Anthony Metivier's Blog, page 35

Harry Lorayne Memory Improvement And The Magic Of Mnemonics

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Could This Man Be The GODFATHER Of Memory Techniques Of The 20th & 21st Century? 

(Seriously. The dude has memory courses on vinyl.)

Although memory training has been around for millennia, it has seen a huge resurgence in modern times. There are now countless books and materials about memory improvement, not to mention video courses, audio programs and, yes, resources like the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.

But if there is one name who stands behind the explosion of mnemonics in the 20th and 21st century, that name is Harry Lorayne. Through his voluminous work as an author and presenter, Lorayne spawned and popularized the modern industry of memory training. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in terms of sheer visibility and quality, I think it’s safe to say that Harry Lorayne is the Mnemonic Godfather of modern memory training.

 

How To Survive A Terrible Childhood And Create A Memorable Career

 

But the future didn’t always look so promising for Lorayne. Judging from his childhood conditions during the depression-era, it seemed that the odds were firmly stacked against him.

“I had an awful childhood. I’m a depression kid.” Lorayne shares in his 2012 interview with Michael Senoff. “I remember having a potato for dinner.”

He was also affected with dyslexia, which he only identified as such years later. This learning disability caused him to struggle and fail while in grade school.

But Harry Lorayne’s life took a different course when he discovered books on memory improvement. As he told me in the exclusive interview he gave for Masterclass members, he discovered memory techniques in a dramatic way and after learning these methods and drastically improving his grades, he started teaching his classmates on how they too could become memory masters.

From there, Harry Lorayne progressively became more and more successful. Lorayne has managed to emerge as one of the most famous and published magicians and memory experts of the century. Now in his late 80s, Lorayne is still at work teaching the world about memory, success and perseverance.

 

The Secret Ingredient That Made Harry Lorayne And His Memory Techniques Go Viral

 

Harry Lorayne was born of Jewish parents in 1926 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, right near the East River. Having come to the world only 3 short years before the Great Depression, Lorayne’s childhood was spent in impoverished and difficult circumstances. Most everyone was poor, and Lorayne was amongst the poorest of the poor.

Poverty colored all aspects of Harry Lorayne’s childhood, including his play. He recalls how with his childhood friends he would play in a garbage dump near where he lived. Lorayne recounts: “The garbage became a petrified hill. They were long, petrified mountains of garbage, and that was our playgrounds. That’s what my friends and I played on when I was a little boy.”

School also proved to be difficult Lorayne. Due to his undiagnosed dyslexia, Lorayne received failing grades as a young boy. To make matters worse, his father had a heavy-handed way of dealing with his son’s school performance.

“I got the paper [test] home to my father to sign, and he would look at the failing grade, and he would punch me,” remembers Lorayne “I was scared. Not of getting failing grades, but of getting hit by my father.”

 

How Fear Created A Memory Solution That Would Help Millions Of People Improve Their Memory

Pushed to find a solution, a stroke of insight struck Lorayne one day on his walk to school. “I just realized that at that point in my life, all you had to do was remember the darn answers to the questions, and then you’ll get a passing grade. And then, more importantly, your father won’t punch you.”

In other words, Lorayne understood that school was more about a test of how well you could memorize than a test of ‘intelligence’. As he says repeatedly in many of his interviews “There is no learning without memory.”

Lorayne soon headed to the library where he asked the librarian to show him where the books on “how to memorize” were kept. There, he immersed himself for hours in how-to books on memorization. These included books from the 17th and 18th century, and works from modern memory trainers, such as David Roth.

Much of the material was not comprehensible for him at his young age. However, he understood enough to teach himself how to memorize things quickly and effectively using mnemonics techniques.

From that point on, he aced his tests at school, surprising his teachers and sparing him from his aggressive father. His classmates took notice, and started to ask Lorayne how he managed to have improved his memorization so drastically. That marked the start of his career teaching others on how to memorize effectively.

Later, Lorayne would even have other people teaching his techniques for him. For example, the magician Darwin Ortiz talks about teaching for Lorayne in his Penguin Magic Live Lecture.

But long before being a teacher and helping others become teachers of memory techniques, Lorayne became a dropout during his first year of high school. To make an income, Lorayne started performing memory tricks for small to medium sized audiences. He would impress crowds by memorizing magazine pages, decks of cards or large lists of names. His original intention in doing these shows was to attract students to hire him for memory training. He found little success in doing so, but his shows led him to be noticed by an agent.

The agent started Lorayne on a path of presenting to larger and larger audiences. By 1958, Lorayne was presenting on national television, including shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show and Good Morning America. Lorayne performed on the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson no less than 24 times.

One of his most famous memory feats include memorizing each of the names of crowds of up to 1500 people. As much as 20 minutes later, he would be able to name each of the audience’s names when prompted. He is also known for having memorized an entire phone book.

But Lorayne didn’t make his name off of entertaining others with memory tricks alone. Instead, he became famous by teaching others how to use these techniques and improve their own memories.

This Memory Improvement Solution Could End

Your Memory Troubles Forever

 

Harry Lorayne has sold millions of copies of his many books teach people around the world on how to replicate his memorization ability. Many actors and other public figures have publicly acknowledged using Lorayne’s methods. These include New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg, Secretary of State Colin Powell and actor Alan Alda.

Harry Lorayne’s method is based on image associations. This is where the memorizer associates an image with the piece of information that they’d like to remember.

Lorayne’s methods are based on the idea that all memory can be broken down into associations of two entities. As Lorayne puts it “That’s what I teach, how to make one thing remind you of another.” Lorayne’s method also extends the technique to non-physical and non-visual concepts, such as numbers. His teachings guide students on how to visualize numbers physically so as to remember them.

He does this by teaching students to associate numbers 1 through 9 with specific letters (a technique known widely as either the Major Method or Major System). With this technique, any number can be connected with at least one word. By associating numbers with a physical word, numbers are given a physical quality. As compared to the abstract concepts that are numbers, physical qualities can more easily be used as mnemonics.

Lorayne also underlines the importance of paying attention. His method includes teachings on how to concentrate and focus on the information students are trying to memorize. “We are all born with the same capacity for memory,” he says. “It’s a question of having a trained memory, or an untrained memory”

One thing that many note about Lorayne’s work, however, is that his teaching seems not to cover the Memory Palace Method technique. No one is quite sure why, but my feeling is that in some integral manner, memorizing the names of each person in a large crowd must use location in one way or another. Unless the individuals change location, a mnemonist performing a feat like this most certainly taps into the power of a repeated location, if only unconsciously. There is a link between the where the information was memorized and where the mnemonist goes to recall it.

What Will Harry Lorayne’s Contribution To Helping You Create Instant Memories Will Bring To Your Future?

 

The answer is: Success.

In addition to his immense contribution to memorization training, Harry Lorayne has made significant contributions to the field of magic. For example, he’s written over 30 books on card tricks. As a world recognized magician, Lorayne has invented and refined techniques which are now widely used by current-day amateur and professional magicians.

Lorayne’s life and career shows us how even barriers which many would consider insurmountable can be overcome. His landmark contributions to memory training is an essential tomb in the library of memorization techniques. At 89, Harry Lorayne continues to work and give seminars to large corporate audiences. He has even recently completed an autobiography.

Harry Lorayne, living legend of memory mastery, proving what Winston Churchill said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”

Further Resources

The Memory Book

Ageless Memory

Super Memory – Super Student: How To Raise Your Grades In 30 Days

Jonathan Levi On ADD, Education & His TEDTalk Memory Palace

Mandarin Chinese Mnemonics And Morning Memory Secrets

[image error]There’s No Way Of Learning Chinese With A Messy Mind!

Or …

Is there?

Actually, yes. There is.

No matter how manic, no matter how depressed, no matter how much I’ve got on my plate, ALMOST every day, I fit language learning into my schedule.

One of my best tricks is this:

Win The Morning, Win The Day

 

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Do you reach for your cell phone first thing?

And are you making the mistake of using it as an alarm clock so that you have no choice but to check it first thing?

If you’re serious about learning a language, checking your messages and farting around on social media first thing in the morning is a big no-no.

Think about it. How many times have you gotten caught up in the “Twilight Zone” of Facebook only to notice that 15 minutes … 30 minutes … even an entire hour has slipped past.

For nothing!

So don’t do it.

 

Here’s How To Get Language Learning In First Thing So You Feel On Top Of Your Progress All Day Long

 

I hate having that feeling throughout the day that I’m neglecting what I love: memory and language learning.

So in addition to winning back oodles of time by not looking at my “dumb phone” and not turning on the computer, here’s what’s going on right now:

On the floor beside my bed, I have Langenscheidt’s Chinesisch Schreibübungsbuch.

It’s a book written in German that teaches how to write the Chinese characters. Tucked inside the book is the notebook I’m using to draw the characters.

I don’t get out of bed until I’ve spent as long as it takes to practice drawing 8 characters 8 times.

Why 8?

No idea. That’s just the number that came to mind. It’s just part of what I’ve learned from Olly Richards:

 

You Must Have A Language Learning System

 

Seriously. You must. Languages don’t get learned Helter Skelter. They get learned based on consistent efforts executed consistently.

That’s the first part of my system.

Next, I pop in my Human Charger and meditate. I do this for exactly 9 minutes.

Why 9 minutes?

Because that’s how long it takes for the Human Charger to shoot its light into my ears. You may have heard me talk about other, more relaxed meditation approaches in the past, but I’m experimenting with this one and it works really well.

Next, I knock off another of The Big Five language learning activities:

 

Spend Time Listening To Your Language Every Day

 

Listening to Pimsleur language learning programs (Pimsleur for Mandarin Chinese no less) used to bore the snot out of me. Sorry to be vulgar, but it’s true.

Think about it: You listen to this guy promoting you in English to say stuff in the language you’re studying again and again and …

… again.

 

It’s Like Pounding Nails Into Your Head!

 

But then I had an idea:

What if I “fuse” listening to Pimsleur recordings with the Magnetic Memory Method.

Oh ho ho, Magnetic friend. That’s when Pimsleur started to get really interesting.

This might sound complex, but it works.

Get a notebook. Reserve it for your MMM Pimsleur experiment. Then get out a pen and pop on your headphones.

Next, make a couple of columns:

English (or mother tongue)

Homophonic transliteration

Mnemonic Imagery

Words

Notes

Also, leave space to draw a Memory Palace on the page. Draw one out using all the principles of the Magnetic Memory Method you’ve learned from one of my books or video courses.

It’s all very easy peasy and, yes, even lemon squeezy (as one MMM student once put it).

Now you’re set. Keep the pause button handy and then press play.

When the man introduces how to say: “Excuse me, may I ask?” pause the recording and write this down in your English column.

Then, after you hear the native speaker say it in your target language, write out what you hear in your own spelling. Say it out loud and spell it in whatever way seems best to you.

 

Don’t Make The Mistake Of Overthinking This

Just do it.

And don’t worry about standardizing your homophonic transliterations. You’re just helping your mind understand the sound and meaning of the phrases using multiple senses and muscles.

Seriously. I can’t tell you the dozens of different ways I’ve spelled different phrases and it doesn’t matter. I can speak them in the target language, in this case, Chinese.

Next, think up some imagery that helps you memorize the words. Whatever comes to mind.

And if you’re following along, the brief meditation will have you calm, relaxed and juiced up with creativity.

Once you’ve got that whipped up, stick it on, at, beside or even under your first Memory Palace station.

Finally, press play again and carry on.

 

What Will Happen To You Next Is A Language Learning Miracle

 

Soon the Pimsleur guy will ask you to say that phrase for which you just created mnemonic imagery.

