you’ve invited the information in just the right way, it will want to stay.

 

5. Bore Others To Death With Your Boring Topic

 

Just kidding.

By the time you’ve made the information interesting to yourself, you’ll be excited to talk about it and to do that, you should have something already in place:

Community.

Remember how I told you should be grateful for having the opportunity to learn in the first place? And how you can use your gratitude as a tool for generating excitement in even the most boring topic?

Well, you also have the Internet and thousands of groups people have created for discussing topics that they either find really exciting, challenging or want to kvetch about. You can find these groups meeting on forums, on Facebook, G+ or just shooting the breeze in YouTube comments.

Let’s say you’re studying cognitive therapy, something I’ve recently gotten interested in studying.

The first thing is to show some gratitude for having the time and opportunity even to do so. Write that down in your daily gratitude journal.

Then, hop on to Facebook and search for groups that are already discussing this topic. Ask to join. For example, you can ask to join my Learn German Memory Hacks group, or even the Magnetic Memory Method Private Facebook Group. Have fun once you’re inside!

But Proceed With Caution!

 

Don’t overwhelm yourself with this. Just pick one or two that looks like it has enough members for finding a decent amount of discussion in process.

Introduce yourself once you’ve been admitted. Tell them a bit about who you are and why you’re interested in the topic. Make friends with the group admins and shoot them a note to thank them for taking time to put the group together. Probably no one else is doing that so you’ll be on their radar and recognize your name later.

Why would that matter?

Easy. Because when you get bored or stuck somewhere in your reading, you have a place to go and post where at least a few people are going to know your name.

Knowing that you have a place to go and share ideas in advance is a great way of making sure a topic never becomes boring to you.

Of course, the dark side of this technique is that you’ll get swept away doing a thousand other things online, but we all need to learn how to balance these things. I’m writing this post now in a library where getting online is too much of a pain – deliberately so that I have no distractions.

Because here’s the core of the matter:

 

If You Really Want To Get Ahead, You Will Find A Way

 

And with that monster of a headline, we’ve circled back to mindset, something you can get started crafting or refining right now.

Exciting, isn’t it?

Now get out there and tackle some uninteresting information you using these tools. I dare you to be bored!

The post 5 Ways To Get More Interested In Boring Topics You Have To Study appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.

17 Reasons Going To Art Galleries Will Improve Your Memory

[image error]Want to improve your ability to use memory techniques almost overnight? I promise it’s super-easy. All you need is the willingness to support your nearest art gallery and your awareness of the following 17 reasons going to an art gallery is good for your memory.

 

1. Art Inspires Your Visual Imagination

 

When you’re using memory techniques, you draw upon visual imagination. Even if you’re only using words in your mind when developing mnemonics, you’re using visual words.

The more visual iconography you’ve seen in your life, the more potency the visual words you use will hold. Exposure equals experience. Experience leads to substance. When you use the words “run,” “hit” or any other verb, the more art you’ve seen, the great depth of meaning these words will have.

 

2. Art Depicts Words Used In Visual Ways

 

If you’ve been to an art gallery lately, you’ve undoubtedly seen how modern artists use words. Pop artists use comic strips. Futurists made a big deal out of typefaces. You don’t even have to enter an art gallery to see words used in graffiti on nearly every street in your city.

Looking at art and paying attention to how artists use words is especially great for inspiring how you can use your visual imagination to memorize foreign language vocabulary and phrases. Next time you’re in an art gallery, pay particular attention to how words appear in the exhibits.

3. Art Helps You Make Mental Connections

Between Space And Material Objects

 

Looking at art is never just about “looking.” As your eyes meet the graphic displays, ideas emerge. In fact, “art” happens the moment that you start thinking about what you’re looking at or noticing your emotional responses.

You can become conscious of what you’re thinking and feeling and use your awareness to become more visual. Reflect on how the visual experience has triggered your thoughts and responses.

Also, journal what you’ve thought while at the gallery. By writing down your responses, you access your memory. Accessing your memory exercises your mind, which helps keep it fit.

4. Visiting Art Galleries Makes

You Aware Of World Geography

 

It’s not just that art often depicts different parts of the world. Art galleries also exhibit art by international artists.

