Anthony Metivier's Blog, page 38

How To Train Your Memory To Memorize Any Word

Sometimes Learning Is As Simple As Asking The Right Questions

Were you one of those students?

You know the kind I’m talking about.

The kind of student whose mind is brimming with questions.

And yet …

You never asked any of them.

Instead, you sat behind your desk, gripped by curiosity, but forever reason, kept quiet.

 

How To Train Your Memory To Memorize Any Word

 

It all begins with getting out of your comfort zone and asking those questions.

But before that, you’ll need to read and test how well you’ve understood something on your own.

And that’s what I admire so much about Jordan.

He sent in this question and really took his time to think things through.

Because here’s a little-known secret for you …

 

The Answer Is Almost Always In The Question!

 

To prove this point, take a moment to go through the following question. Note just how many times Jordan’s fantastic questions create the basis for a powerful answer.

You should do the same whenever you have questions. Write to explore and you’ll find that you know so much more than it might at first seem.

Hi Anthony,

Everything about your associative memory methods is exceptionally clear. I actually developed a near-identical memory system for myself to learn basic Hebrew and Farsi, years ago … 

However, what I didn’t include at the time was my own “spatial / palace” dimension. My images were going ‘into the void.’

For that reason, I’m having a bit of trouble understanding just how it is you use your Memory Palace – in combination with your Excel sheets etc. – when learning a new language.

I’m now learning Russian, so let’s use that as an example here. Sorry for the questions to follow. Just bear with me a moment, and maybe this can help you clarify your method to other future learners.

I’m curious how it is you build your palatial repository, sequentially speaking. Here’s how i understand it… please let me know if I’m getting any of these steps wrong or missing out something crucial.

1) Create one Memory Palace for your new target language (e.g., Russian), and begin by subdividing into 33 ‘locations’ within that Memory Palace (i.e., one location per letter of the alphabet).

The path you walk through the palace at any point in the future will now be by location, by alphabetical order. (I.e., start with ‘A’ location, then ‘Б’ location, then ‘B’ location, etc., linearly, without crossing or doubling back or boxing yourself in)

2) For each ‘location’, identify at least 10 ‘stations’ (i.e., sub-locations?) … These stations are where you’re going to store the associative images for your first 10+ vocabulary words. Respectively, each of which starts with the respective letter of the alphabet corresponding to the location. For instance, in my ‘A’ location I have 10 stations, where I store the words ‘арка,’ ‘афиша,’ ‘аптека,’ etc. (i.e., one word/associative image combo per station).

3) I continue to populate all my locations and stations this way, i.e., organized by initial letter.

4) I write each of my vocab words down in an Excel file, noting the words itself. Plus, the location, the station and/or the image … ? (please advise if I understand this correctly)…

5) Continue ad infinitum and practice my walk through regularly… 

Assuming I have that right, above (please correct me if not), I have a few questions:

i) As you learn any new word, you must create a new station within the appropriate location, and store it there for organizational purposes and ease of access … correct? … So, theoretically, each ‘location’ grows in terms of volume of ‘stations’, infinitely (i.e., it grows by one newly invented station every time you add a new word that begins with the location-relevant letter). 

ii) Assuming what I just said in (i) above is correct, do you subdivide the ‘location’ into ever-smaller, more specific ‘stations’, as your vocabulary grows? Does this result in a sort of infinitesimally divided ‘location’ …

If so, do you have any tricks or techniques for finding ever more, or increasingly small/minute, stations to create and use within your locations as your vocabulary grows? … If not, and I have this wrong, please correct me. 

iii) Assuming (i) and (ii) are mostly correct, what do you do to memorize key phrases, as opposed to just words? Do you store each one in a new station, within a location that corresponds to the first letter of the first word of the phrase (e.g., ‘Что нового’ gets its own new station within the ‘Ч’ location)? I realize this may be different for everybody, but I’m curious how you do it, particularly in terms of Russian, but also for any language, generally. 

iv) Assuming i have the general storage hierarchy system understood correctly, do you tend to store new words/phrases in new stations in alphabetical order within your locations? E.g., if you already know and have stations for ‘аптека’ and ‘афиша’, but then you learn the new word ‘арка,’ do you create a new station for ‘арка’ in-between the stations for  ‘аптека’ and ‘афиша’? (I.e. because the letter ‘р’ comes after the the letter ‘п’ but before the letter ‘ф’ in the Russian alphabet.) .

Or do you just add a new station at the end of all your other ‘A’ stations each time you learn a new ‘a’ word (i.e., within each location, new words get stores in stations ordered sequentially by when you learned them). … Please let me know which system you use/have had the most success with. 

v) Assuming most (i) to (iv) is correct in spirit if not in detail, each time you do a mental walk-through of your Mind Palace, are you actually revisiting *every single station* within *every single location* in your palace? If I understand correctly, this is basically like walking through a dictionary from front to back, in your mind, with each word represented by its own station, nested within one of 33 (e.g., in the case of Russian) sequential locations. … That seems like a lot of walking/remembering!! … maybe I’m missing something here (or maybe its just not as daunting as it sounds) … Do I have this right? 

Generally, I’d just like to know if I have this all understood correctly. I do realize everyone can and will make their own personalized modifications to the system/principles based on how their own minds work, and on their specific target material. That said, I’m very curious to know how you, specifically, structure your Mind Palaces for language acquisition, and–to the degree relevant–specifically in the case of Russian. 

Apologies for the epic email, but I want to make sure I’m building this palace–and these habits–the most effective and adaptable way possible, from the ground up.

Thanks for any insight!!

Cheers,

Jordan

 

How To Avoid Disaster, Make Your Own Discoveries And Find All The Memory Palaces You’ll Ever Need

Hi Jordan,

Thanks for your note.

Yes, you’ve understood everything more or less. I think a re-read of the book will cement things further.

On to your questions:

1) I do not recommend that you create your stations as you go along. This is a recipe for disaster.

Instead, go in with your Memory Palaces prepared in advance. If you want to memorize ten new words, have a Memory Palace with ten stations. If you have to build it as you go along, then you’re going to create cognitive load. Dig your wells before you get thirsty.

2) Subdivision is possible, but you shouldn’t need it because proper use of the MMM will get the words into long-term memory. You can then reuse the Memory Palaces. If you want to hold onto them, which is often the case and perfectly okay, then you can create new Memory Palaces per letter. Easy-peasy.

There’s more help here:

How To Find Memory Palaces

3) Phrases are best memorized by attaching them to words you’ve already got reliably stationed. If you’ve memorized the word for “first,” then later, go back and memorize the equivalent of a phrase like, “first things first,” or “in the first place,” or “first of all.” You can often memorize a number of phrases, assuming the word is actually in the equivalent phrasing of the target language (it isn’t always, but often enough it is).

4) See 3

5) If your Memory Palace is built correctly, you’re not revising every station. You just go there. It’s the same thing as walking from your bedroom to the kitchen. You don’t revise that journey. You simply move to it on autopilot.