Press pause and then look into your imagination (not at the page!) and “decode” the image you placed on your Memory Palace station.

Got it?

 

Of Course You Get It!

 

Because the reality is that if you know mnemonics, there is never any problem with them.

Never.

Anyhow, I do this until I’ve filled out one page of my notebook.

 

Can You Guess How Much Time This Costs So Far?

 

Go on, have a guess.

Nope.

Still no …

Getting closer.

Oh, all right, I’ll tell you.

15-20 minutes, more or less.

All thanks to cutting out morning social media and 3 little systems:

8 x 8 characters

9 minutes meditation

1 page of MMM-ified Pimsleur

Do this for a month and you’re further along than most people will get in a lifetime of starting and stopping.

But Wait! There’s More About Memorizing Mandarin Chinese

I Want To Teach You!

 

So far we’ve covered 4.3 of The Big Five. We’ve got:

Writing
Reading
Listening
Memorization

… and a touch of solo speaking.

That’s where my speaking partners come in.

 

You Can’t Expect To Learn A Language Without Actually Speaking It

 

Now, sometimes what I do with my speaking partners is rather elaborate. More on that in a minute.

The important thing is that I speak with them. Plain and simple.

Doesn’t have to be perfect. Doesn’t even have to be right. It just has to be time spent in the field.

I do this at least two times a week, ideally three.

All fantastic.

The only problem is …

 

This Approach To Language Learning Is Almost 100% Introverted!

 

Yes, okay, talking with speaking partners online is technically communicating with other human beings.

Technically.

But it’s still to solitary.

This is why I propose that there’s a sixth component that needs to be added to the Big Five:

Socialization

Think about it.

Are you going to go through all the work of learning a language just to speak with people online?

Of course not.

You want to be able to strike up conversations with the locals when traveling. Order a memory-friendly drink in a restaurant, either in a local restaurant or abroad. Flirt with cute members of the opposite sex, maybe even find the partner of your dreams.

I know I do. So please stay tuned for more language learning for introverts and socialization secrets coming soon.

In the meantime, check out some of these previous Magnetic Memory Method podcast episodes with other great learners for in-depth tips and training:

Luca Lampariello On How To Master Any Language

Mindset, Memory And Motivation With Sam Gendreau

Noel van Vliet Talks About The “Back End” Of Language Learning

Olly Richards On Crazy Language Learning Goals And Mastering Motivation

[image error]Amazing Language Learner Olly Richards Pulls Back The Curtain On Exactly How He Learned 8 Languages In Record Time – With More Than A Full-Time Job Crowding His To Do List … Tune In To Learn How You Can Do It Too!

 

In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, Olly makes a second appearance on the show to follow up on the episode called Olly Richards Talks About Language Tech And Real Communication.

But before you listen to this episode, make sure to join us on Olly’s free training webinar, “How to Speak a New Language With Confidence in 30 Days or Less!”

I’ll be on the call as both moderator and student advocate, so you won’t want to miss a moment of this call.

Next, come back and listen to each and every word of this special podcast and you’ll learn:

* How to find words and phrases that you ACTUALLY want to speak when learning a language.

* The power of setting a “crazy goal” for motivating yourself to take action and make targeted strides, even if the language you’ve chosen is difficult.

* How to elevate your thinking about the art of language learning so you get maximum results in minimum time.

* The best ways to “wrangle” your speaking partners and tutors into shape so they help you study what you need to study instead of wasting time on willy-nilly activities that won’t get you anywhere.

* The essential questions you should prepare yourself to answer when studying your dream language.

* How to develop a list of topics that you’re likely to talk about so that you’re not chained to the next page of your textbook.

* The new – and BETTER – way to think about rote learning for getting traction when learning a language.

* Why memorizing is just one part of language learning and how to identify and isolate the other parts to boost your success.

* The one thing that keeps Olly up at night when learning a language. Solve this one worry for yourself and you will never run out of steam.

* The scheduling secret Olly uses to “oblige” himself to attend lessons. You can uses this approach too – even if you’ve got a zillion things to do.

* The absolute best time of day to study your target language so that you always feel like you’ve made progress and build your sense of accomplishment.

* How to avoid letting the great get in the way of the good so that you can start from a place where speaking practice is always good not matter how unprepared you might be. Use this approach and you can literally get prepared on the fly.

* The ultimate motivation secret for getting yourself through multiple lessons and find language teachers you will genuinely love learning from.

* The untapped power of hypothetical questions and role play in your language learning practice that you’re not using – but should be!

* Olly’s take on using mnemonics for individual words and when you should be focusing on them instead of entire phrases.

* Textbook tactics for shopping and getting the most out of every resource you buy.

* How to avoid tourist-speak so that you aren’t limited to ordering food and asking directions to the hospital for your cat (yes, you will be led into these dead ends if you don’t take Olly’s advice).

* Exactly how to deal with introversion so that no matter how shy you might be, you can eliminate random social unknowns and learn in a safe and practical environment.

* … and much, much more.

This is the kind of episode you’re going to want to save and keep returning to again and again. And if you interested in memorizing the key points, How To Memorize A Textbook will help you master this simple skill and put you in a position to memorize vocabulary and phrases at a higher level thanks to your practice of the art of memory.

 

Further Resources

 

Olly’s I Will Teach You A Language Podcast

Olly’s Language Learning Foundations Course (highly recommended)

Olly’s Amazon Author Page

Spanish Short Stories For Beginners Volume One

Spanish Short Stories For Beginners Volume Two

Italian Short Stories For Beginners

German Short Stories For Beginners

Russian Short Stories For Beginners

 

Photo Essay
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The picture above is from the May 2015 Polyglot Gathering in Berlin. From left to right you see myself, Olly, Richard Simcott, Kris Broholm, Brian Kwon and Jan van der Aa.

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From the same event, Benny Lewis, myself and Olly. Somehow they manage to just look crazy. I took first prize for psychotic.

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Mark Channon discusses memory techniques and the good habits needed to make massive strides with them at Magnetic Memory Live in London 2015.

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Olly’s Memory Palace based on his apartment in Cairo. Top notch work and it was very cool that I could see the place with my own eyes more than a year after he sent me this drawing.

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The list of words in Egyptian Arabic Olly used the Memory Palace to memorize.

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In Egypt, Olly introduced me to the Nile in style. A sushi bar.

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My last day in Cairo, we played with hiragana and katakana and Olly drew a diagram of exactly how languages get learned at the highest possible level. I won’t mentioned the memory-unfriendly Guinness we were swilling – because we truly weren’t.

How Sleep Affects Memory Improvement

[image error]It’s a curious thing that human beings, and most other animal species, are driven to regular periods of inactivity and unconsciousness. What could be less evolutionarily beneficial than a stretch of eight hours during which you can’t hunt, defend yourself, or reproduce? Not to mention working on your memory improvement.

All jokes aside, the fact that we are driven to sleep is an indication that sleep has an important purpose in our biology.

And yet, the precise mechanisms of sleep remain largely mysterious. The exact reasons why we require sleep, and what happens during sleep, are areas of current research.

One thing is for certain: lack of sleep leads to an array of social, financial, and health-related costs. Indeed, the fatality rate of sleepiness-related car crashes is similar to that of driving under the influence (Goel et al 2009). What’s more is that prolonged sleep deprivation leads to death for many studied species (and presumably humans) (Cirelli et al. 2008).

Despite these realities, a full 20% of adults are not getting enough sleep (Goel et al 2009). It’s a common practice in our culture to praise those who can work the most and sleep the least.

However, research indicates that this attitude is misguided. Lack of sleep has important negative implications for cognition. Sleep deprivation puts pressure on your entire cognitive apparatus, and has the potential to affect your memory.

After this article, you may be convinced that a nap is in order.

 

What Exactly Is Sleep?

 

Over 85 years, an average person will sleep 250,000 hours, which is equal to 10,000 full days (Scullin et al 2015).

But what is sleep, really?

It is commonly believed that sleep is a continuous period of a complete loss of awareness. But in actuality, sleeping is not one continuous state and a sleeping person does not lose total awareness. Instead, they alternate between reduced awareness of the external world and a complete loss of consciousness (Gudberg et al 2015).

From here, sleep is typically classified into two categories. The first is non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep and the second is rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (Bryant et al 2004).

NREM sleep happens during the early moments of falling asleep. As the name suggests, there is little to no eye movement during NREM sleep. Dreams are rare during this stage, your body is not paralyzed as in REM sleep, and mental activity is still “thought-like” (Bryant et al 2004). This is the stage during which some people will sleep-walk.

The role of NREM sleep is to conserve energy, cool the body and brain, and promote immune function.

Following NREM sleep, a person will fall into REM sleep, where rapid eye movements can be observed. This is where the majority and the most vivid dreams occur. Your body is paralyzed, which is an adaptation to prevent you from acting out your dreams. You will periodically wake up – which some researchers feel serves as a way to survey the environment (Bryant et al 2004). These mini-awakenings are typically not remembered.

 

The Devastating Consequences Of Sleep Deprivation

On Memory Revealed

 

As you sleep, you will cycle between NREM and REM sleep four to five times during the night.

By understanding our sleep patterns, it becomes evident that there is much more that happens during sleep than simply being unconscious. The broad overview given here just scratches the surface of the complex world of sleep.

For all of its complexity, sleep serves essential functions. For example, a sleep-deprived person suffers from many ailments, including:

A weakened immune system (Bryant et al 2004).
Reduced wakefulness – microsleeps during wakeful hours after sleep deprivation (Cirelli et al. 2008).
Compromised cognition.

The compromised cognition experienced during sleep is all too familiar for many of us. We all know that after a poor night’s sleep, we are groggy and we tend to think more slowly.

When it comes to memory, the essential role that sleep plays is more pervasive than most realize.

 

Sleep Plays a Key Role When it Comes to Your Memory

 

There are three basic memory stages.

The first is called acquisition or encoding. This is the process of collecting the information or processes that you’d like to memorize. An example could be re-reading the dates and prominent figures in a history book. This is called “declarative” memory, and is the memory of facts and information. Another example of memory is procedural memory. This is memory of how to do something. This could be anything from learning how to ride a bike or learning how to play the piano.

The second step is consolidation, where the information you’ve absorbed become stable in your mind. It is at this stage that memories are formed in your mind.

Finally, you must be able to recall memories for them to be useful. Thus, the final stage in memory is remembering something during your waking hours.

Numerous studies have indicated the importance of sleep for the second stage, memory consolidation. A good night’s sleep can help you recall facts and information, as well as solidify skills that you’re trying to learn.

Under the current scientific understanding, sleep is absolutely essential to memory. We require sleep to file information collected during our waking moments, in our minds. In doing so, we are able to recall newly acquired information (Ellenbogen et al. 2006).

For example, learning the guitar requires that you memorize hand movements as well as notes. This is called procedural memory. Long term sleep has been specifically found to help with procedural memory formation (Diekelmann and Born, 2010).

 

Sleep Shifts Info Around In Your Brain

 

Sleep also serves to reorganize new memories. During sleep, the brain will access new information and make links with previously absorbed information. This helps segment and associate relevant parts of a complex memory to previous memories. While solidifying new information in your mind, this aids in the creativity process. This is because the brain will sometimes associate new information with old information in unexpected ways, thereby leading to novel insights (Diekelmann and Born, 2010).

Scientists also believe that we “replay” our previously learned information and skills during our sleep. Experiments have been conducted on animals and humans after they have been trained on a particular task. During sleep, the same parts of the brain that were active during the training exercises, were active while sleeping as well. This is because the brain will repeat the actions during your sleep (Diekelmann 2014).