Pay attention to the international names and locations of where the art originates. This will exercise your geographical imagination and give you more facts to remember. It’s also great memory exercise to remember the names of the artists you see and include their home countries.

For bonus points, you can also use the Major Method to add the dates of their lives and when they created the pieces you’re admiring. The more experienced you become with memory techniques, the more information you can memorize at a single go.

Plus, the location of the art itself within the gallery amounts to a Memory Palace station. Using the location gives you great practice at using your spatial memory in addition to all the other tools mnemonics draw upon, such as association, semantic memory, episodic memory and the like.

 

5. Art Galleries Are Depositories Of History

 

Yes, you can memorize the raw data of dates when going to an art gallery. But you also expose your memory to information about historical periods.

Artists love to reference other eras and historical events. Some artists have even made careers out of referencing history. Fluency in art equals fluency in history, which is always good for your memory.

 

6. Art Galleries Exercise Your Ability To Create Meaning

 

Let’s face it: A lot of art doesn’t make much sense.

At least, that’s until you give it some thought and learn about how to interpret art. Believe me. Interpretation matters.

After all, a huge part of art interpretation is creating meaning. To have created meaning, you have to remember the meaning you created. Ergo, going to art galleries and interpreting what you see is good for your memory.

And if you’re practicing memory techniques, handling abstract ideas your mind is perfect for practicing the art of remembering challenging and abstract ideas. Art history is loaded with them.

 

7. Art Galleries Give You The Experience Of Puzzlement

 

Being puzzled by something is different than having to create meaning. To be puzzled, after all, you must have already understood something. Two (or more) things are separated and you know they go together …

You just have to figure out how. Visiting art galleries gives you that experience and to fit the pieces together, you need to hold them in memory.

The benefits of being puzzled are massive because it always exercises your memory as you work things out. Even if you give up before you’re satisfied, your memory abilities will have grown.

 

8. Art Galleries Create Enigmas

That Carry On Throughout Life

 

Looking at art not only forces you to create meaning and solve puzzles. It also creates unsolvable mysteries that you will carry throughout your life.

Take “The Persistence of Meaning” by Salvador Dali. What exactly does it mean? No matter how many times you see this painting, it still mystifies. The enigma of surrealism persists precisely because it resists meaning.

And yet, we can continuously connect to the enigma and try puzzling out new meanings even if we know we’ll never come to a conclusion. In Critical Theory, this is called “indeterminacy” and it is a powerful tool in art, cinema, theatre and literature.

 

Try This Simple Memory Exercise

 

For a cool memory exercise, take a painting like “The Persistence of Meaning” and try to remember the first time you saw it.

Even if you’re wrong, right down your earliest memory. For me, my earliest memory is in Collier’s Encyclopedia. I believe it was in black and white.

My next memory is seeing it in a book in high school. After that, I remember buying an art book, cutting it out and hanging it on my wall.

Although I surely saw it countless times after that, my next memory is seeing the painting itself in Manhattan.

My most recent memory is in seeing watch sculptures in Zürich-based on the melting timepiece in the painting. And that triggers my memory of hearing Alejandro Jodorowsky tell me about the time he met Dali as a boy and the story of finding a watch in the desert.

You don’t have to use “The Persistence of Time” when you do the exercise, but give it a try. List as many exposures to the artwork as you can and then free associate. You’ll find that your memory expands the more you use it, and all the more so as you engage in memory games of this sort.

 

9. Looking At Art In Galleries

Creates Conflicting Opinions

 

Even if you go to art galleries alone, you’ll often find yourself in disagreement. Many artists go out of the way to polarize audiences, and using tools like “indeterminacy,” they often pull your heartstrings in opposing directions.

Conflicts like these are perfect for memory because you’ll remember how you felt looking at the painting at a deeper level. You’ll have more interesting inner dialogs which also encodes longer term memories.

If you want to help yourself remember more, keep a journal of the conflicting opinions you experience while looking at art just before you sleep after visiting a gallery. The reason to do this before you go to sleep is that memories consolidate during the night. Some studies have shown that the closer to sleep that you review information, the more likely your brain is to consolidate it into long term memory.

 

10. Art Gallery Gift Shops Have Memory-Inducing Books

 

After you’ve looked at the art in the gallery, you wind up seeing a lot of it over again in the bookstore.

Don’t get annoyed at the upselling. It’s good for your memory.