Sure, there’s some part of your mind responsible for moving you from place to place and observing everything. But good Memory Palace construction reduces the effort.

As for this being a lot of memorizing and revising, I suggest that anyone time their effort, time spent and results in comparison with rote learning. I doubt that anyone seriously using the Magnetic Memory Method in the right way will be able to say that spaced-repetition software or any other form of rote learning will be faster or easier.

And you don’t have to take my word for it. Check out Noel Van Vliet’s results using the Magnetic Memory Method. He was very skeptical, and yet it worked gangbusters for him:

Judgment Day

As for whether you understood everything correctly or not, here’s the thing:

Go in with the spirit of experimentation using the understanding that you already had and some of my clarifications. If you get results based on that understanding, awesome.

If you don’t get the results you’re looking for, go back to the book for more study and analysis of what you’ve been doing and make changes based on your needs and preferences. When you get results, awesome.

Since this is a method that teaches you how to build your own systems, then it’s really not about how I use the MMM. It’s about how you use the MMM.

The books and video courses already tell you how I use it. I’ve never made any significant changes to how I use it and I doubt I ever well. The basic nature of memory, the nature of the techniques and the nature of language will never change – at least not much. These features of reality really are one of the few things that are impervious to the old rule that change is the only constant. Not memory techniques nor the basic rules of language (words and grammar “rules” might transform over time, but the fact of words and grammar as such most likely never will).

The only thing that ever changes is the extent to which people get busy using these techniques. And I’m very pleased to see that you’re poised to do just that.

And it truly is the best of all worlds because as you learn Russian with the MMM, you learn about your memory and how to use it. As you learn about your memory and how to use it, you learn Russian.

Just make sure that you also read, write, speak and listen to Russian everyday. Otherwise, all the Memory Palaces and memory techniques in the world won’t help you get fluent. Memory techniques are a tool of fluency and the MMM is an imaginative and organic alternative to the old school hammer of rote learning. But both require the same level of daily reading, writing, speaking and listening.

So memorize forth and prosper with this in mind.

Thanks again for your note – hope to correspond again soon!

Further Resources

Download the above as a printable PDF [image error]

Memorize Foreign Language Vocabulary With Big Box Stores

Improving Memory Just Doesn’t Get Any Easier Than This

How To Become More Creative And Remember The Information That Matters In Your Life

 

Would you like to be more creative?

How about in a way that makes you more visual so you can memorize more information faster and with greater accuracy?

You would?

Great. Then this may be the most important episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast you’ll ever experience.

Here’s why:

I’m going to give you two simple ways to become more visually creative so you can use your imagination to memorize anything. Of course, you’ll need to use a Memory Palace. Ideally you’ve already created several.

If not, you can listen to previous episodes of this podcast for help. These include How to Find Memory Palaces and movie and How to Enhance Your Memory With Virtual Memory Palaces. There’s also a full memory improvement course for improving memory in all areas of your life.

But for now, here’s …

How To Improve Your Memory By Legally Stealing Information That Already Exists Using Direct Analogy

The first way to become more visually creative involves creating “direct analogies.”

To use direct analogy, you need only follow five fun steps.

1. Identify an issue or problem. For people interested in using memory techniques for accelerated learning, this step should present no problems.

Chances are that you need to memorize:

Facts for schoolMathematical equations and other number-based information (link to math book)Information about historical figuresProfessional terminology in fields like medicine or law (am links)MusicNames and facesPoetry and speechesForeign language vocabulary and grammar rules

And this list is just for starters. Pilots, teachers, restaurant staff, police officers and a whole host of other people need memory techniques to make them better professionals.

The more specific you are about the problem you need to solve, the more dedicated you can be about shaping memory techniques as your go-to solution.

2. Find similar problems.

You might think it’s crazy to leap from your problem to other problems that only tangentially relate, but trust me. This second step is critical for developing your visual imagination. We’ll explore this point more completely in the next section.

3. Explore the analogy.

Once you’ve picked an example, dive in and start charting out the territory.

For example, doctors need to memorize a lot of terminology relating to the body, diseases, medicines and the cruel instruments related to their trade. How to get that large variety of terms and definitions into long term memory can be hard to visualize.

A similar problem that might come to mind could involve computer programmers. They need to teach computers to store terminology and make it accessible to users with intuitive ease.

You could then create a picture in your imagination of a doctor programming his mind as if it were a computer. Maybe he’s opened his skull and attached some wiring to his brain. And maybe the wires run into a keyboard so he can type the words and definitions, sending them exactly where they need to go.

 

Every Cell In Your Brain Has The Power To Help You Create Powerful Memories

 

By finding an analogy, you help yourself create an image. It’s great exercise and simply achieved.

To take another example, you could think of a painter who needs to place shapes and colors in just the right places. For example, you could see a doctor painting terminology onto a patient.

Or you could think about how novelists observe people in cafes to create portraits of them in prose. How could you use the needs of a doctor to create a visual analogy for comparison with the observation process of a novelist?

Whatever you choose for this part of the exercise, see the computer programmer-doctor or the painter-doctor or the writer-doctor in your mind. Focus intensely on creating that visual image.

If you can’t see a picture using your mind’s eye, take a few seconds to write out a description in words. Or access your other senses. What would it feel like to paint terminology on to a canvas, for example?

Whatever you do, don’t overthink the exercise. Just get started. You’ll learn by doing.

4. Repeat the process and prime yourself for better results

Now that you’ve found and explored an analogy, it’s time to start all over. Do it again. Just do it again.

And up the ante. Here’s how:

Keep giving your mind material that will make you more creative. To become more visual, use the material as a kind of “paint” to spread on the canvas of your mind.

In sum, you need to feed your mind the materials that make up paint.

The good news is that filling your paint factory with raw materials is easy and fun. You can:

Read novels and poetryLook at artGo to a museumWatch moviesSit in a park and study natureBlind contour drawing

Why engage in any of these activities?

 

The Springtime Of Your Imagination Is Just Waiting To Explode With Insane Growth

 

Because when you feed your mind with images, you’re giving yourself more material to process than you consciously realize.

Think of your unconscious mind as a kind of Grand Central Station. Except in this station, only one train comes and goes.

The doors to this Grand Central Station are your eyes, ears, sense of touch, smell, etc.

Every piece of information you encounter enters Grand Central Station. If the individual bits of information were people, they would be bustling around and bumping shoulders.

Some of them would be pregnant, some may even be giving birth. Some would have already had children and be pushing baby carriages. Some would be flirting and some would be pickpockets.

Yet other people would be police. Perhaps there are some Secret Service agents lurking around in your Grand Central Station too.

 

The Agents Of Forgetfulness Are Even More Evil Than You Think!

These are the agents of judgment and disapproval. They try to stop babies from being born. They prevent babies growing up, and worse, from getting on the train at any age.