Sleep is essential to memory. One study not only found poor memory recall in sleep deprived individuals, but also found that they recalled false memories. That’s right, you are more likely to remember untrue information following sleep deprivation (Diekelmann 2008).

In other studies, those that slept, recalled more and performed better on cognitive tests than those who stayed up. Looks like those all-nighters weren’t the best idea after all.

How to Use Sleep For Memory Enhancement

 

Getting a good eight hour sleep has been shown to benefit memory (Diekelmann and Born, 2010). But what about sleep that occurs outside of your regular nightly routine, such as naps?

Good news nappers! Research has also pointed to memory improvement even for shorter naps.

In a study of 29 undergraduate students, one hour naps were found to benefit factual recall. However, the memory of procedures, that is, memory of how to perform actions, was not improved. The study concluded that more complete periods of rest were necessary for the proper learning of memory (Tucker et al 2006).

Even more stunning is that even very short naps seem to have a positive effect on memory of facts and information. A study compared different nap durations, as well as staying awake. They found that even a micro-nap of six minutes enhanced memory recall. The study concluded that although longer naps improved recall more than very short naps, very short naps still have significant benefits (Lahl et al 2008).

Ultimately, it seems that if you’re looking to improve your memory of facts and information, naps are in fact helpful. However, if you are trying to learn the keyboard, a longer sleep time is what you really need.

In terms of the optimal or minimum amount of sleep that you’d need, that is still unclear. More research is needed.

However, if for whatever reason you can’t afford a full-night’s rest, a nap might help to keep you going.

 

How to Get a Good’s Night Sleep

 

Now that we know the importance of sleep, you may be wondering how you can get the absolute best sleep possible. After all, most of us do not have the benefit of being able to sleep and take naps whenever we’d like. That’s why it’s important to learn how to get the highest quality sleep during the time you have available.

Here are some tips to improve your sleep and help you get to sleep faster:

Only use your bed for sleeping and sex. Try to avoid using electronics, watching TV or eating in bed. This might associate these activities with being in a bed and prevent you from being able to fall asleep.
Avoid long naps during the day. Although I’ve mentioned that naps can enhance memory, it’s important to restrict napping because they can also prevent sleep. Take no more than a 25 minute nap during the day, or avoid them altogether.
Remove all lights and sounds from your bedroom. Buy light-blocking curtains if necessary. Use a regular alarm clock instead of your cell phone.
Do not drink or consume caffeine for at least six hours before bed. Be careful, coffee isn’t the only substance that contains caffeine. Tea, soda, and even chocolate contain caffeine that you should avoid before trying to fall asleep.

Memory enhancement is a tricky business and there are a myriad of ways you can do it. Whether it be food, meditation, or drugs, everyone has a preferred method.

Regardless, everyone needs to sleep. Since sleep plays such a key role in memory retention and recall, you might as well make the best of it. Make sleep a priority in your daily life.

Contrary to popular belief, sleep isn’t for the weak. Sleep is for those with great memory improvement goals.

Further Resources

Memory Strategies For Your Nightlife And Why I Don’t Do Lucid Dreaming

11 Unexpected Answers To Your Questions About Mnemonics

Bryant, Penelope A., John Trinder, and Nigel Curtis. “Sick and Tired: Does Sleep Have a Vital Role in the Immune System?” Nat Rev Immunol Nature Reviews Immunology (2004): 457-67. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Cirelli, Chiara, and Giulio Tononi. “Is Sleep Essential?” PLoS Biology PLoS Biol (2008). Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Diekelmann, Susanne. “Sleep for Cognitive Enhancement.” Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 8 (2014): 46. PMC. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Diekelmann, Susanne et al. “Sleep Loss Produces False Memories.” Ed. Jan Lauwereyns. PLoS ONE 3.10 (2008): e3512. PMC. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Ellenbogen, Jeffrey M, Jessica D Payne, and Robert Stickgold. “The Role of Sleep in Declarative Memory Consolidation: Passive, Permissive, Active or None?” Current Opinion in Neurobiology (2006): 716-22. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.

Goel, Namni et al. “Neurocognitive Consequences of Sleep Deprivation.” Seminars in neurology 29.4 (2009): 320–339. PMC. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Gudberg, Christel, and Heidi Johansen-Berg. “Sleep and Motor Learning: Implications for Physical Rehabilitation After Stroke.” Frontiers in Neurology 6 (2015): 241. PMC. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Lahl, Olaf, Christiane Wispel, Bernadette Willigens, and Reinhard Pietrowsky. “An Ultra Short Episode of Sleep Is Sufficient to Promote Declarative Memory Performance.” Journal of Sleep Research J Sleep Res (2008): 3-10. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.

Scullin, Michael K., and Donald L. Bliwise. “Sleep, Cognition, and Normal Aging: Integrating a Half-Century of Multidisciplinary Research.” Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science 10.1 (2015): 97–137. PMC. Web. 18 Jan. 2016.

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11, 114-126 (February 2010)

Tucker, M., Y. Hirota, E. Wamsley, H. Lau, A. Chaklader, and W. Fishbein. “A Daytime Nap Containing Solely Non-REM Sleep Enhances Declarative but Not Procedural Memory.” Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (2006): 241-47. Web. 19 Jan. 2016.

Can You Supercharge Your Memory With These Popular Supplements?

[image error]Supplements, both legal and illegal, have been used for centuries to enhance cognitive performance.

For example, Sigmund Freud used cocaine to prevent fatigue. In fact, he is reputed to have written some of his most popular psychoanalytic works while under the influence.

Entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss is also known for his experiments into so-called “smart drugs”.

Today, caffeine is a popular choice, used as a cognitive stimulant and is often consumed in very high doses. The widely consumed regular size Starbucks coffee contains five times the amount of caffeine of a normal coffee (Mehlman 2004).

Yet another common cognitive enhancer is nicotine, most commonly ingested through inhalation. It’s been found that nicotine has the ability to improve cognition in areas such as attention, memory and motor skills (Heishman et al 2010).

The reality is that most of us are not open to experimenting with unhealthy or illegal drugs to enhance our cognition.

But with the aging population and increase in age-related memory deterioration, many are turning to out-of-the-box solutions (Mehlman 2004). Discovering a quick-fix pill that protects and even enhances memory would be both beneficial and exciting.

This lusty market for an easy memory solution has been quickly filled with many drugs claiming to have amazing brain-boosting potential. Known as Nootropic supplements, these cognition-enhancing drugs make bold claims about their ability to increase their user’s memory.

In comes science to cut through the marketing hype and give us real answers about whether these pills really work.

Before we continue, here’s an important disclaimer: By offering this information in written form and by including videos of various people explaining or supporting the uses of supplements for memory, I in no way intend to validate, support or recommend the use of memory supplements. Please see your doctor before taking any substance and always, always use mnemonics.

3 Things To Remember About Alzheimer’s And Memory

[image error]Auguste Deter was only in her late 40s when she started showing signs of dementia. Her husband Karl, cared for her for some time.

Eventually, he could not cope with her hallucinations and forgetfulness that often kept him up all night. When Auguste was 51, Karl placed his wife into a psychiatric institute.

There, she spent the rest of her short life, eventually dying at the age of 55.

Auguste is now acknowledged to be one of the most well known patients in medical history (Muller et al. 2012). The doctor who examined her, Dr. Aloysius Alzheimer, named the disease for which she is acknowledged as the first identified patient. At that time, he called it “presenile dementia,” but later his colleague Emil Kraepelin gave the condition the name by which we know it now.

It’s been over 100 years since Alzheimer’s disease was first described, and yet, no cure has, as of yet, been found. However, with an increasingly aging population, it has become more pressing than ever to find effective treatments (Giacobini and Becker, 2007).

In the absence of a definitive cure, this post and podcast will provide important information about Alzheimer’s. The disease can be all-consuming for those afflicted, as well as their caregivers. Understanding how it works and how to care for that person may help to relieve stress for those trying to cope.

 

Who Does Alzheimer’s Affect?

 

Alzheimer’s is a disease of old age, and generally, affects those over the age of 65. However, a rare variation of the disease, early-onset Alzheimer’s, will affect those as young as 35. The prevalence is higher in females than males, although females do tend to live longer, which may explain this trend (Keene, Montine and Kuller 2015).

It’s important to realize that although Alzheimer’s affects older adults, it is not part of normal aging.

Right now, the overall prevalence of Alzheimer’s is between five to seven percent throughout the population (Keene, Montine and Kuller 2015). As we age, the likelihood that we will be affected by Alzheimer’s nearly doubles every decade. That is, by the ages of 95-99, your chances of having developed Alzheimer’s increases by 50%.

 

What Causes Alzheimer’s?

 

The cause of Alzheimer’s is, as of yet, not completely understood (Ginter et al. 2015). We do know that genetics plays a role in early-onset Alzheimer’s. This form of the disease is rare, and affects people under the age of 65. What genetics fails to fully explain is the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in aging adults (Keene, Montine and Kuller 2015).

The links between risk factors and Alzheimer’s have not fully been proven. However, in studies the following has show to possibly increase our risk of Alzheimer’s:

 

Hypertension (high blood pressure) during midlife
Having Type 2 diabetes
Obesity
Living an inactive lifestyle
Having had a brain trauma
Having had exposure to secondhand smoke

If you have a family history of dementia and Alzheimer’s, the chances of developing it yourself is much higher. People with a first-degree relative (parents or siblings) who developed dementia after 65, but before 85, have a higher risk factor. In fact, they are 10 to 30 times more likely to develop dementia themselves (Keene, Montine and Kuller 2015).

 

Alzheimer’s and Memory

 

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, which is a degeneration of cognitive function. One of the earliest and most distinctive aspects of Alzheimer’s is its affect on memory.

The first warning signs a doctor and other caregivers will look for is memory impairment (Wolk and Dickerson 2015). The patient will typically go through selective losses in short-term memory.

For example, a person suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s may find themselves getting lost on familiar paths. They may forget recent events and repeatedly ask for the same information.

It’s important to keep in mind that normal aging does accompany some memory deterioration. However, unlike normal aging, the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s comes in the way of normal daily activities.

The table below compares normal memory loss associated with aging to memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s (Leifer 2006).

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Family members may notice these types of memory declines and others, such as repeatedly asking for the same piece of information.

As the disease progresses, memory becomes severely affected. Memories of the person’s life are impacted. A patient will forget important life events, occurring at a particular time and place early on in their disease (Wolk and Dickerson 2015).

Moreover, factual memory, such as the words used for objects and concepts, deteriorates as time goes on.

A doctor may test memory by asking patients to learn and recall a series of words or objects. Recall is asked for both immediately and at a delay of five to ten minutes. They may also ask them about important historical events or artifacts in popular culture (Wolk and Dickerson 2015).

The brain of a normally aging person will compensate for the memory loss due to normal aging. The cognitive decline of a normally aging brain will not be severe enough to affect their ability to complete everyday tasks. Nor will the cognitive decline affect a person’s ability to live independently (Wolk and Dickerson 2015).

However, a brain with Alzheimer’s will decline quickly. This can vary, but the average survival rate after diagnosis is between eight and ten years. Some survive for as long as 20 years after the diagnosis (Wolk and Dickerson 2015).

 

What Alzheimer’s Looks Like

 

As Alzheimer’s progresses, the afflicted person will become more and more disoriented. Alzheimer’s patients will increasingly be unable to:

Speak or write coherently. They will have trouble finding the right words for the right situation.
Understand what is said or written.
Recognize familiar places.
Plan how to take multi-step actions.
Carry out multi-step actions, such as cooking.
Concentrate.
Make logical choices or decisions. For example, dressing in a outfit with oddly matched colors and patterns.