Plus, there are often cool books you can buy and read to learn more about the art you’ve encountered. Interview books with the artists themselves appeal because you find out more about their personal stories, theories and opinions at the same time. It’s a very cool way to make sometimes difficult information more concrete.

One of the reasons interviews with artists makes the ideas easier to remember is because you get stories and examples, but also the questions of the interviewers. Interviewers bring particular perspectives. If you pay attention to them and absorb their character, their attitudes instantly make the ideas under discussion more memorable.

 

11. Art Galleries Make You Look At

The Outside World Differently

 

Often artists use everyday objects within the art gallery to change our perspective of the outside world. But when you deliberately remember more of what you’ve seen inside the gallery, you will find that you also see the outside world differently.

For example, I just saw “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” by Jeff Koons for the first time in Oslo. You often read about the effect that it has in art criticism, but it’s not until you’ve seen it with your own eyes that the kitschy art in stories takes on the intended effect.

 

12. Visiting Art Galleries Inspires New Ideas

 

Art galleries are idea-generating machines. After all, every piece of art started with an idea – even if it was just the idea to throw paint at the wall.

The more ideas you encounter and the more you play with those ideas in your mind, the more likely you are to come up with ideas of your own.

Plus, you might walk away with the idea of actually creating some art. If you do follow through, that might be the best idea of all. No matter what happens to the art you create, you learn so much just by taking action.

 

13. Visiting Art Galleries Gives You More To Talk About

 

Be honest: You wish you were a more interesting person.

I know I do, and the secret is in always feeding yourself new and exciting things to discuss.

“Hey, did you see the new exhibit at our local gallery?” is a powerful conversation starter, for example. Plus, you’ll be supporting art in your community by inspiring others to see art and helping them experience a better memory in the process.

 

14. You Can Make A Memory Palace

From Each Art Gallery You Visit

 

Art galleries don’t always make the best Memory Palaces, but you can still use them for the exercise.

Plus, as I mentioned, each piece of art automatically provides its own station.

As with historical sites you encounter while on vacation, I recommend that you make your art gallery Memory Palaces as simple as possible. Use the entrance, one or two simple rooms and the exit only.

You don’t want to overwhelm yourself with multiple floors, stairways and those weird nooks and crannies. Unless they’re crucial to your success, skip the complicated parts of art galleries and focus on the parts that are dead simple to remember.

 

15. You Can Take A Guided Tour

And Develop Your Concentration

 

All of us struggle with not having enough FOCUS. So if the art gallery you visit offers a guided tour – take it.

One of the best ways to extend your concentration is to focus on lectures filled with data. I like to repeat the information I’m hearing in my own voice to help extend my focus.

It’s perfectly fine if your attention wanders. Just gently bring it back and enjoy how with practice you can extend the amount of time you hold focus during the tours you take.

For another kind of memory exercise, you can record the audio presentation and later use the How To Memorize A Textbook training to get the key points rapidly into long-term memory.

You might even want to give tours or your own by taking friends to see the art gallery later. You can practice your memory in a substantial way by telling others what you’ve learned and sharing your conflicting opinions.

Listening to their responses is another great way of practicing focus and developing your memory. You cannot lose by taking and giving art gallery tours.

 

16. You Might Even Meet Artists

 

During a recent art gallery visit in Helsinki, I met an interesting landscape artist. She gave me a personal tour of her works in the gallery, explaining her thoughts about color and telling me where exactly she was when creating the art.

Not only did this make the visit to the gallery more memorable to me, but I had the chance to ask her about her own memory. She said that she can paint from memory, but prefers to compose in the environment so that she can respond to the present moment.

Fascinating ideas like these make living a life devoted to memory even more interesting.

 

17. You Can Experience Fear

In Art Galleries And Still Be Safe

 

At the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, I almost crapped my pants when I saw Zhou Tao’s “”Chicken speak to duck, pig speak to dog.”

It’s a video installation with a weird dude yelling and squealing while up in a tree.

I had a hard time figuring out what it was all about until I read the title and description, but the combination of emotion, enigma and solving the riddle by reading the information consolidated the experience in memory.

Even better, I’m practicing what I preach right now by writing about the experience as my last job before going to bed, all of which will help consolidate the memory of this experience.