If there is an upside, it’s that they sometimes stop the pickpockets from thieving booty from unsuspecting passengers. But it’s mostly downside. These agents will stop at nothing to prevent certain people from getting on the train of your conscious mind. Usually, they hinder the most important people that you need to be the most creative at the most important times.

But even with all these agents around, every once in a while, the train of your unconscious mind pulls into the station. Sometimes it stays for awhile. Other times it’s just a short stop. Sometimes it picks up a ton of passengers. Sometimes very few, perhaps even none.

And when it rolls in, there may be few thoughts and perceptions still on the train. But many have left, getting off at various stations along the tracks of your life. This emptiness means that your train is usually in desperate need of new passengers if it’s going to travel anywhere.

Thus, the more information you get into your Grand Central Station, the more of that information can get onto the train of your conscious mind and then step out exactly where you need it in life.

 

Never Let A Good Idea Stand Alone

 

And the more information you’ve got milling around, the more the people in the Grand Central Station can work together to overcome the police and secret agents so they can board the train in the first place.

And the more people on the train – yes, even the pickpockets – the more these people can interact with another and arrive at the right places when you need them. And the more interactions you have on the train, the more these people will be able to spot the pickpockets and shake out their plunder.

And should a police officer or Secret Agent ever make it onto the train, the others will have no problem exposing them and turning them out with the thieves.

In sum, to be more visually creative, you’ve got to feed your mind visual information so that you can create more analogies.

And if you don’t believe me, just think about what I’ve just done. The picture I’ve given you of the unconscious mind as a train station and the conscious mind as a train is an analogy.

It’s a powerful one too.

 

Like King Lear Said: Nothing Can Come Of Nothing

 

But it didn’t come out of nowhere, even though it felt like it had as I was writing it just now.

As I sit and write out this part of the podcast, I become aware of the movies and series I’ve been watching over the past few days. In an episode of Prison Break, for example, Michael Scofield and his brother are in a train station. A fellow escapee – an expert pickpocket – has recently died. There are cops everywhere and secret agents are chasing them.

Plus, I’ve been reading a John Grisham novel. It features a bus station in it. And I had recently watched Jackie Brown, which involves crowds milling in an airport and a shopping mall.

It’s clear to me now that these viewing experiences have influenced what seemed to be a spontaneously produced analogy. But it wasn’t spontaneously produced. It’s the result of the mixture churning in my unconscious mind and getting pumped out into my conscious mind.

And it every element has filtered through my studies of Freud from years ago. Freud, who talked about the “police” who stand between the conscious and unconscious mind. The repressive gatekeepers who prevent our powers of creativity from helping us create the lives we want.

So there are reasons why my unconscious mind is brimming with info. I feed it every day. I read novels, I look at art, I watch movies, I play music and sing.

 

Like Wyndham Lewis said:If You’re Going To Be An Island, Might As Well Be A Volcanic Island!

 

And when I need analogies to help me teach or memorize new information, I never have to stretch. The volcano of raw material raging within never fails to spurt out material that I shape and form into rock hard analogies that do the trick.

And the force of the blast is so hot and so strong, no police officer or Secret Agent standing between my unconscious mind can survive the heat of the blast, let alone prevent it.

And the good news is that you can develop these superpowers of creativity too.

You now have the keys. You now know how to use direct analogies to become more visually imaginative. You now know how to fuel your Grand Central Station. You know how to fill up that train with all the best ideas. You know how to deliver whatever you need at any time, any place and under any conditions.

But let’s not stop with direct analogies.

Next time we’ll talk about how to become more visually imaginative so you can remember even more using personal analogies.

Stay tuned for that on the next episode of the Magnetic Memory Method, and as always, Keep Magnetic!

More Resources

Download this episode transcript as a PDF

Seven Ways To Make Your Memory Swiss Army Knife Sharp

Mindset, Memory And Motivation With Sam Gendreau

On this week’s episode of The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, Sam Gendreau talks about what it takes to develop the right mindset for learning a language, developing solid pronunciation and using mnemonics the right way.

You’ll find the full transcript of the interview below, and check out part of Sam’s award-winning entry to the KBS World Korean Speaking Contest.

How To Win Any Language Learning Contest

 

Anthony: Sam, thank you for being on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast a second time. It was really great the first time. I am grateful for the opportunity to catch up with you again. Not so long ago you won something called the KBS World Korean Speaking Contest. What is the story behind how you got involved with that?

Sam: Well first of all, thanks Anthony. It is a pleasure to be here for a second time. Indeed, I won the KBS World Korean Speaking Contest in 2014 so it’s been a couple months now. The reason why I got involved in the first place is in fact I was just following an organization on Facebook.

I saw that they were advertising this new contest organized by KBS. For those of you who might not know, KBS is the largest broadcasting corporation in Korea. It’s the equivalent of CBC in Canada or the BBC in the UK. I just looked at that, and I thought that maybe I could have a good chance of winning if I were to apply to that contest.

The contest was split into three different parts. The first stage was essentially all of the applicants were submitting a video of themselves speaking in Korean for about three minutes and you had a particular theme around which you had to structure your video.

Following this phase, I essentially made it to the top ten. The second phase entailed the ten participants having separate interviews with a professional Korean radio announcer. You essentially had to talk over Skype with this announcer in Korean. They were testing your speaking abilities just to see whether, as opposed to just recording yourself, in a more natural setting you are able to hold a conversation. I made it to the top three.

The third phase was to submit another video in Korean. I finally made it to the first prize. I was invited to spend a week in Seoul, Korea. I was on the national radio. I visited the KBS headquarters. It was quite an experience and certainly a memorable one.

This year there is going to be a second KBS World Korean Speaking Contest so I encourage people who might be interested in participating this year to certainly register. There is a Facebook page so you can have a look at it and it should be a popular contest this year.

Anthony: What interests you in Korean in particular, and at what stage were you already when you entered the contest?

Sam: My interest in Korean was sparked when I was living in Australia over 7 years ago because I met some Koreans there for the first time actually. I really had never had any interest in Korean in particular, but then I made a couple of friends there in Australia.

That is basically just how it got started. I got to know about Korean food, about some Korean culture and eventually I started to learn the language very gradually. I just purchased one of these little phrase books that you find on the shelves of bookstores. Slowly I started to learn the language, the script Hangul and after a couple of years, I registered in classes in university. For the most part, I really just learned on my own. When I applied to the contest last year, I mean it is always a subjective thing to gauge your own level, but I guess I was probably at a C1 level, so a fairly advanced level at least in terms of speaking abilities.

 

How To Use The Key Learning Strategies To Develop Fluency In Any Language

 

Anthony: Given that level you reached primarily on your own, what have been some of the key learning strategies that you have used with Korean and specifically with respect to speaking at that level?

Sam: That is a very good question. I think, first of all, what is more important even than any strategy or technique is really to keep yourself motivated. I think the primary reason why most language learners do not reach an advanced level of proficiency in a foreign language is usually just because they just give up after a few months or years.