As the disease progresses into later stages, the person will start to exhibit more personality and emotional changes. These can be particularly stressful. They may include:

Increased hostility or increased passivity.
Hallucinations or delusions.
Disorientation.
Incontinence.

These changes might be due to chemical imbalances in the brain. They may also be due to the individual’s increasing fear and confusion because they do not understand their own surroundings.

Eventually, an Alzheimer’s patient will literally forget the more fundamental tasks, such as how to move. They will become immobilized and require assistance for bathing, eating and dressing.

 

Treatment options

 

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Current drug treatments only slow the disease in the short-term, for no longer than a year. However, for patients with early stages of the disease, medications can improve their cognitive function. These benefits may need to be weighed against the medication’s side-effects as the disease progresses.

In addition to medication, there are behavioral treatments available. For example, speech therapy can be combined with medication to help patients with troubles in this domain.

Caring for an Alzheimer’s Patient

 

Caring for people afflicted with Alzheimer’s is a very cumbersome task, and difficulties range from financial to emotional stress. In a study carried out in the UK, nearly two-thirds of people caring for Alzheimer’s patients were family members (Beinart et al. 2012).

When dealing with Alzeheimer’s, it’s important to seek support from extended family members, friends and your community.

Ask your doctor to refer you to a local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Many changes will need to occur in an afflicted person’s home and life due Alzheimer’s. They will likely be unable to drive, and will need monitoring and help with basic tasks. These include things such as cooking and taking medications (Alexander and Larson, 2015).

Other tips for helping people with Alzheimer’s include:

Simplifying choices, such as wardrobe choices, to reduce their indecisiveness and confusion.
Having familiar objects or photos may help with a patient’s disorientation with time and space.
Keep distractions and noise to a minimal so as not to agitate the patient.
Speak clearly, with short and concise sentences to increases your chances of being understood.
Encourage daily exercise, such as daily walk, to maintain physical health and tire the patient out. This will help prevent them from wandering and getting lost.
Avoid major changes in their environment.
Try to be patient when waiting for responses and actions to be performed.
Employ safety measures in the home, such as locking medicine cabinets, removing electrical appliances from the bathroom, installing grab bars in the bathroom, and setting the water heater below 120ºF
Install locks on the outside of the doors, so the patient cannot unlock and leave the house.
To prevent the person from getting lost, employ the use of a “safe return program” provided by the Alzheimer’s Association. They offer 24-hr assistance.
Try to implement a daily routine, but remain flexible.

In the mid-to-late stages of the disease, it may become impossible to care for the person at home. They may require skilled health care attention and placing the patient in a nursing home may be the best option.

Most importantly, remember that as a caregiver, you require care as well. Using respite services, such as adult day care and hiring home aides when possible is a great way to recharge. Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s is a marathon, not a sprint. You need to ensure that your mental and physical health is tended to.

Emotionally and mentally, it’s important to try to focus on the positive. Try to enjoy the remaining qualities and activities with your relative instead of only remembering what you’ve lost. Remind yourself that you are doing your best in moments when you feel overwhelming guilt or fatigue.

 

Future Hope for Alzheimer’s Disease

 

Alzheimer’s disease is a tragic sickness, and poses an enormous financial burden on society at large. Paying to care for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s is predicted to cost 1.2 trillion dollars by 2050.

The good news is that there is increasing evidence that Alzheimer’s may be more of a lifestyle disease than previously acknowledged. Except for rare cases of early-onset Alzheimer’s, which have a strong genetic component, lifestyle may determine your likelihood of developing it. That is, maintaining a healthy diet and doing regular exercise can decrease your chances of developing Alzheimer’s. Due to the strong link between blood-sugar levels, some scientists have even started calling Alzheimer’s “Type 3 Diabetes” (De la Monte and Wands, 2008).

Not everything in life is within our control. However, living a healthy and balanced life are ways to counteract the effects on cognitive function, especially as we age.

For our purposes, the question is …

 

Can Mnemonics And Memory Palaces Help? 

 

It’s too soon to tell, but I highly recommend watching this TEDTalk with Kasper Bormans for an introduction to what might be possible:

Further Resources and Reading

Nelson Dellis spoke on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast about his experiences with Alzheimer’s and his efforts to combat the condition. Check out Extreme Memory Improvement to learn more.

These memory tips from Dr. Gary Small may not be the ultimate prevention against Alzheimer’s, but they are going to serve you well. Give it a listen.

I recommend subscribing to Preserving Your Memory Magazine, put out by the Fisher Center For Alzheimer’s Research.

And for more information, follow-up on the following articles:

Alexander, M., Larson, E. B., Patient information: Dementia (including Alzheimer disease) (Beyond the Basics) Up To Date (2015). Online.

Beinart, N. Weinman, J., Wade, D., & Brady, R. “Caregiver Burden and Psychoeducational Interventions in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review.” Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders EXTRA 2.1 (2012): 638–648. PMC. Web. 15 Jan. 2016.

De la Monte, Suzanne M., and Jack R. Wands. “Alzheimer’s Disease Is Type 3 Diabetes–Evidence Reviewed.” Journal of diabetes science and technology (Online) 2.6 (2008): 1101–1113. Print.

Keene, C. D., Montine, T. J., Kuller, L., H. “Epidemiology, pathology, and pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease” Up To Date (2015). Online.

Müller, Ulrich, Pia Winter, and Manuel B Graeber. “A Presenilin 1 Mutation in the First Case of Alzheimer’s Disease.” The Lancet Neurology (2012): 129-30. The Lancet. The Lancet. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.

Leifer, B. P. “Alzheimer’s disease: Seeing the signs early.” Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners(2009) 21: 588–595 Web. 13 Jan 2016

Ginter, E., V. Simko, D. Weinrebova, and Z. Ladecka. “Novel Potential for the Management of Alzheimer Disease.” Bratislava Medical Journal BLL (2015): 580-81. Online.

Giacobini, E and Becker, RE. One hundred years after the discovery of Alzheimer’s disease. A turning point for therapy? J Alzheimers Dis (2015): 12, 37-52

Wolk, D. A., Dickerson, B. C. “Clinical features and diagnosis of Alzheimer disease” Up To Date (2015). Online.

How To Live An Interesting Life

[image error]How would you like permission to skip school for the rest of your life as a student?

Or how about the ability to quit your job and do whatever you like for the rest of your career?

Well … I’m not sure I can help you with that.

But what I can do is give you some tips on how to live an interesting life. Here are six of them:

1. Be The Driver Of Your Education

 

There are two main forms of education:

* External Driven

* Self Driven

The first is the kind of education where you show up when you’re told and sit where you’re told. You even eat when you’re told.

Sounds kind of like prison, doesn’t it?

 

Prison? It Might Even Be Worse!

 

Not only do you have all kinds of pressures on your time. You’ve got people telling you what to learn.

Think about that:

What. To. Learn.

Oh no, no, no.

No and a thousand times no. That’s not the path to an interesting life.

What you want instead is to …

 

Be The Boss And Manager Of Your Own Intelligence

 

Let me tell you a story:

I dropped out of high school in Grade 12.

There’s a lot of detail surrounding this decision and some of it ain’t pretty.

But sticking to the facts (and just the facts), I thought school was such a drag that I decided to stay home and read Collier’s Encyclopedia.

 

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Each morning I would leave home. But instead of getting the battered yellow school bus into town, I would hike up into the mountains. For months I experienced the Fall transform into Winter and then Spring from up above the highway where I would wait for my mom’s car to pass by.

It sounds like something out of Hitchcock’s Psycho, I know, but as I was watching the highway waiting for mom to go to work, I was listening and learning.

No, not listening to Heavy Metal. Not pop. Not even soft rock.

Instead, I was listening to the CBC on my fat yellow Walkman. At that time, Peter Gzowski, a.k.a. Mr. Canada, was the host of Morningside.

Over the course of the year, I got virtually a Ph.D. in Canadian culture, history, politics, literature and the arts. I also heard interviews with important people from around the world.

True, a bear might have mauled me while I was up there, and I did have a few close encounters with moose and deer. But the danger was worth it.

And after a few hours of Morningside, I would head down the mountain and make hot chocolate. With a steaming cup beside me on the coffee table, I would sit in the same rocking chair I was nursed in and read the Encyclopedia.

It was like being nursed all over again, this time by the knowledge my parents had invested in when they ordered the Encylopedia one volume at a time.

These days we have Wikipedia, but back then, if you wanted to know about the world, it cost a lot of money. I remember my mom talking about saving for the Encyclopedia year after year. She cut dozens of coupons from the newspaper so she could save more and complete the set.

It took about three years and after that, she kept up with the yearly updates for at least another three.

And this was all before I was old enough to read anything more complicated than Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. (Come to think of it, that story is rather complex …)

It was a lot of fun reading through Collier’s Encyclopedia.

And educational.

When I finally did return to complete high school, I knew so much about the world that …

 

 

School Was EVEN MORE Boring!

 

But that was fine. Because I knew about all kinds of books I wanted to read.

So whenever I could, I would still skip school and take out a notebook I’d kept and look for all the books I’d learned about in Collier’s.

I would go to the Kamloops Public Library and check them out. While everyone else was spending weeks struggling through A Separate Peace by John Knowles, I was reading:

 

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* The Stranger by Albert Camus

* 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell

* Demian by Herman Hesse

* The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

* Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevski

… and much, much more.

The point of all this is that I was practicing, without even realizing it, the art of self-driven education.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that anyone quit school, skip school or do anything like that …

But I am suggesting that you won’t get nearly as intelligent as you deserve to be if you learn only what you’re told.

 

So What Can You Do?

 

If you’re told to read a Shakespeare play, read the play and one other.

Or look up a book about Shakespeare and read a play by one of his contemporaries (I recommend the zany John Webster).

If you find math difficult and boring, find a book on mathematics that has mostly words. See if you can tackle the idea of math from another angle. Khan Academy has math courses you can take as well, something I couldn’t enjoy. But you can.

And when you find an author or an online teacher you like, stick with them. You can learn a lot by seeing how people develop over time.

You’ll also learn a lot about successful people, which brings us to …

 

2. Reverse-Engineer People You Admire 
(Just So Long As They Aren’t Creepy Weirdos Or Serial Killers)

 

The world is filled with people who have either lived or are living exciting lives.

That doesn’t mean they led easy lives. There’s no such thing and living without challenges would probably be even more tedious than high school.

What you want to look for when studying the biographies of other lives are:

* How they explained their desires, goals and wishes

* What actions they took to do great things

* How they coped with suffering

* What they did to keep themselves expanding

* How they dealt with their historical circumstances

* Who they knew and what they did with their friendships and relationships

There’s so much more to pay attention to, but these are a good start.

 

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Why Do This?

 

Because life starts to get serious when you act and think about who you are and what you want to do.

And to truly develop a unique profile and create the space needed in your mind to become whoever it is you’re going to become …

 

You Need The Ability To Think And Feel The Ideals And Sorrows Of Others And Dream Up Your Preferred Version Of The World So You Can Make It Real

 

When you study others, you’ll experience a diversity of ideas that will train you to pay attention to what everyone around you is doing.

It will also help you get past the negative habit so many have of rejecting differences.

Remember, there are no differences as such. Everything is part of the world. And as long as that is true, everything in the world is part of you. And that means everything and everyone applies to you and your life.