 

For Memory’s Sake, Visit An Art Gallery Soon

 

There are loads more reasons why going to art galleries can improve your memory. You see so much art in so many different mediums that it gives you an incredible amount of exposure to vibrant information that you’ll want to remember.

Are some of the pieces you’ll see meaningless fluff?

Perhaps.

But it’s all part of experiencing the world of art and expanding as a visual person.

And the more visual you become, the easier it is to use memory techniques.

Give yourself the gift of visual exposure and plan to visit an art gallery today.

Seriously. In most cities, it doesn’t have to cost a dime. Usually, art galleries open their doors once a week for free.

Plus, your city might have local galleries featuring independent artists. Restaurants often feature works by local artists. You can even arrange viewings of private collections in the homes of collectors with a simple Google search.

Trust me. It’s worth it and will make your life more memorable.

The post 17 Reasons Going To Art Galleries Will Improve Your Memory appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.

System For Remembering Cards? 13 Reasons You Should Have One

[image error]Memory techniques work by dressing up information in costumes. Sound weird or confusing? No worries: One of the best ways to understand this concept is by having a system for remembering cards.

Consider the following when it comes to using memory techniques in your quest for total memory improvement:

Dressing information in costumes is at least 90% of what’s going on when you develop a system for remembering cards (or any information). Often, this practice is called “association” or “encoding.” Tim Ferriss has used the term “converting” for memorizing a deck of cards, and many other terms abound.

Don’t get caught up in the terminology, however. That risks missing the math, because …

The other 10% of memory success belongs to the Memory Palace and how you use it to store and practice recalling information. It’s in the storage and recollection practice that you guide information into long-term memory.

When you know how to “hack” your memory, you know that it’s actually in that 10% of the process where most of the memory magic happens. It’s in the process that you’re harnessing the power of the primacy effect and the recency affect. But the memory magic happens only …

 

If You’ve Got The Skills Needed

For The 90% Under Control

 

And if you want to get that 90% humming along for yourself in record time, then there is one crazy memory exercise you can do that will completely train your brain so that your memory operates at a shockingly high level.

 

Sounds Stupid, But Memorizing Playing

Cards Is Still The Best Memory Exercise Ever

 

I know, I know. Unless you’re a magician or memory athlete, memorizing a deck of cards does sound like a meaningless skill.

Yet, I can tell you with absolute certainty that all of my success with memory comes from, is maintained and continually improved by this seemingly stupid stunt.

And 90% of it involves little more than dressing up each card in a costume using the Major Method.

And to convince you that you should have a system for remembering cards, I’m going to show, you 13 reasons why you should memorize playing cards as part of your memory practice.

 

1. You Experience Overall Memory Improvement

 

Obviously, memorizing playing cards improves your overall memory. How could such intense memory practice not improve your memory abilities?

After all, the best way to improve your memory is to use it. I normally say that you should always practice your memory by using it to remember information you can use to improve your life in a substantial way, but card memorization is the one exception.

And since there is ALWAYS an exception to every rule, this one is worth your close attention.

The rest of the points I’m about to share explain in detail why card memory is so powerful even if it amounts to memorizing information you cannot and will not use in any immediately practical situation (outside of card magic).

2. Having A System For Remembering Cards

Improves Your Memory For Numbers

 

Not only that, but you wind up with a neat way of remembering a lot of different kinds of numbers. So long as you don’t let yourself get overwhelmed with excitement by your super memory powers (like I sometimes do), you’ll have the ability to memorize any number after picking up this simple memory technique.

 

3. You’ll Get Good At Memorizing Long Lists

 

After all, what is a deck of cards other than a list of job positions in a unique order? Learn to remember the order of 52 cards and you’ll instantly know how to memorize 52 of anything.

And with a few simple expansions and some practice, you can repeat the process or hundreds if not thousands of lists. It’s easy and fun.

 

4. You’ll Develop Killer Abilities With Memorizing

And Managing Abstractions

 

People find memorizing concepts amongst the most difficult information types in the world. The symbols on playing cards are downright abstract themselves, so this skill will lighten the load on other abstractions and arbitrary associations you encounter.

One trick is to simply stop convincing yourself that concepts are different than any other kind of information. Training with card memory will teach you how to stop making that mistake because it levels the playing field. Just like a rose is a rose is a rose, so does all information share certain core tendencies.