The question is how can you keep yourself motivated and I think it boils down to curiosity, pure interest and really being curious about the culture and about the people who speak your target language. That is what has really been able to keep me going for that many years. I have been really fascinated by the culture. I have been really interested in movies and music, and the history of the country. I am also a fan of international affairs and international relations. That is my major. I am also very much interested in the international relations of Northeast Asia.

 

The Secret Of Using “Massive Input” To Build Build A “Self-Propelling Language Learning Engine

 

Studying about Korea and about the region, learning more about it has acted essentially like a self-propelling engine if you want to put it that way. The more I got to know about the region and about the country and the culture the more I wanted to learn the language. That is the first thing I would want to emphasize is the importance of keeping yourself motivated.

The second thing, in terms of reaching this level of speaking ability, in my case it has been really about the massive amount of input. I have watched a huge amount of movies in Korean, a huge amount of TV series, dramas as they call them in Korea, lots of music as well.

To be frank, I had not had the chance to speak Korean a lot throughout the years because I lived for the most part either in Australia or Canada and so the only time I really got to practice my speaking skills was when I lived in Korea for about a year. Even then it was not like I was speaking all the time but it certainly helped.

I think having this massive input like really listening to the language all the time has helped a lot and reading the news. I really tried to make the language a part of my life so I tried to use read the news every day in the language, read blogs in the language. Whatever kind of interests me in English or in other foreign languages, I can also do it in Korean. I have tried to make the language part of my life and just as an interesting experience overall.

 

The Exact Definition Of Fluency According To …

 

Anthony: Wow, well that is an amazing accomplishment. Real quick, just for people who may not be familiar with what C1 is, maybe you can just explain that and put it into context with the different levels that are B1 and B2 and so forth.

Sam: Certainly. I think that is the European framework of language proficiency. I am not sure if that is the exact term. Essentially, you have six different levels. You have A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, the A’s being either low beginner or high beginner and B1 being a low intermediate, B2 high intermediate and so forth. A C1 level is typically what would be considered as a low advanced or advanced level. C2 would be native proficiency.

Obviously, before you can reach any type of C2 in a foreign language it’s really many, many years of study. It’s typically a level that’s fairly hard to reach. C1 is obviously below a native proficiency but it is still an advanced what you could call a professional proficiency in the language.

Obviously, this also depends. You have different skills in the language. You have writing skills, you have reading skills, and speaking skills. You might be C1 in writing, for example, but you might not be C1 in speaking. These blanket statements like, “Oh, I’m C1 in that language,” it always depends on which skills you are looking at, but certainly, if you pass an actual exam, that might help you to determine whether you are a C1 or a B2 or whatever if that is what you really want to know.

 

How To Speaking And Reading Skills – Even If The Language Uses Crazy Characters

 

Anthony: I think it is good to have a framework if people aren’t familiar with that, so that’s great. I’m curious, what is the relationship between being able to speak and being able to write and read the character set?

Sam: In Korean they use an alphabet just like in English we do or most European languages. That’s certainly very easy to learn. Hangul I think if you study for a few days you can certainly learn it. In that respect, Korean is very easy to learn to read and write. The complicated part is really to understand what you are actually reading.

The relationship between writing and speaking or reading I think obviously the more reading and listening you do the better you will be able to structure your own sentences and so forth.

When it comes down to speaking, I think practice is definitely central to gaining improvements in proficiency. Things such as even reading aloud I think can help a lot. I’ve done that certainly at many instances. Practicing over Skype with native speakers, having language exchange partners, or if you can afford it or you have the opportunity, just going to the country and actually living the language and speaking with natives on a day-to-day basis I think that can definitely help.

 

The Practice Of Pronunciation 101

 

Anthony: A lot of this has to do with pronunciation, and I’m curious to what extent you have just learned pronunciation from hearing and speaking or if you ever used any sort of memory techniques or mnemonics to help with pronunciation as a kind of guide from inside your mind?

Sam: In terms of pronunciation, for Korean it has been mostly just about exposure to the language. The way I see it, pronunciation is really more of something you need to practice rather than memorize, and so in that respect I’ve never really approached it from a mnemonics prospective.

I’m not sure in what way it might help. Maybe you could clarify that with our listeners, but I mean I see the use of mnemonics more for actually memorizing words or characters in the case of Chinese for example. In terms of pronunciation, my personal experience has been just to really listen, pay attention and try to imitate the native speakers.

I think pronunciation is not just about the physical. It’s not just about the way your mouth moves and so forth. A lot of people recommend that you learn the International Phonetic Alphabet also known as the IPA. They recommend that you kind of map your mouth and you really understand which part of your mouth is being used for which consonant and vowels. I think that can be very helpful.

Another aspect that is often not as much talked about, about pronunciation is that of the psychological side of it. I think a lot of people fail to really gain a very good accent in a foreign language because they don’t like to hear themselves sound foreign. There have been a couple of studies done about that.

The studies show that some language learners are essentially scared to sound funny. They don’t want to sound foreign to themselves. It also has to do with your own identity and the groups to whom you belong. It is fairly complicated, but in my case I really tried to imitate how native speakers speak and I’ve really tried to immerse myself in the culture and haven’t been scared to sound foreign or what not so I think that helped. Certainly looking into the psychological aspects of pronunciation I think can be a good way maybe to clear some roadblocks.

Anthony: That is interesting what you say about being afraid to hear yourself with an accent or with poor pronunciation that certainly has been something with my girlfriend where she can’t stand the sound of her German accent in her English and that makes her not want to speak it.

Sam: That’s interesting.

Anthony: It’s a shame because she speaks very well. I had never heard anybody phrase it like that, the way that you mentioned it so that just came to mind. You were talking about how that there’s a psychological element to it and that gets mapped onto the actual biological requirements of the body or the mouth and things of this nature. What I am curious about, is if you think there’s an overall relationship between learning a language and getting fluent and memory at all or is it just a sort of organic thing that grows and doesn’t really have that much to do with memory in your experience and opinion.

 

How To Memorize Thousands And Thousands Of Words By Using Mnemonics And Context

 

Sam: Well, I mean language learning is primarily about memorizing a lot of words. I think that’s for sure. Especially the case of a language that’s far away from your own, that’s in a different language family for example, you really have to start from a blank slate. In the case of Korean, I mean there are very, very few words that sound similar to English and these few words happen to be English loan words.

In every other case it’s really about learning a totally different word than what you are used to in English. Whereas, the case of Spanish or French, a lot of words are actually very similar because they come from the same Latin root.

In that respect yes, language learning is about memorizing a huge amount of words. Native speakers use on average, I think it is at least 3,000 words a day in their day-to-day vocabulary. However, if you are looking at their entire vocabulary of an educated native speaker, the active vocabulary it’s usually around the amount of 20,000 words depending on the languages. A passive vocabulary, which means the vocabulary that you can recognize but not necessarily produce yourself is typically double that, so 40,000 words.

Obviously, if you do want to reach a very high level of proficiency in a language, you need to memorize a huge amount of words. I think looking at it from that perspective, mnemonics and memory techniques can certainly really help to make that process easier.