If you don’t like reading, you can also watch biographies. And for a super-interesting exercise, you can pick a single actor and watch as many films starring that person as possible in chronological order.

You can choose actors who are good at portraying different characteristics and actors who just seem to be playing themselves over and over.

Either way, you’ll notice patterns of consistency and difference. And like a wine expert, you’ll start experiencing all kinds of different shades of flavor you never noticed before.

Next, move from hanging out with books and movies to …

 

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3. Toss Social Inertia From Your Life Forever

 

Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, it’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing the same people all the time.

That’s no way to revolutionize your life and keep it revolutionizing.

So as you’re finding interesting biographies and adapting ideas to your life, HUNT for advanced people with whom you can share an environment. (But not in a creepy way …)

Find the people who have the characteristics you want and enter their circles. Don’t be creepy about it. Just identify someone and ask if you can have 20 minutes of their time to ask some questions. Then ask them who else you should talk to continue your education.

Do this and you’ll have an unending stream of new contacts and interesting people around you. As a result, you’ll experience SO MUCH MORE in your life. And you’ll always have interesting things to say to the new people you continue to meet.

Plus, if you visit these people in their homes, you instantly have more Memory Palaces. You can also meet them in cafes or restaurants you’ve never visited to increase your awareness of your city and its offerings.

All this will help you develop …

 

4. The Most Important Skills In The World

 

Communication, for example. There’s no point in being more interesting if you’re no good at speaking. At some point, you’ve got to learn to control how words come out of your mouth. You get that practice by … (gasp!) speaking with people.

You can also attend Toastmasters meetings, start a podcast, speak your mind on YouTube and develop yourself as a writer.

To get good at writing, start with the high school newspaper, writing letters to the editor, regularly updating a blog or just by posting on Facebook to explore your ideas.

By studying all those successful people and learning to communicate with them, you’ll also be orienting on success.

This will help ensure that your life isn’t controlled by external circumstances. You won’t fall prey to the strange idea that certain times are good and particular periods of history are bad.

Here’s the only thing about time you need to now:

 

Times Change …

 

Your job is to adjust.

To be flexible.

To be adaptive.

To be agile, aware and if necessary, defensive.

Above all, you want to develop awareness of everything around you that you possibly can.

Because at the end of the day …

The way you succeed has little to do with the ways of the world. It has to do with how you react to the way the world changes.

And you always want to ask …

What advantage can I take of the present state of change?

It’s a compelling question and the best way to prepare for the times when you’ll need to ask it is to …

 

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5. Live Like A Scientist

 

Scientific living means being measurable.

You can measure everything down to what you do to be productive and make good use of your timeTOR’s Post, to measuring your testosterone levels.

Measuring your activities will help you see where you’re strong and where you need to improve. The best part is that, because you’re studying so many other people, you’ll see how you can do more of what works, and how you can do things differently.

Track everything in a journal, diary, Google Spreadsheet, in Evernote or whatever you prefer. Use whatever tool makes it easy for you to see where you are, where you’ve been and where you’re going.

By doing this, you can develop processes and systems for your life.

For example, I have systems that tick along no matter what happens on CNN:

* Writing every day

* Putting out a weekly podcast

* Emailing Magnetic Memory Method members 1-2 hours a day

* Theatre group once a week (when in season)

* Other regular courses

* Monday and Friday mornings at the gym

And the best part of all this activity and tracking is that …

 

It’s Easy To See The Holes In The System

 

For example, my activities are all fine and dandy, but looking them over, it’s clear to me that I’m missing out on music. Now I know that I’ve got to schedule more time for my memorize Bach on bass habit. Popping Bach into my memory used to be a huge part of my week, and now it’s faded almost to nil.

The important point here is that you want to develop “sticktoitiveness.”

The ability to stick to it is pure gold. So many of us (including me) get so distracted by the next bright shiny object that we need systems to keep ourselves on track.

Sticking with the program is important because without consistency, we never wind up doing anything long enough to see results.

And at the end of the day …

 

It’s All About The Results

 

That’s why it’s so important to stop and check in with yourself and your stats.

And stop searching for the easy path. That’s one of the quickest ways to fail. In reality, finishing a course you’ve started or completing a project from beginning to end IS the easiest way to get from point A-Z.

Success happens when you bring precise implementation to the game. I’m talking about dedicated practice, which is as true to memory development as it is to any task.

Stick with whatever you’re doing. Experiment with it. Study every angle and explore every corner.

Do that and you won’t need memory techniques. The stones will be set and the things you’ve learned will be impossible to forget.

Finally, there is one point that rules supreme:

 

6. Have Confidence In Yourself

 

Not only do you need to have confidence in yourself. You need to have confidence in the things you’re doing. This is why, for example, completing courses and finishing books you’ve started is so critical.

We live in memory. We thrive or fail by what we’ve done in the past. The more good things we’ve done, the more positive experiences we have to build upon.

That said, if you have weaknesses in your past, perhaps even terrible experiences …

 

There Is No Reason To Let The Darkness Control Your Future

 

If you just make the shifts needed to put yourself in alignment with others, your unique desires and the habits and patterns needed to achieve success, all the pieces will fall together.

You’ll see the patterns you noted in the lives of others emerge in your own life. You won’t let yourself get bullied out of accomplishing your dreams. You’ll be a transformer. An influencer. A true human being who cannot help but live an interesting life.

 

Further Resources

 

How To Improve Concentration And Memory Buddha-Style

This song:

 

 

How To Improve Concentration And Memory Buddha-Style

[image error]There are few things more frustrating than forgetting a single, important detail. Especially when you’re in the middle of something as important as recalling a hilarious joke.

You’ve prepared the perfect anecdote, yet, you can’t retrieve it the single most important part from your memory. You can remember the newspaper where you read it. You can even remember the look of the page where the information was found, including images and other small details.

And yet, in your mind’s eye …

 

That One Piece Of Information Is Painfully Out Of Reach!

 

But don’t worry. You’re not losing your memory. Your inability to remember is likely related to the level of concentration you used at the time you read the passage.  This is because concentration is key to memory recall. (In case you want to look it up on Wikipedia, concentration is also known by the slightly less sexy term,  “attentional control.”)

Good concentration is necessary for creating complete memories. Lack of attention to detail leads to difficulty remembering crucial and important pieces of information. Although having excellent concentration may not necessarily lead to better memory, concentration is essential to well-formed and useful recall of information.

But in a time with so much valuable information at our fingertips, there are more barriers for our concentration than ever. The notification-saturated world of the the internet constantly attacks our focus. This reality has led some teachers to worry that students are growing up with decreased attention spans.

Thankfully, there is a powerful and scientifically proven method to improving concentration. What’s more, this method has been practiced for thousands of years.

Best of all, it’s something anyone can take up, at no cost, with no fancy equipment, and no extensive training.

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This 3,500 Year Old Technique Will Improve Your Concentration

 

The mind is a powerful thing.

Perhaps no other group of minds demonstrates this more strongly than experienced Buddhist monks.

These monks dedicate their lives to following the Buddhist 8-fold path to enlightenment. The path involves doing good, serving others, and extensive meditation.

Enlightenment is the ultimate state of mind. When enlightened, a meditator finally achieves a complete stillness of the mind and inner peace.

Although meditation has existed for over 3,500 years, the scientific community has only been studying meditation for over 50 years (Thomas and Cohen, 2013).

Nonetheless, research on meditation has demonstrated impressive potential and even stunning feats.

In one mind-defying example, Buddhist monks have been recorded controlling their body temperatures through a meditative practice called “g-tummo”. In controlled scientific tests, experienced monks were able to dry cold and moist sheets (Kozhevnikov et al. 2013).

These sheets were placed around each monk’s body, and were dried within an hour. This process was made possible through body heat produced by the monks while in their meditative state of “g-tummo”. Some witnesses of similar experiments report seeing steam emerge from the sheets while they dried (Kozhevnikov et al. 2013).

Researchers also measured the monks’ body temperatures, which rose by as much as 17 degrees Celcius.

 

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How is this possible?

 

No one quite understands the biological mechanisms behind meditation just yet.

But study after study demonstrates that meditation has far-reaching benefits – including for concentration and memory.

Indeed, meditation is perhaps the only mental exercise with so much evidence of its ability to improve cognition and focus.

And you don’t even have to be a monk to start using this tool to better your own mind, body, and soul.

The Long way To Better Concentration

 

As with everything, there’s an easy way and a hard way. Science doesn’t skip over the hard way and investigates everything (crazy right?).

Looking for links between meditation and cognition, researchers from the University of California, Davis, recruited 60 people for a study. Half were assigned to a meditation retreat to practice mindfulness meditation for an average of five hours a day for three months.

These participants were committed. Not only did they volunteer three months of their time t, but they also paid $5,300 to attend the retreat.

The other 30 were used as a control group and placed on a waiting list. This was to rule out that the passage of time alone was not to blame for any differences between the groups.

Both groups were asked to watch a series of lines flash on a screen. Participants were to click a mouse when they saw a line that was shorter than the others. This detail-oriented test forced participants to focus intently. Researchers found that those who meditated were significantly more likely to see increasingly small differences in the lines (Maclean et al. 2010).

In other words, the meditation group were better able to focus in on small details through their improved concentration (Maclean et al. 2010).

But not everyone has the time to undergo a three month meditation retreat. So, where’s the shortcut for the majority of us who want the benefits without the commitment?

Science has a solution.

 

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The Easy Way To Better Concentration

 

As benefits to cognition had been observed for longer-term meditation, researchers were curious to see whether less effort could be effective (Zeidan et al. 2010).

In a study conducted at the University of North Carolina, a group of 49 students volunteered for a meditation study. None of them had prior experience meditating.

24 participants were randomly assigned to meditation, while 25 were assigned to listening to an audiobook. Each group performed their activity for 20 minutes, four times a week, for one week under laboratory supervision.

At the end of the one week experiment, the meditation group experienced significant improvements in concentration compared to their audiobook counterparts (Zeidan et al. 2010).

It’s important to note that this research has a few limitation. These results were seen in college students and may not extended to older adults. Also, there is no indication that this is as effective as longer-term and longer-duration mediation (Zeidan et al. 2010).

However, it is encouraging that immediate benefits to practicing short-term meditation were observed. This means that you don’t have to wait a few months before you can start benefiting from your practice. Within a week of consistent meditation, you can start to experience improved concentration.

 

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But Will It Really Improve Your Memory?

 

If the meditation-to-concentration-to-memory link seems shaky to you, don’t abandon meditation just yet. The link is more direct: meditation has also been shown to improve memory.

A randomized controlled test studied the effects of meditation on the working memory capacity in adolescents.

Around 200 teenagers were recruited and assigned to either a mindfulness meditation practice, yoga, or were waitlisted as a control group. The groups meditated or practiced yoga once a day for 15-30 minutes. These were accompanied by two formal teaching sessions twice a week.

By the end of the study, teenagers participating in the meditation group had significantly better outcomes than their yoga counterparts. Particularly in terms of their working memory capacity (Quach et al 2015).

But Meditation Doesn’t Just Improve Memory For The Young!

 

Another study looked at the effects of mindfulness training in adult-aged college students studying for their GRE tests. Sure enough, the meditating participants experienced less mind-wandering and increase working memory capacity. This result was achieved with only two weeks of meditating ten minutes per day (Mrazek et al 2013).

By now, you must be getting excited about meditation’s potential to super-charge your cognition. Calm your mind for now and read on about how to get started on your practice.

How To Meditate For Better Concentration

 

There are as many ways to meditate as there are Buddhist monks.