When we focus on the differences between information and levels of difficulty, we trick ourselves out. When we zone in on the similarities and refuse to privilege information by placing it in hierarchies of difficulty, we win.

5. Remembering Cards Improves Your Imagination

 

Just about everyone wishes they could be more imaginative. With the ability to memorize a deck of cards, your imagination can grow on a daily basis simply by carrying a deck of cards in your pocket. Or, if you don’t want your memorize a deck of cards mnemonics linked to a physical deck of cards, you can use a memorize a deck of cards app.

 

6. Memorizing Cards Helps With Language Learning

 

To be honest, I’ve only used the card memory application to language learning with the tones of Chinese Mandarin.

But darn if this approach to memorizing Chinese tones with the Major Method isn’t a humdinger! Anytime you can put a number or image on how words should be pronounced in any language, you’ll almost certainly find assistance from this skill.

Plus, I’m convinced that regular card practice has developed my speed and agility with coming up with mnemonics for memorizing vocabulary in any language.

 

7. Card Memorization Improves Your Critical Thinking

 

Imagine being able to see more angles to different arguments and manipulate information in your mind. It might sound unrelated to card memorization, but I’m confident you’ll find yourself more capable of manipulating ideas once you have this simple skill.

Why?

You experience boosts in critical thinking from using memory techniques in general because you’re combining spatial memory with the manipulation of perspectives and scenarios. When you’re using Bridging Figures, for example, you spend time considering what it’s like to act and react from different perspectives.

Plus, you’re continually diving deep into your imagination which makes it easier to penetrate other topics imaginatively. You should find that you start thinking at a more engaged level by default.

 

8. Memorizing Cards Is A Cool Party Stunt

 

This reason isn’t as lame as it sounds. After all, when those other dudes are winning bets by balancing quarters on the edges of their beer mugs, you’ll be demonstrating real miracles.

Seriously. People will start looking for mirrors. They’ll look at the back of the cards to check if they’re marked or gimmicked. Recalling a deck of shuffled cards in perfect order is such a stunning feat to watch that it’s hard to believe what’s happening, even if it’s the hundreth or thousandth time you’ve seen it.

If you’re not doing card memorization as a memory stunt, you can also learn to false shuffle cards and perform magic tricks that play like miracles. Provided that you can pull off false cuts and shuffles (it’s not that hard), tricks that use a memorized decks are probably the most powerful you can ever learn.

 

9. Card memory is a legitimate sport.

 

If you aren’t a physical athlete, but have always felt that lust to compete in some area of human performance, card memory is a great option. The memorize a deck of cards world record list is stunning, inspiring and … frustrating. It’s hard to not want to beat it.

And if you ever give it a try, at either a local, national or international level, you’ll meet a lot of cool and interesting people. And if you attend events like the World Memory Championships, you’ll meet absolute masters of the art. Just listen to Tony Buzan talk about that on this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.

 

10. Having A System For Remembering

Cards Is A Transferable Skill

 

I’ve already got this point covered, but it deserves its own category. You really can use this technique to remember a large assortment of numbers and experience powerful applications in language learning and more.

Having a set of mnemonics for memorizing a deck of cards gives you improved abilities in all areas of memory. And even if you’re already good at memorizing cards, you can always get better. Alex Mullen may currently hold the world record for memorized cards, but someone will eventually take this title. It could be you and the transferable skills you’ll build along the way will be invaluable.

11. You’ll Experience Untold Waves Of

Accomplishment From Card Memorization

 

When was the last time you felt proud of yourself?

I mean, really proud?

Be honest and don’t worry if it’s been awhile.

With card memory skills, you can feel proud each and every day of your life.

I know self-pride strikes some people as fickle, but it’s not. The normal need for self-confidence is what extraordinary people use to keep their memory sharp and help fend off “digital dementia.” I’m in no way claiming that mental exercise medically prevents brain disease, but it’s positively logical to assume there are physical benefits at work.

 

12. You Become More Mentally Agile

When You Practice Card Memory

 

Not only do you experience physical brain benefits, but you strengthen your memory skills across the board. It’s like getting better at skipping rope can make you better in the boxing ring.

Think about your memory in terms of space. You have warm and cozy places of familiarity and outer regions of cold and darkness you rarely visit.