That being said, I think there a lot of different ways that you can manage to increase your retention, context being one of them. Reading and learning words through context and not just using lists of words that are decontextualized. I think it is very important to learn new words as you come across them as they are used in sentences and not individually.

Other techniques involved, for example, memorizing sentences rather than words. Rather than sentences, you have groups of words that typically go well together. These are techniques you can use to facilitate the acquisition and retention of words. To answer your question, definitely, I think memorization and memory plays a huge role in acquiring a foreign language.

Anthony: Do you have one go-to method for memorizing words that you find very, very reliable and rarely fails you?

Sam: You know, I would say the short answer to your question is no, because I think every language is different.

Again, it depends on your target language. If your target language is from the same language family as your native tongue, then I think you don’t necessarily have to put as much effort into really consciously memorizing the words and I think you could very well do with learning through context and through massive exposure. So reading the news, listening to movies, I think that is certainly something that can work.

If you are learning a language that is very far away from your own native language, for example, if you’re a speaker of a European language and you want to learn an Asian language, then you are going to find it a lot harder to memorize words because they sound totally different. In these instances, I think using memory techniques can be very valuable because it’s going to make the process of memorizing all of this new vocabulary a lot easier.

 

The Short Term And The Long Term Game Plan Of Using Mnemonics As Part Of Learning A Language

 

Just a caveat here. I think of people are reluctant to invest the time necessary to essentially learn about memory techniques and mnemonics. Obviously, it is an investment that you have to make because it is not something that is going to come right away. You have to invest in coming up with these mnemonics, and it can seem like a large investment in time or something that is a little bit cumbersome, but it certainly is something that pays off I think over time. While you are not likely to see the return on your investment, put it that way, very quickly, over the long-term it’s certainly going to be a huge return.

Just to put that in perspective, I think a lot of people say, “Well I don’t want to learn all of these mnemonics and make a story for each word I’m learning. It’s going to take me too much time.” However, if you look at it from a longer-term perspective, I think it is certainly worth it.

Anthony: One thing that really fascinated me that I was reading on your website is something you wrote about the Hedwig von Restorff, and I wonder if you could just go into that a little bit and what she concluded in that topic you were writing about.

Sam: Yes, I think if I remember correctly in that article I mentioned the so called von Restorff effect and so that’s the isolation effect that essentially she discovered through some of her research. I believe she is a German psychiatrist who did a number of studies on memory and these kinds of things.

What she found was that it’s kind of a standout effect. Things that really stand out from others, they’re typically going to be a lot easier to remember.

 

How To Make Words Stick Out Like A Sore Thumb

 

This can come in the form of humor, for example. When you go and you listen to somebody talk (maybe it’s a TED talk, maybe it’s just professor at school), if that person suddenly in the middle of his or her talk makes a huge joke, then everybody starts laughing and the joke is related to some material being covered in that talk, then you are more likely to remember that particular episode in the talk. Whereas, the rest is more monotone and everything, but if something really stands out, then you are more likely to remember it.

That applies to a lot of different areas or contexts. For example, even if you have a grocery list of things that you want to buy and one of them is highlighted in green or in pink or whatever, then because this, by its nature, will stand out to you, then you are more likely to remember it.

I think that it can help when you are creating mnemonics for yourself to create stories that really stand out that are really different. You have to be creative. When you are imagining a mnemonic of a kick, you can imagine it the size of your cell phone or really make it stand out so that you remember it and that really actually works, trying to make things stand out.

When you are creating your own mnemonics, just play with your imagination and don’t bind yourself to existing sizes and shapes as you see them, or even flavors or smells. You can just experiment with your imagination and throw in some stuff in there so that it really stands out and that should make it easier for you to remember whatever it is you’re trying to memorize.

 

Can Grammar Be Memorized?

 

Anthony: That is a great principle. Using these sorts of strategies to memorize individual words is one thing and I think we can see how that all that works. Certainly many of us have had that experience, but I’m curious if you can think of any ways to apply mnemonics and this kind of principle from von Restorff to memorizing grammar rules, something so abstract that it’s almost like a mathematical formula. Do you have any idea how we get those principles to stick out in our mind as if we had marked them with a green highlighter?

Sam:  That’s a good question. I mean typically, from my own experience, I have been using mnemonics fairly lightly, but mostly for vocabulary or memorizing things like Chinese characters. In terms of actual grammar rules, I’ve never really felt the need to use mnemonics in that case. As you say, it’s a little bit more abstract. It’s more like a formula.

For example, I don’t know, in French maybe you’re going to have feminine words, which end with a certain vowel and plural words are going to end with an “x” or an “s”. I mean, these are the kind of rules that, frankly, I think would be more easily assimilated through exposure, through just going through texts and assimilating the grammar rather than just memorizing it. I think that would be the best.

From my own experience, I found that when you’re learning grammar, a winning strategy is to be exposed to the language first. This is going to bring you a couple of questions. You’re going to be wondering, “Okay, why is this word coming there? Why is this word ending in such consonant?” When you’re actually going back and you’re learning about the grammar, you’re going to have these “aha” moments, because you are finally going to figure out, okay now I understand why what I read was like that.

Most people essentially do it the bottom up approach. They learn the grammar rules first before being exposed to the language. I think that is a mistake because unless you are exposed to the rules and to the language, even if you tried to remember these grammar rules, you’re not going to have any context to put them in, and it is not going to be very meaningful.

Once again, I would like to emphasize that personally I found it works a lot better if you get exposed to the language first and then you go and try to understand the grammar rules. You read about them and then you are going to be able to memorize them a lot easier.

Anthony: Basically back to context.

Sam: Exactly. I think context is really king in language learning. You definitely have to make good use of it. I think it’s a good strategy.

 

How To Develop A Mindset That Matters

 

Anthony: One thing that I really like on your website, and just talking to you, and the previous interview that we did and this great achievement with the world Korean speaking contest, is that everything seems a lot to have to do with mindset. The success that you’ve had comes from a way that you think about language learning and you think about languages themselves.

I wonder if you have any advice for people who don’t have the – well right or wrong is not really the answer – but they don’t have an optimal mindset. How do you go about developing that and keeping yourself motivated as you earlier suggested is such a key critical component of language learning?

Sam: That’s a very good question. I definitely agree that mindset is really going to set the foundation for success in language learning and in fact in many other areas of your life. I think, first of all as I was mentioning before, it boils down to curiosity and that’s something that you can cultivate, but it’s not necessarily going to come naturally but you have to – it depends I guess from people to people – but it’s about really getting interested in learning, in knowledge and in new things. Seeing things from a different perspective and learning about a different culture.

A lot of language learners see language learning as a very mechanical exercise where they are just learning grammar tables and lists of vocabulary and they see it as a chore. They forget that learning a language is about having fun and really discovering something absolutely new.

I always like to remind myself that it’s an exercise that is really mind opening and that really brings a lot of different opportunities. It’s an opportunity to learn about new things and to enlarge your vision, to enlarge your world, to expand your comfort zone.