By stripping away the religious practices, a secular, simple, and one-size-fits-all solution to meditation is available.

To start meditating, just follow these steps:

Find a quiet spot, empty of distractions.
Set a timer for the amount of time you want to meditate. Start with five minutes and move up from there.
Sit on a chair or on the floor, whichever is more comfortable.
Close your eyes and focus on your breath; on where it feels the strongest. When thoughts enter your mind, don’t reject them. Simply acknowledge them and gently return your attention to your breath.

If meditating in silence is too difficult, you can try a large variety of guided meditations. These include phone apps, such as Headspace and Breathe.

No research has been done showing any benefit to meditation less than four times a week. To get the most out of it, aim to meditate as consistently as you can, at least a few times per week.

And if you’d like a more advanced approach to meditation (the one I use most often), check out The Five Fold Path To Memory Improvement.

Enough Reflection, It’s Time For Action

 

Improving your concentration is a step towards improving your memory. Meditation is a powerful tool for improving concentration and bettering your cognition.

Especially in an age of endless distractions and heightened stress, incorporating practices to re-focus your mind is important.

For some, daily meditation might seem like an impractical use of time. However, think about the time you waste, lost in thought, unfocused, and scatter-brained. With that in mind, it’s easy to understand how meditation yields impressive dividends for a relatively small investment in time.

Results are not instantaneous, but you can be sure that they’re scientifically backed.

Carve out ten minutes today for your first meditation session. Your mind will thank you.

 

Further Resources

 

How To Improve Memory And Concentration By Reducing Stress.

3 Ridiculously Boring Ways To Add Focus And Excitement To Your Life.

Kozhevnikov, Maria, James Elliott, Jennifer Shephard, and Klaus Gramann. “Neurocognitive and Somatic Components of Temperature Increases during G-Tummo Meditation: Legend and Reality.” PLoS ONE (2013). Pubmed. Web. 28 Dec. 2015. .

Maclean, K. A., E. Ferrer, S. R. Aichele, D. A. Bridwell, A. P. Zanesco, T. L. Jacobs, B. G. King, E. L. Rosenberg, B. K. Sahdra, P. R. Shaver, B. A. Wallace, G. R. Mangun, and C. D. Saron. “Intensive Meditation Training Improves Perceptual Discrimination and Sustained Attention.” Psychological Science (2010): 829-39. Upaya. Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

Mrazek, M. D., M. S. Franklin, D. T. Phillips, B. Baird, and J. W. Schooler. “Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering.” Psychological Science (2013): 776-81. Sage Pub. Psychological Science. Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

Quach, Dianna, Kristen E. Jastrowski Mano, and Kristi Alexander. “A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Effect Of Mindfulness Meditation on Working Memory Capacity In Adolescents.” Journal of Adolescent Health. Science Direct. Elsevier. Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

Thomas, John W., and Marc Cohen. “A Methodological Review of Meditation Research.” Frontiers in Psychiatry Front. Psychiatry (2014). PMC. PMC. Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

Zeidan, Fadel, Susan K. Johnson, Bruce J. Diamond, Zhanna David, and Paula Goolkasian. “Mindfulness Meditation Improves Cognition: Evidence of Brief Mental Training.” Consciousness and Cognition (2010): 597-605. Print.

The Story Of How To Learn And Memorize German Vocabulary

I’ll never forget the day I made the most important discovery of my life. A discovery that would also prove important for thousands of language learners and students of various topics around the world.

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Here’s what happened:

I was on my porch down in Zehlendorf. (It’s really too bad about Zehlendorf …)

I really miss that part of Berlin. I used to walk to the nearby lake and through a wooded area leading to the stores and the M48 bus I often took to Potsdamer Platz where I would watch movies for my work.

Yes, watch movies. I was a Film Studies professor back then. Greatest job in the world – if you can get it.

 

And If You Can Keep It!

 

Anyhow, I was on the porch studying German and nearly tearing out my hair with frustration. No matter what I did, the German vocabulary wouldn’t stick in my mind.

Worse, the flashcard software I’d been using bored me to tears. I’ve never found anything more painful than banging foreign language vocabulary repetitively against my eyes in the vain hope that I would somehow magically remember the abstract and mysterious words.

In all fairness, some people can tolerate rote learning. In fact, there’s research suggesting that polyglots get great value from hard repetition. This happens primarily because they’ve trained themselves to be really good at it.

 

But Let’s Be Real

 

Most people do not want to be polyglots. Most people would be happy just to get halfway decent in one language, not several.

In fact, most people would be overjoyed just to get a couple of hundred words in their long term memory.

And most people would be ecstatic if they could turn those words into basic conversational fluency. All you need is about 800-1200 for that, plus a touch of understanding the grammar.

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So there I was with a fat dictionary pumping words into the spaced-repetition software I loathed like the plague.

I sure loved that dictionary, though. What a glorious thing, all thick and yellow.

Heavy too, almost as heavy as a brick. But that didn’t stop me from carrying it everywhere.

 

And That’s When It Hit Me!

 

With a bit of summer wind on my face, I asked myself a fundamental question:

Why on earth wasn’t I using memory techniques to help me learn German?

Seriously. They sometimes say that Ph.D. stands for “piled higher and deeper,” but Mann O Mann (as the Germans say), was I ever mystified.

You see, following a terrible and nearly suicidal depression that almost forced me out of grad school, I discovered memory techniques almost by accident. I was avoiding the looming field exams and dissertation defense by learning magic tricks.

Of course, procrastinating on my studies only made my depression worse …

But it’s at least a good thing that I was doing something constructive. I thought of my magic practice as developing a kind of “emergency paycheck,” because I was certain at that time I was going to wind up on the streets with nothing more to do than entertain people and pass around my hat.

And I suppose that would have been fun for awhile. Studying card magic was certainly better than jumping off a bridge, which the mounting pressure and the teeth of my depression were forcing me to consider.

Worse, if you’ve ever experienced the horrors of manic-depression in full swing, you know the impulses involved. They are sick and sweet and jump out at you from nowhere. It’s terrible too because once the urges pounce, they can keep trouncing on you for days and days on end.

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The most sinister part of the situation was that I couldn’t concentrate or read. It always felt like my eyes were slipping off the page. And when I could read for brief periods of time, I always wound up forgetting everything.

And that made me frustrated and even angry. Magic was my only relief.

And it was easy to study too because you can buy a lot of training in card and coin magic on DVD. I didn’t have a whole lot of money at the time, but it sure was worth it.

Especially when I came across the process that would save my life. I’m talking about the “Holy Grail” of all card tricks: The Memorized Deck.

There’s a ton of effects you can create with a memorized deck. The only difference is …

They Aren’t Effects! They’re Based On Real Magic …

 

… Or at least, the closest thing to real magic that exists. The ability to go through 52 cards, looking at each only once and being able to recall the entire order backward and forward …

This ability is a complete miracle.

So I bought a book on the topic and an audio program that included a section on card memorization. It would be years before I read the book, but my hungry ears gobbled up the audio like peasants on bread during a famine.

And what I heard nearly made my brain explode.

It’s true. I understood the procedures immediately. It’s shocking how simple it is, and yet …

… I was skeptical. How on earth was I going to put these techniques into action when I could barely concentrate on a book.

Not only that, but playing cards are essentially a kind of book, only they are made up of totally abstract and fragmented sentences and chapters. And the pages can be endlessly recombined.

But even so, I gave the technique a try.

What happened totally blew me away.

Why?

Because 15 minutes after learning the technique, I had memorized my first deck of shuffled cards.

I couldn’t believe it.

In fact, to this day I’m still in awe. And the reason I work so hard to promote memory techniques to people around the world is precisely because that awe remains.

And it grows and grows the more I hear from people who have read one of my books or taken one of my video courses.

 

They All Have One Special Characteristic In Common …

 

They, like me, learned the methods and took action. They experimented. They memorized vocabulary using the tools of the Magnetic Memory Method and they got results.

And then they repeated what they learned and got even more results. And those results led to even higher payoffs because things just keep getting better and better the more you use mnemonics as part of your learning.

Anyhow, as soon as I realized what I had done with the playing cards, I instantly saw how I could apply these techniques to learning and memorizing the 250+ books I needed to cover for my field exams.

These are mean and nasty affairs where seven professors sit around a table and drill you with questions for nearly two hours. They’re very protective of the university Ivory Tower, so they do everything they can to keep you out.

The hostility makes the process of sitting for those exams frightening an stressful in every possible way.

And frankly, most people never make it. I don’t know what the figures are now, but back then, the graduation rate from Ph.D. programs in Canada was a mere 13%.

In other words, out of every 100 people who enter grad school, 87 walk away without a degree.

But I wasn’t one of those who left the hallowed halls empty-handed. And it’s all because I took action and used the memory techniques I’d learned on that magical day during the depths of my nearly suicidal depression.

Of course, it’s not as if my studies were suddenly free from challenges.

 

Far From It

 

The memory techniques boosted my confidence and this gave me increased clarity. But I still struggled to read with the amount of focus needed to even discover and isolate the information I wanted to memorize.

So what I wound up doing was to read the books out loud. Unlike the memory audio program I had no problem following, the philosophy and history books I was reading had no audio editions.

Worse, they were so dense and so obscure … It was often like pulling teeth just to get through them.

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But by reading out loud to maintain my concentration and then listening to my narrations, I could finally concentrate.

And then I would write down the key points and facts from the books on index cards.

Next, I would order the index cards in particular ways to aid the memorization of them into the Memory Palaces I’d created.

Following that, I memorized the information on the cards. Kind of like memorizing a deck of playing cards, only in this case you’re not entertaining audiences but rather earning a degree.

But there was another level of difficulty.

The memory techniques and especially the Memory Palaces I was using at the time were far from foolproof.

 

And I Made A Lot Of Mistakes

 

You see, the techniques I had learned were actually kind of pedestrian. They weren’t made for higher levels of learning. And they certainly weren’t designed for language study.

So what I did was to develop completely new approaches to the memory techniques. I was still learning and memorizing information very well, but I knew I could do better.

Above all, I knew that my Memory Palaces could be much more precise. So I found better ways to begin the journeys through them. I discovered principles that reduced the errors many people make with mnemonics and massively reduced the cognitive load extensive learning places on the mind.

And the more I worked at it, the more streamlined the techniques became. Before I knew it, I had zoomed through most of the books and was ready to sit for my exams.

I had also finally landed on a feasible dissertation topic. And even though I still felt physically terrible and the mental illness remains to this day …

 

I Was Sitting On Top Of The World

 

I marched into those exams brimming with confidence and aced them.

In fact, when my final dissertation defense concluded and I was called “Dr. Metivier” for the very first time, the top examiner who had come up to Canada from the United States told me something I’ll never forget.

“Most people freeze up,” he said. “Some of them even break into tears. But you …

… the only person cooler than you is Miles Davis.”

I guess what he meant is that I was calm, collected and cool in the sense of being unshakable. And trust me, each and every one of the professors surrounding me at that table on the second floor of the Vanier building on the campus of York University in Toronto did all they could to shake me up.

But none of them could, not even the one hellbent on failing me.

Why?

Because I knew my stuff and could remember it.

 

All Of It

 

And when they awarded my degree, they even added a special comment on the form that I had presented my knowledge with originality and audacity.

I take that to mean that I did it all with nerves of steel, total confidence and the ability to create new knowledge, not just parrot what I’d memorized.

And that’s what the Magnetic Memory Method is all about: Creating knowledge while also being able to repeat information verbatim. Or in the case of memorizing vocabulary, being able to create unique and meaningful sentences.

But don’t get me wrong.