By taking on a simple new skill, you bring heat to more parts of your memory. That means new civilizations of information can move in, giving you the chance to practice managing diverse data as part of your personal and professional growth. Just imagine being able to juggle facts in your mind, knowing each one in crisp and sharp detail thanks to the well-lit fires in your mind.

In fact, you’ll be like the expert juggler, each piece of information like a burning torch you can expertly spin through the air and effortlessly catch in a display of memory mastery.

Plus, the ability to memorize a deck of cards teaches you to create a system for remembering cards based on classic memory methods. You can the practice you’ll get creating and using the system you create to help you create other memory systems.

It’s in this ability to create memory systems out of an understanding of universal principles of memory and methods that you develop amazing powers of mental agility.

 

13. You Can Excel At Card Games Like

Bridge, Poker And Blackjack

 

Imagine being able to remember every single visible card in play during a card game. Do you think that would give you a competitive edge?

It certainly would, even though most experts agree that it would only amount to a 2% advantage.

ONLY.

If you know your numbers, then you know that a 2% advantage in any game is huge. And if that game involves bets with money, be it pennies or dollars, your earnings could be huge.

I myself don’t gamble, but I can tell you that the pleasure I take in playing no-stakes games using memory to my advantage is a lot of fun. And it’s always amazing exercise as one of the most powerful brain games you’ll ever play.

Of course, you don’t have to use memory techniques for gambling games. The “memorize a deck of cards game” world is full of non-competitive “find ’em” variations that have no stakes involved whatsoever. You just lay out card pairs and practice remembering locations so you can match and remove them during game play.

 

Should You Use An App For Memorizing Playing Cards?

 

A lot of people ask me to recommend my favorite memorize a deck of cards app.

I always tell them to simply carry a deck of cards with them. It’s the best deck of cards app on the planet in my view because it gets the muscles of your hands, arms and eyes involved in card memorization at a much deeper level.

No, I don’t have any direct research to make claims that you get a memory advantage when using a real deck of cards. In fact, using a memorize a deck of cards app, provided it includes such functionality, has the advantage of tracking your results on autopilot.

By the same token, you get equally great results by tracking your results by hand, including developing the discipline of monitoring results based on a tracking system of your own creation. Ultimately, if you take the art of creating a system for remembering cards seriously, you’ll eventually create your own tracking methods anyway.

If you come to rely on a memorize a deck of cards app, you won’t be able to modify its tracking modifications to your needs. But you’ll likely have become habituated to using it, which means you may be less likely to evolve. Or maybe you’ll be more likely to evolve … it could go either way.

One of the memorize a deck of cards app you can try that can give you tracking options if you’re a premium member is the Memrise deck of cards course.

What I like about the course is that you get some good ideas for images for each card. However, you aren’t getting training in the universal principles of memory, nor are you creating your own system. The relationships are not arbitrary, which is good, but they’re also not based on the Major Method, which means that you don’t have functionality beyond the card memorization for numbers.

But as far as a kind of deck of cards memory game, the Memrise deck of cards course is worth taking a look at. It gives you something different to try. However, taking this course risks creating some confusion if you have an existing set of memorize a deck of cards mnemonics in mind. It will also not give you a system for remembering cards in the true sense of a “system” you get when basing your card approach on the Major Method.

By the same token, it can be a great memory challenge to have more than one system for remembering cards in mind. Juggling multiple memory methods and the systems you create from them is for advanced stages of the game, however. It’s best to master one memory skill first and then move on to the next.

Should You Develop A System

For Remembering Cards?

 

Absolutely.

Again, I know it sounds like remembering cards is a useless skill on the surface. However, if you’re serious about memory improvement, you’ll be glad I twisted your arm into learning it.

Once you’ve recalled even just 1/4 of a deck of cards, you’ll be convinced of how much potential your memory holds. This simple feat of memory accomplishment will create energy and inspiration that keeps you moving forward. Once you’ve accurately recalled just a few cards you’ll know just how easy it is to learn, remember and recall anything.

It’s a life changing experience and I can’t wait to hear your story of success with developing your own system for remembering cards!

The post System For Remembering Cards? 13 Reasons You Should Have One appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - Memory Improvement Made Easy With Anthony Metivier.