One thing that I’ve been using often to motivate myself has been listening to other successful language learners and motivational speakers. One thing that I like is listening to TED talks for example. That has been a strong motivator not only for language learning, but also for a host of other things, but essentially listening to successful people who have gone through the process and who speak many languages I think can be certainly a strong motivator.

 

The Only Person On The Planet You Should Compete With When Learning A Language

 

Ultimately, what you have to do is to challenge yourself and compete with yourself rather than with other people. I think that’s important because there’s always going to be people who are better than yourself. The question is can you be better than yourself the next day, the next month, and the next year. It is about competing with yourself and trying to push your own boundaries rather than pushing somebody else’s boundaries, because if that is what you are trying to do then you’re obviously going to be failing and that can be a demotivation certainly.

Another thing, as I say, I think it boils down also to the culture and having this interest in learning more about the people. What is their mindset? What is their world? Everybody sees the world from a different perspective. I think different cultures and different nations also see the world from a different perspective based on their own historical understanding of the world and based on the way they’ve been brought up by their parents and by the society in which they live in. Trying to understand these things, I think, can really bring an interesting ingredient into language learning.

You can watch documentaries about the language that the people speak. You learn about the history. You can purchase books about history. There are so many thing on the Internet available these days that it’s just amazing. Just be curious. Learn about the culture, learn about the people who speak your target language, keep an open mind and just see it as an enjoyable process rather than as a chore. I think this is going to go a long way in keeping you motivated.

 

Dealing With Frustration, Demotivation And Irritants When Learning A Language

 

Anthony: I wonder, given all you have said and the powerful advice that you have given and insight, what is something that has frustrated you with language learning that you’ve been able to overcome and maybe it still frustrates you when you are studying the language that you have a tool for overcoming when it arrives?

Sam: That’s a good question. One of the things I’ve come across in Korean, and I haven’t come across this in any other languages so far is, well first of all Korean uses two types of words. One is pure Korean words and one is Sino-Korean vocabulary, words that are rooted in Chinese. Essentially, you have two different words for almost everything. Whether it’s a chair, whether it’s a collar you will have the Chinese-rooted word version of it and you are going to have the pure Korean word version of it.

That’s quite interesting because in more casual and everyday conversations most people will use the native Korean words, the pure Korean words. Whereas when you read the news and more technical material, they use the words that are rooted in Chinese.

I was even speaking to a Foreign Service officer who had been through extensive language training in Korean and what she told me was that even after these years of study and she had been working at an Embassy in Seoul for many years, she told me that she had these black holes. In everyday conversation, she could understand everything, but then suddenly she could be reading the news or maybe she could go to a talk that was a little more technical topic and suddenly she would not understand anything. That is something I have come across in a number of instances in Korean. That’s been quite frustrating.

It’s a constant reminder that you have so much more to go. The road ahead of you is infinite essentially because language learning is not something that is finite and there’s no goal to reach that one day you’re going to say, “Oh, I’m fluent and now let’s forget about it.” It’s really a lifelong process.

You can always become more proficient even in your own native language. I mean if you compare yourself to Shakespeare, obviously I think all of us have a long way to go if we want to create this kind of work or be as proficient as this kind of artist. The question is where do you want to stop or do you want to keep going? That’s been a reminder to me that I still have a long way to go.

At first, I think it was a strong irritant or demotivation because I could sometimes read through an article and I could not understand anything. It’s a little bit demotivating, but the way I’ve tried to overcome this is essentially about finding material that is suitable to your level.

 

Avoid This Seductive Mistake When Learning A Language

 

 

I think some people will try and jump ahead too quickly. They are going to try and read articles maybe about international affairs or things that are, even for an educated native speaker might be hard to talk about. Then if you are trying to read this and then you don’t understand 50 percent of the words that are in there, obviously it’s going to be very tedious to go over single word and try to understand every single sentence.

To proceed step by step and try to find material that is really suitable to your current level but not too easy because then you get bored, but not too hard because you then you get demotivated. It’s about finding this right middle so that you consistently push yourself, but at the same time you remain interested and you keep learning new words and you keep learning about new things. I think that’s a winning strategy. Just remembering that finding material that is suitable to your level I think is important.

 

The Road From Here

 

Anthony: Is there a language that you’re in love with so much you think you’re going to stick with for the rest of your life, for instance Korean?

Sam: Yes, I think Korean is definitely one of those languages I will definitely keep learning it for my entire life, at least for the foreseeable future. It’s not something I really see about studying. Some people really see language as studying, but once you reach a certain level I think it’s just about making it a part of your life. I don’t think about it as study in any kind of way. It’s really just about being exposed to the material and content that I like. That can be the news or it can be movies but certainly, I don’t plan on stopping to get exposed to Korean language material.

Other languages, I mean Spanish is an interesting language and it’s spoken by so many people around the world that obviously I think I’m going to continue to use it and learn it in the future, but I’m very drawn to Asian, Southeast and East Asian cultures and languages. In the future, I’m looking forward to learning additional languages that are spoken in that region.

Anthony: So what’s coming up next for you on with your language learning adventure?

Sam: In terms of Lingholic.com, I have been running the website now for over two years. It’s been doing fairly well. I am going to continue to be active on social media. In fact, you can find me on Twitter or Facebook, and I will continue posting articles as regularly as I can handle. As of recently, I have been very busy so some of you might have noticed that I haven’t able to post articles as often as I would have liked, but I’m going to keep having interviews such as with you, with other polyglots and language learners. I’m going to share my stories and the stories of other people who are interested about language learning, and hopefully, that is going to keep people interested about language learning and that may serve as a source of inspiration.

In terms of what’s ahead of me, in terms of languages I’m currently working at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development here in Canada. In the future, I would love to get posted in a country in Asia abroad. Certainly as I was saying, I’m very much interested in Southeast Asian and East Asian cultures and languages. That would certainly be a good opportunity to essentially immerse myself into a new language and a new culture. However, for the time being I’m going to keep learning Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, it’s a very interesting language and obviously a very rich culture.

In the future, I am looking forward to learning other languages. It’s definitely something that I think is going to be following me for my whole life. I think language learning is just such an enriching experience that I would recommend it to everybody.

Anthony: Thank you so much for all of this, for your great insights and for being here. I really am grateful that you could share these ideas with the listeners of this podcast, and I hope everyone goes and visits you on your site and follows you on all social media. I look forward to speaking the next time.

Sam: Thanks Anthony, it’s been a pleasure to speak with you, and hopefully this has been interesting to our listeners. Once again, I’m happy to come back on the show anytime. It’s always a pleasure to talk with you.

Further Resources

Lingholic on Twitter

Lingholic on Facebook

Sam Gendreau Talks About How To Get Addicted To Language Learning

Sam Gendreau on Backpacking Diplomacy

Sam Gendreau on The Laziness Paradox

How To Improve Memory Power And Concentration By Eliminating Stress

Who Else Wants To Get Rid Of Stress-Induced Memory Loss Forever?