In some cases, being a parrot isn’t a bad thing.

 

Not A Bad Thing At All

 

But let’s flash forward a couple of years.

There I was on the porch. Stupidly I’d sat through six months of a German language course after landing a research and teaching grant at a university there.

Looking back, I still can’t believe it. But in all fairness, I had already used my memory to get my Ph.D. But researching and teaching didn’t require them in quite the same way. I used mnemonics only to memorize the names of my students and the basic architecture of my lectures.

But on that porch, I realized that I could have been using memory techniques all along to memorize German vocabulary. The only question now was …

How?

When I thought back to what I’d done during my graduate years, it all fell into place.

You see, when organizing the knowledge I needed to know in order to memorize the works of philosophers and literary or film theorists great and small, I had created at least one Memory Palace for each, sometimes up to five.

In many cases, the Memory Palaces weren’t so much centered on the career of a philosopher, but on a single book. For example, for Aristotle I concentrated only on memorizing the major details of The Nicomachean Ethics. But as for the rest of his cannon, I’m a sitting duck in water.

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Michel Foucault, on the other hand, had five Memory Palaces, four for individual books he’d written and one for facts about his life and how it intersected with important moments in his Zeitgeist.

Regardless of having one Memory Palace or five per philosopher, in each I got some kind of picture in my mind of what that person looks like. In the case of Aristotle, I had only paintings to work with. With Foucault, I could look at oodles of photographs.

Then, using a well-formed Memory Palace that obeys the principles of what would eventually become the Magnetic Memory Method, I followed these philosophers along carefully constructed journeys. At one point, for example, Aristotle fistfights with the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Foucault, known for his sexual escapades, got into some situations rather X-rated to at present mention.

I would eventually come to call these Magnetic little puppets of mine, “Bridging Figures.”

Why?

Because by following them around in my imagination, they “bridged the gap” between Memory Palace stations and engaged in behaviors that quickly and efficiently reminded me of the key points I needed to know. After that, it was just a matter of rehearsing the show a few times and writing out what I’d learned in summary format to ease the information into long-term memory.

As one commentator on a Magnetic Memory Method YouTube video puts it regarding my approach to memory techniques and mnemonics overall, it’s all …

 

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy

 

Lemon squeezy, indeed.

Thinking about that practice and its tremendous power, I clearly saw that the same approach readily applied to German vocabulary. Abraham Lincoln helped me connect “ab” words in an “A” Memory Palace.

To give another example, Einstein took over the show in an imaginary reconstruction of my brother’s home.

Even more interesting, real people proved useful too.

For example, my ex-wife’s good friend Vera war sehr verantwortlich when it came to stuffing “ver” words into a very special Memory Palace that happened to be her home in Brooklyn. I had only visited the place once, but due to the mind’s uncanny ability to absorb the details of a building on autopilot, I used its rooms and hallways to great effect before moving to my old girlfriend Vicki’s home and on and on and on.

 

Nifty, Isn’t It?

 

You bet it is. And before I knew it, the fruitless hours spent on index cards and writing words out by hand became a thing if the past. I deleted every trace of the spaced-repetition software clogging my laptop and honored instead the unparalleled abilities of a well-trained memory.

Thousands of books and over a dozen video courses and public appearances later, the ancient art of memory finally had an innovation for one of its toughest opponents: language learning.

There had been other attempts. Harry Lorayne and Larry Bird devote three pages to memorizing vocabulary in The Memory Book. In Memo, Oddbjorn By talks about organizing a city into three parts to help organize gendered nouns, an idea he may have found in Host Von Romberch, who was a contemporary of the great mnemonist Matteo Ricci.

But none of these approaches had the rigor needed to memorize vocabulary en masse. Harry Lorayne is no fan of Memory Palaces and mnemonists like Dave Farrow use them sparingly.

 

Nothing Wrong With That

 

But for so many people like myself, pegs and linking do little or nothing. Without a track upon which to lay the associative-imagery, the choo-choo train of the mind has to grasp after ghostly images popped willy-nilly into the void, connected only by abstract relationships between silly images.

But a Bridging Figure moving along a Memory Palace journey matches two extremely concrete elements that are easy to follow. The Memory Palace serves as the rails, beautifully fixed in place. The Bridging Figure is the train conductor who stops at the stations and lets you decode the associative-imagery.

It’s simple, elegant and fun.

 

So Much Fun

 

Of course, it would be years later before I told anyone about this revelation. When I finally did release How to Learn and Memorize German Vocabulary following a mysterious and strange set of tumultuous adventures ranging from divorce to the biggest dental nightmare of my life, many people instantly got it. They went on to collectively memorize thousand of words and experience unheard if boosts in fluency.

But others didn’t get it. They cursed at my book and the books to come, calling the Magnetic Memory Method impractical, impossible and insane. Others called me a scammer and compared me to Kevin Trudeau, a memory trainer who had broken the law by making dietary claims. What his health niche crimes have to do with his memory training, I’ll never know, but one thing will remain eternally clear: haters gonna hate.

The critics and naysayers aside, I focused all of my attention on helping the dozens of people who emailed me their questions. I spent hours clarifying the technique on an individual basis. And to be perfectly honest, I loved each and every minute.

But it soon became impractical to spend the better part of each day sharing clarifications to one person at a time. It’s the Information era after all. So I started gathering email addresses and emailed the answers to every one interested enough to subscribe.

Soon, ever more questions started rolling in. And new subscribers asked me how they could get their hands on all the emails they’d missed.

More than a hundred requests later, I created the Magnetic Memory Method Newsletter. At the end of each month, I gathered the emails I was sending once a day into a Kindle book and put them up on Amazon. Although these never became Bestseller like my other books, they have become the stuff of legend. Not a day passes when someone doesn’t ask to be subscribed to the MMM Newsletter or get the entire collection.

I’ve put ten of them together so far, totaling over 1000 pages of the deepest investigations into the art of memory on the planet. Some people have called me the Simonides of the 21st century. Others think I’m the reincarnation of Giordano Bruno (probably because of my Heavy Metal/Stoner Rock look and sometimes stubborn and insistent ways).

But to quote the late, great master of copywriting Gary Halbert:

 

“Whatever.”

 

One day I will have to put together the mounds of other correspondence with readers that I’ve never published. I expect that this eventual set of documents will amount to 3000 or more pages of material, writing that some people will undoubtedly gobble up and put to immediate use in their personal memory practice.

But for now, my focus is on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast and creating second editions of the existing vocabulary books. After all, I now know so much about why people struggle with the MMM that it behooved me to incorporate it all into the first editions.

And now I’m excited to release the second edition of How to Learn and Memorize German Vocabulary. This new and revised edition includes:

* Illustrations of how to create a well-constructed Memory Palace so that you can see the principles right before your very eyes and model them.

* Drawings of a few pieces of associative-imagery so that you really understand how you can instantly memorize the sound and meaning of a word in just a minute or two.

* A lengthy list of suggested German words you will want to learn so that you aren’t stumbling around blind wondering what you should memorize.

* Notes on memorizing grammar principles and phrases so that you can speak sentences instead of just words. (Though the emphasis is on words because you can’t form sentences without them.)

* An expended discussion of Recall Rehearsal so that you know exactly how to get the words and phrases into long-term memory.

* A mega-conclusion that covers every possible question you may have so that no stone is left unturned, and you know exactly what to do to memorize hundreds of vocabulary words a week.

And make no mistake …

 

This Stuff Works

 

I heard a few months back from one person that he learned 1000 words in 6 weeks.

Just imagine what having that ability could do for you.

And even if you’re not learning German, the principles apply to any language.

So if this book is something for you, grab it. If you get it during this special promotion, I’d like to send you a special bonus.

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That’s right. For people who get the book, either for Kindle or in print, I have a 45-minute exclusive video training I gave for Jonathan Levi’s SuperLearner Masterclass.

In this training, we go into detail about the misconceptions and problems people have with creating Memory Palaces. It’s all in the book, of course. But sometimes having a “student advocate” ask me questions live can make all the difference in the world. Plus, Jonathan is a force unto himself when it comes to learning.

At the present moment, this interview is available only in his SuperLearner Masterclass. It’s an experience that costs several hundred dollars to access. And honestly, if you’re willing to take action, 45 minutes listening to me talk in detail about the MMM is priceless.

I’ll send you a link where you can download this exclusive interview.

It’s just as simple as that. So here’s what to do next:

– Grab the book now.

– Click forward on the email receipt you get from Amazon.

– Enter my email address (anthony/at/magneticmemorymethod/dot/com).

– Click send.

Just make sure you do so before 11:59 p.m. on January 1st, 2016.

Now you may be wondering what’s coming up in 2016 for the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast. That’s a great question and so I can only urge you to stick around and see just what this grizzly old Wizard of Memory has up his sleeve. 2016 is going to be a big place indeed and if you want to learn a language, never forget a name or recite poetry or speeches, or pass even the most complicated math exam, the Magnetic Memory Method is here to help.

 

But Don’t Delay

 

Each and every day that you aren’t using the natural abilities of your imagination to integrate with the art of memory, you’re missing out on the massive power of flawless recall. You’re surrendering to the demon of forgetfulness when you could be eliminating its terrorist attacks on your life once and for all.

Grab your copy of How to Learn and Memorize German Vocabulary now and make 2016 the most amazing year of your life.

Your friend in memory,

Anthony Metivier

Foods That Improve Memory You CAN Pig Out On

[image error]If you’re lucky enough, eating is something you do every day. If you’re like most of us lucky ones, it might be something you do too often every day.

But for something you do so often, are you getting the most out of your eating, for both your body and mind?

Doctors, nutritionists, fitness instructors, and your mom are constantly preaching:

“You are what you eat.”

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

“Eat your fruits and veggies.”

 

Undoubtedly …

 

… diet is consistently cited as one of the more important aspect to weight loss and overall good health. What you eat can make you healthy, happy, and well-functioning, or throw you into a death-spiral of obesity, disease, and disability.

It should come as no surprise that diet also affects mental health. In fact, there is mounting evidence that specific types and classes of food can have beneficial –  or detrimental – effects on memory.

Is it possible to change your diet to maintain, and even achieve new and better levels of memory and information retention?

We are all salivating for a definitive answer, but for the most part, the jury is still out. Much of the research surrounding food and memory are in preliminary stages and tested on animal subjects. Not to dismiss the abilities of a lab rat, but making the connection between a rat and a human is dubious.

However, we aren’t entirely left in the dark. In fact, there is exciting new research pointing to real and impressive associations between food and memory.

This post (don’t forget to listen to the podcast version too) will dive into this salad bowl of findings and scoop out foods to help with memory conservation and retention.

All you’re left with is the easy – and delicious – part of figuring out how to incorporate these foods into your meals.

So, let’s dig in.

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The Ugly Nut That Should Get More Attention

 

They look like brains, are hard to crack, and have a slight bitter flavor. Walnuts taste as unique as they look, and cracking them open has been a strength test for bodybuilders everywhere.

Beyond their use as a party trick, these funny-looking nuts have some evidence pointing to their ability to improve memory.

It’s not due to their pretty appearance. Walnuts contain the highest source of antioxidants among their nut brothers and sisters (Vinson and Cai 134). Perhaps due to their impressive antioxidant profile, walnuts have garnered research specifically on their abilities to improve memory.

A recently published, cross-sectional American study was conducted analyzing the association of walnuts to several forms of cognitive function (Arab and Ang 284). The study included participants from a variety of ethnicities, age groups, and genders. It surveyed over 20,000 people about their dietary habits and had them take various cognitive tests. These tests included reaction time, numerical processing, and recall.