 

Have you felt stressed out lately?

I’ll bet you have.

Me too.

Stress sucks, and worse than being a drag, it’s a memory killer too.

But not always.

On occasion, stress can make certain things memorable. Car accidents, terrorist attacks and riots can make many things impossible to forget. Such events can can even lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Usually, though, stress punishes our bodies and minds without the need of catastrophe. Work, relationship problems and health can all create stress.

 

How Safe Are Your Goals And Dreams From The Destructive Powers Of Everyday Stress?

 

Stress gets in the way of goals and dreams. Important professional missions like:

Studying for exams and professional certifications.Learning a language.Remembering the names of the important people you meet.

But stress distracts from these activities. Stress makes paying attention difficult and learning new information becomes almost impossible.

If anything, all you learn is how to be more stressed out.

 

How To Increase Your Chances Of Getting Dementia or Alzheimer’s

 

So we’ve established that stress can create memory loss by making it impossible to pay attention. In other words, you’ve lost what you wanted to remember because you couldn’t pay attention to it in the first place.

But isn’t it strange that memory loss is one of the symptoms of stress that far too many don’t know about?

How about these symptoms that also seem to have fallen off the radar:

AnxietyFearTensionPanicAngerConfusionDepressionImpatienceIrritability

Worse, you might experience pain, insomnia, develop heart disease, and elevated blood pressure.

Even just one of these can lead to diseases like dementia or Alzheimer’s.

 

8 Signs That You’re WAY Too Stressed

 

So how do you know if you’re stressed?

Chances are you already know when you’re stressed. You don’t need a checklist.

But just in case, here are some of the symptoms so you can see how to improve memory and concentration power starting today.

Loss of appetite

More than just losing the desire to eat, stress can make it impossible to eat. Swallowing even a mouthful can become difficult.

Overeating

On the other hand, stress can make you eat too much. Some people use food as a coping mechanism, something that places even more stress on your system. The heavier you are, the harder your bones and organs have to work. Plus, not feeling positive about how you look is psychologically draining.

Headaches and Backaches

Think that pain in your head or at the base of your spine is just part of life?

Maybe, but it could also be the symptom of stress.

Indecision

Having a hard time making decisions? It’s not necessarily just part of your personality. People who can’t define a clear path and follow it could be experiencing stress.

Pessimism

It’s little wonder that stress makes it hard to see the cup half full. If you’re doubtful that your current situation will ever improve, it’s not necessarily depression. Stress could be at the core of your dark thinking.

Obsessing Over the Nuts and Bolts of Life

It’s good to pay attention to detail. But it can also be a symptom of stress. If your perfectionism is getting in the way of your ability to contribute to your family and society at large, you might want to check in with your stress meter.

Impatience and Irritability

Have you flipped out and chewed someone’s head off lately? Such bursts of irritation rarely come from nowhere, so be sure that you aren’t acting out based on stress. You probably have other solutions.

Muscle Tension

Are your shoulders all bunched up? Do you have pain in your neck? Do you slouch when you walk?

If so, you’re probably holding stress in your body.

And along with muscle tension comes shortness of breath, cramps and even nervous twitching. Even your eyebrows can show signs of muscle tension. Having your face twisted and scrunched up can lead to others thinking that you’re grumpy or angry, stressing you out even further.

Horrible, right?

You betcha.

 

5 Simple Ways To Reduce Stress From Your Life And Improve Your Memory

 

The good news is that solutions exist for each of these stress symptoms. Let’s look at some of them.

1. The first step is to learn the signs of stress and look for them in your life.

2. Next, train yourself to tune into your emotional state. You can best accomplish this awareness through meditation and journaling.

3. Seek out an accountability partner. An accountability is someone you contact daily or nearly every day to talk about your commitments, proclaim victory when you’ve accomplished something and admit your guilt when you’ve fallen short.

At first, accountability might sound more stress inducing, but it isn’t. Your accountability partner will encourage you and act as a kind of coach. They’ll notice when you’re pushing too hard, criticizing yourself too much, need to take a break and help you recognize just how well you’re doing. You simply cannot have a bad day when you’re being held accountable and committed to holding your partner accountable too.

 

The Truth Really Will Set Your Free!

 

It’s also freeing to be able to say that you haven’t completed something. It’s off your chest and you’ll hear similar stories from your partner. In other words, you both grow stronger because you report on your efforts to succeed, and together the successes grow while the failures diminish.

Plus, you help each other see that you’re never failing at all. Every action and every lack of action that you’ve observed and labeled (which is itself a form of taking action) lays another brick along the wall of your accomplishment.

I interact with my accountability partner by email because we’re thousands of miles apart. But you might be able to meet with yours in person a few times a week.

And meeting with people is another way of alleviating stress. These people need to be positive, fun and bring different ideas and perspectives into your life.

Such interactions sharpen your brain, help eliminate stress and create future-minded thinking. Whenever you learn new things, you create a new future that was not possible before. And the more positive the people you hang out with, the more positive a future you can create.

 

The Zen of Giving Up Freaking Out (Over Nothing)

 

4. Practice breathing and meditate. I’ve talked with you before about pendulum breathing, reverse psychic nostril breathing and progressive muscle relaxation.

You can practice better breathing while meditating. Meditation is a powerful activity because it improves neural connections, preventing the degeneration of your neurons and protects your hippocampus. Some scientists believe that the hippocampus is a kind of memory central command centre, but even if not, it’s worth protecting this part of your brain in addition to all the rest.

And meditation is easy to do. You don’t need anything fancy. Just your body and a floor to sit on.

Contrary to popular belief, you also don’t need to try and control your thoughts. As Alan Watts once pointed out, sitting without thoughts amounts to being a stone. Wouldn’t you agree that turning yourself into a mindless stone is a useless goal?

Instead, focus on using the breathing and muscle relaxation exercises to become aware of your body and the flow of your thoughts.

Don’t try to control your thoughts. As William S. Burroughs once said, “control seeks to control control,” which means that you only give your thoughts more power by trying to force them into shape.

You’ll get more from your meditation practice by simply breathing. The distance this creates between your physical awareness and your thoughts will let you realize that the flow of ideas differs little from the beating of your heart. It just happens.

 

How To Use The Immutable Power Of The Memory Palace For Reducing Stress

 

5. Chill out. Just as you can influence the speed of your heart with exercise, you can exercise the speed of your thoughts. For this reason, I recommend that you wander your favorite Memory Palace as you meditate.

You needn’t practice recall during these sessions though you certainly can. The point is to simply give your thoughts a point of focus. In this case that point of focus is a mentally constructed journey through a familiar location.

And if your mind wanders to some other line of thinking, no worries. Let it go and soon you’ll become aware of the fact that you’re sitting on the floor and realize that you’ve been lost in thought.

These moments of realization will amaze you with their power. Soon you will find similar moments taking place throughout the day.