This is perhaps the largest walnut to cognitive function study ever done on the US population, and boasts impressive results.

The study showed strong associations between higher walnut consumption and progressively better scores on each cognitive test, including the memory recall test (Arab and Ang 284).

In other words, the more walnuts they ate per day, the better their memory became. These results applied to all of the age groups studied, ranging between the ages of 25-59.

The study concludes with an (albeit serious and scientific) ode to walnuts.

“These significant, positive associations between walnut consumption and cognitive functions among all adults [. . .] suggest that daily walnut intake may be a simple beneficial dietary behavior.”(Arab and Ang 284)

This study does not stand alone.

Another study focusing on elderly subjects found positive effects of walnut consumption on memory recall (Valls-Pedret et al. 773).

What all these studies are really trying to say is, “Walnuts. Get on that”. Raw or roasted, add them to salads, to your oatmeal or even to the your green smoothies in the morning. If the statistics are correct, you should be getting smarter and remembering more details than ever.

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How Green Tea Can Super-Charge Your Memory

 

Green tea is a favourite around the world. It’s found in a variety of drinks outside of its standard tea form, including lattes, soft drinks, and even ice cream. Green tea has been in the limelight for a while for its purported ability to aid in treating nearly any ailment.

Every other week there seem to be stories about green tea’s heroism in fighting cancer and diabetes. Hype aside, can green tea help your memory and mind as well?

In a study conducted on Japanese residents over age 60, higher green tea consumption was associated with lower incidence of dementia (Noguchi-Shinohara et al). Dementia is a common cognitive and memory decline associated with growing older.

The study suggests that green tea consumption could be beneficial for reducing our risk of memory decline.

But what about improving our memory here and now?

A very interesting, albeit small, study on college students, sought an answer to this question (Schimdt et al 3888). The study examined the effects of green tea extracts on brain activity in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. 12 healthy volunteers were given green tea infused drinks and asked to perform a working memory task while in an MRI.

During the task, the prefrontal cortex showed increased activity and the volunteers performance was heightened (Schimdt et al 3888).

A larger study looked at the effects of tea consumption on the cognitive abilities of middle-aged adults in community living in Singapore. This study didn’t test green tea exclusively, but it found protective and enhancing affects of green tea on cognition, including memory (Feng et al 438).

The evidence suggests that drinking green tea daily will protect from future memory decline and may even provide a memory boost.

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The Small Berry That Packs A Punch You’ll Remember

 

Blueberries aren’t just for toddlers and vanilla ice cream anymore. Blueberries are showing some promise in the protection of your memory.

In a study of nine older adults with memory decline, consuming blueberry juice over 12 weeks resulted in improved memory function. Each day this group of five men and four women drank blueberry juice. After 12 weeks of drinking blueberry juice, these nine test subjects showed improvements in recall and general cognitive functioning (Krikorian et al 4000).

Although small and preliminary, the research offers an interesting benefit to an already very health food. If you aren’t already eating blueberries, these findings should be the kick you needed to start adding them to your smoothies.

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Nothing Fishy About This Brain Food

 

If you’ve been on the internet at any point in the last ten years, you’ve probably heard about “Omega-3s”.

You may not know exactly what they do or what they are, but you know you need more of them.

The purported benefits of Omega-3s is the reason fatty fish have been promoted as a necessary addition to your weekly meals. Fatty fish, such as salmon, contain some of the highest levels of Omega-3s.

Similarly to green tea, Omega-3s have been touted as having a wide variety of health benefits. These include things like reducing pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis, ensuring the healthy development of babies, and aiding against dementia.

Setting the former two claims aside, it does seem that Omega-3s, as consumed through fish, have a protective effect against memory deterioration.

A large study followed 889 older adult men and women over nine years. It was hoping to understand whether differences in fatty fish intake impacted the prevalence of dementia by the ninth year (Schaefer et al 1545).

Researchers found that subjects with the highest intake of Omega-3 fatty acids had a lower risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s. Their subjects consumed a mean of three servings of fatty fish per week and the risk reduction was impressive. Subjects that consumed the most fish saw their risk of memory impairment decline by 47% (Schaefer et al 1545).

Another study followed a group of 281 people aged 65 to investigate the correlation between fish intake and brain deterioration. This study found that higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in the blood, predicted reduced deterioration for its test subjects (Samieri et al 642).

In another very large study of over 1,200 people, Omega-3 fatty acid, along with various other micronutrient levels, were analyzed. The results were compared to the prevalence of an important biomarker for dementia, a compound in the blood that predicts Alzheimer’s. Sure enough, those with high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids had a lower amount of the threatening biomarker (Gu et al 1832).

What’s really interesting is that these results were not replicated through supplementation.

In a huge study, supplementation Omega-3 fatty acids were given to 4,203 subjects to determine whether memory function improved. The study followed subjects for five years, during which they tested various cognitive functions, including memory. The results showed that supplementation did not have a significant effect on cognitive function (Chew et al 791).

Moral of the story? There seems to be real memory benefits and protective effects to eating foods high in Omega-3 acids, such as in fish. Moreover, supplements have not proven effective. You’re much better off saving your money for a nice salmon filet once a week.

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The Simple Diet That Brings It All Together

 

It might get tiring eating walnuts, berries, green tea, and fish all the time. But you’re in luck! As it turns out, there is an entire diet which has been shown to be protective against memory degeneration. The diet, called the MIND diet, reduces the risk of cognitive decline and memory by 35%. And that’s just for people who followed the diet moderately well (Morris et al 1022).

For those who stuck to the diet closely, the study measured an impressive reduction of 53%.

This diet has not, as of yet, been shown to enhance memory for healthy adults. There are no super-memory foods in the MIND diet.

Nonetheless, the MIND diet and study has shown impressive results in its potential to protect you from memory deterioration.

The MIND diet is a combination of two very well-studied diets: Mediterranean and DASH. Unlike these two diet, it places a special emphasis on the consumption of berries, strawberries, and blueberries in particular (remember them?).

The diet involves the following:

At least three servings of whole grains a day
A salad and one other vegetable a day
A glass of wine a day
A serving of nuts a day
Beans every other day
Poultry and berries at least twice a week
Fish at least once a week

The MIND diet also calls for limiting or eliminating unhealthy foods, especially butter, cheese, and fast or fried food.

In a time when many countries are facing ageing populations and increasing rates of Alzheimer’s, the MIND diet offers hope. As of yet, there is no effective cure for Alzheimer’s. Every step to a more definitive prevention of Alzheimer’s is a step in the right direction.

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Don’t Be Tricked By Ginkgo

 

Apart from being a lovely decorative tree across North America, Ginkgo Biloba is an ancient species of trees. In fact, they are known to be the oldest tree species in the world, remaining unchanged for over 200 million years. That’s right, this tree has been around since the dinosaurs. Unlike the dinosaurs, they did not go extinct.

Not just a pretty tree, Ginkgo Biloba has also been used in east asian culinary. For example, Ginkgo seeds are added to a traditional vegetarian dish called “Buddha’s Delight”.

Otherwise, Ginkgo Biloba has earned a shining memory-boosting reputation in both alternative medicine circles and the mainstream population. According to the New York Times, it is widely marketed as a preventative treatment to Alzheimer’s disease. What’s more, it is America’s best-selling herbal cognitive enhancement.

But is there substance behind these claims?

Unlike many food claims, definitive answers are possible because Ginkgo is one of the most commonly studied herbs in the world.

Ginkgo has not shown evidence for preventing memory-loss diseases in later life, including dementia. In 2015, a study reviewing many previous studies available on Ginkgo showed no effect on memory loss prevention (Charemboon and Jaisin 508).

But can it help enhance memory for healthy adults?

Again, the evidence is lacking. A similarly large review conducted in 2012 found nothing to prove that Ginkgo Biloba enhances memory, despite the marketing (Laws et al.).

All that glitters is not gold, especially when it comes to claims made by herbal supplement manufacturers. Save your money on Ginkgo supplements and move on to other, better evidenced memory-supporting foods.

Start On Your Memory-Boosting Journey

(Without Supplements)

 

It’s difficult to isolate specific components in foods that make them effective. It’s been found that blueberries, walnuts, and green tea have amongst the highest levels of antioxidant among their respective food groups.

Antioxidants are thought to protect against cell damage from free radicals, which occur naturally in the body due to normal metabolism.

However, many studies analyzing the effects of antioxidant supplements have failed to show significant effects. It seems that you must take the food with the antioxidant.

Although there may be a time and place for supplementation, uprooting food in their place is a poor strategy.

In any case, the variety and availability of these delicious foods leaves no reason not to incorporate them into your diet. Memory-boosting foods and diets are surprisingly commonplace.

Above and beyond improving memory, eating a healthy diet will leave you feeling energetic and, most importantly, disease-free. It’s a fair statement to say that living a long and healthy life is a prerequisite to excellent memory. After all, you need to be living a long life to have something to remember.

No research needed to back that up.

 

Further Resources And Works Cited

 

Dave Farrow Talks About Focus, Fatigue And Memory Expertise

What The Flu Taught Me About Memory Skills

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Chew, Emily Y., Traci E. Clemons, Elvira Agrón, Lenore J. Launer, Francine Grodstein, and Paul S. Bernstein. “Effect of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Lutein/Zeaxanthin, or Other Nutrient Supplementation on Cognitive Function.” JAMA (2015): 791. UpToDate. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.

Feng, Lei, X. Gwee, E. -H. Kua, and T. -P. Ng. “Cognitive Function and Tea Consumption in Community Dwelling Older Chinese in Singapore.” J Nutr Health Aging The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging (2010): 433-38. Pubmed. Web. 22 Dec. 2015. .

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Noguchi-Shinohara, Moeko, Sohshi Yuki, Chiaki Dohmoto, Yoshihisa Ikeda, Miharu Samuraki, Kazuo Iwasa, Masami Yokogawa, Kimiko Asai, Kiyonobu Komai, Hiroyuki Nakamura, and Masahito Yamada. “Consumption of Green Tea, but Not Black Tea or Coffee, Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Cognitive Decline.” PLoS ONE (2014). NCBI. PLOS ONE. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.

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Schmidt, André, Felix Hammann, Bettina Wölnerhanssen, Anne Christin Meyer-Gerspach, Jürgen Drewe, Christoph Beglinger, and Stefan Borgwardt. “Green Tea Extract Enhances Parieto-frontal Connectivity during Working Memory Processing.” Psychopharmacology (2014): 3879-888. Pubmed. Web. 22 Dec. 2015. .

Valls-Pedret, Cinta, Rosa Maria Lamuela-Ravent’os, Alexander Medina-Rem’on, Melibea Quintana, Dolores Corella, Xavier Pinto, Miguel Angel Martınez-Gonzalez, Ramon Estruch, and Emilio Ros. “Polyphenol-Rich Foods in the Mediterranean Diet Are Associated with Better Cognitive Function in Elderly Subjects at High Cardiovascular Risk.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 29 (2012): 773-82. IOS Press. IOS Press. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.

Vinson, Joe A., and Yuxing Cai. “Nuts, Especially Walnuts, Have Both Antioxidant Quantity and Efficacy and Exhibit Significant Potential Health Benefits.” Food Funct. (2011): 134-40. Royal Society of Chemistry. Web. 22 Dec. 2015.

Weinmann, Stefan, Stephanie Roll, Christoph Schwarzbach, Christoph Vauth, and Stefan N Willich. “Effects of Ginkgo Biloba in Dementia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” BMC Geriatr BMC Geriatrics (2015): 14. Print.