 

How To Make The Most Frustrating Taxi Ride In The World A Path To Stress-Free Enlightenment

 

For example, I was sitting in a taxi earlier today and found myself irritated with the traffic. On top of that, it was irritating that the current transit strike had forced me to get into a taxi in the first place. Stress ha started building within me.

But then suddenly a moment of awareness washed over me. I realized that I am nothing more than a body – an animated object sitting inside of another moving object commanded by another being. Looking out the window, I saw only other objects moving through space at various rates of speed. In some cases, they weren’t moving at all.

There was no point in forming an opinion about these objects. No amount of thought or stress could change the situation. Frustration could only make it worse. As the moment of realization grew in strength and duration, my stress and irritation dissipated.

And I’m confident that you’ll experience the same reductions in stress and useless anger when you make meditation a part of your life too.

 

How To Walk, Talk And EliminateThe Stress Of Multi-tasking

 

To sweeten the deal, add exercise to your life. It can be simple stretching every morning or daily pushups or elaborate sports like martial arts.

They say that walking with a friend a few times a week is one of the healthiest things you can do, especially if you make sure to walk rigorously enough to make talking difficult and do it long enough to break a sweat.

You can also reduce stress by eliminating multi-tasking. You’ll make fewer errors by focusing on one task at a time. And focusing on one thing instead of many will help stabilize your mood and improves your memory because you pay more attention to that singular activity.

Completing one task at a time also promotes organization. Being organized reduces stress, and if you throw removing clutter into the mix, stress goes down even further. You should check out my friend The Declutter Lady for more help with that.

And there’s so much more you can do:

Laugh oftenPractice forgivenessAsk for help when you need it instead of struggling on your ownTalk positively to yourself.

If all of this sounds complex, here’s the reality:

If you can meditate just five minutes a day, stretch for just five minutes a day and walk for about twenty minutes a day three or four times a week, you’re looking at next to nothing in terms of time commitment. You need only build consistency with these activities and you’ll make a huge impact on the quality of your life.

You’ll reduce stress, create a better future and a better memory. And when you can create a better memory, you can learn more. And the more you learn, the more you can learn. Due to the associative way that memory techniques work, the more you memorize, the more you can learn and thereby the more you can memorize.

 

Begin Anywhere

 

It’s a perfect circle.

All you have to do is begin anywhere to enter the dance. And the dance is so easy, so elegant, so effective and so much fun.

So pick just one stress-relieving activity from this list and just do it. Then add another, and another and another. Until you’re satisfied that you couldn’t be freer from stress if you tried.

And memorize information as you go along.

Track the results.

You’ll be amazed by how your memory improves.

And I hope you’ll get in touch and let everyone in the Magnetic Memory Method know all about it.

Further Resources

How To Lower Your Vocabulary Memorization Hurdles

Try Every Memory Technique At Least Twice Before Giving Up

 

How To Enhance Your Memory With Virtual Memory Palaces

Can You Really Trust Memory Palaces You’ve Made Up Entirely With Your Mind?

 

Remember Dorothy?

Of course you do.

That innocent young woman. Skipping through the Land of Oz. Meeting new friends. Tackling Wicked Witch. Reigning forever as the most beautiful Queen with Ruby Slippers who ever lived …

Oh no wait … that’s not the way it went.

And that’s exactly the point. When we use our imagination, we can change anything. We can invent things too.

Including Memory Palaces.

So if you want to know how to enhance your memory using a very special kind of Memory Palace, download the MP3 and keep reading this post all the way to the end.

 

3 Kinds Of Virtual Memory Palaces And The Little Known Factors That Affect Your Success

 

Let’s kick this discussion off with a question I recently received:

Hi Sir,

Could you give me an example of how to create an artificial memory palace?

Thanks.

 

Thanks for this question!

There are many, many ways to create artificial Memory Palaces.

 

What Do We Mean When We Call A Memory Palace “Virtual”?

 

First off, by “artificial” we are talking about either Memory Palaces built from scratch or based on fantasy locations.

To begin with the latter, you could use the layout of Homer Simpson’s house or the house of any sitcom. Fantasy layouts like these are great because we can quickly become familiar with the living room, kitchen, dining area and the bedrooms of each character. We can then simply study the layout of these rooms with great intensity the next time we are watching the show and create a journey throughout the house.

Some people have used video games too. When I use them, I prefer simple platform games like Donkey Kong.

I find these best because you can see the entire journey and all of its stations at a single glance. You can also set rules much easier, such as that there will always be three stations per ramp, etc.

 

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment

 

However, if you’re keen on first-person shooter games or games that use vast expanses of space and can remember these journeys, I encourage you by all means to experiment with them.

You might also want to check out this interview. Ten years old at the time we spoke, Alicia Crosby talked about using Minecraft for building Memory Palaces.  Here’s a video showing how that might work for you:

 

Is Hollywood The Ultimate Untapped Resource For Foolproof Memory Palaces?

 

Movies sometimes have good potential for creating stations, but not always. I’ve talked about how to enhance your memory using movies before on this podcast called How to Increase Memory By Watching Movies and TV Series.

On the main, movie and TV scenes are usually too broad. Not only that, but characters constantly cross their own paths. Plus, you have to hold large parts of the narrative in your mind as part of the journey.

That said, you can experiment with a “then this happens and then this happens” structure to build a journey. For example:

Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, then …

Dorothy meets the Tin Man, then …

Dorothy meets the Lion, then …

Dorothy meets the big green head of Oz, then …

Dorothy battles the witch, then …

Dorothy meets the real Wizard of Oz, then …

Dorothy goes home.

These meeting points all serve as pseudo-stations. They might work well because the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, Oz, the Witch and even Dorothy herself can easily be combined with other associative-imagery elements. Plus, Dorothy meets them at specific locations in the movie that are easy to visualize.

I’ve done a bit of experimentation with this method and for short lists of information, it works gangbusters. However, I wouldn’t expect to amass huge amounts of information using movies unless you are very, very familiar with the journey the characters take throughout the story. Again, characters often cross their own paths, or, as in the Wizard of Oz, completely double back.

Is It Worth It To Build A Mega-Memory Palace From Scratch?

 

Moving from Memory Palaces based on pre-made fantasy locations, you can build virtual Memory Palaces from nothing. In fact, the classic Memory Palace method, which I do not endorse, involves creating a single Memory Palace with multiple doors that lead into multiple rooms or buildings.

Using this approach, you build a Memory Palace and a long corridor with many doors. When you go through the first door, you find yourself in your childhood home. When you go through the second, you find yourself in your first school. The next door opens onto your high school, then your workplace, your sports club, etc.

I can’t fully enunciate why I don’t like this idea, but it’s never worked for me.

 

The Alphabetical School Of Memory Palaces 101

 

As readers of my books and participants in my video courses know, I prefer structuring my Memory Palaces around the alphabet. The alphabet is somewhat like a conceptual corridor in the Memory Palace of my skull, and it’s both pre-built and built by the user using the Magnetic Memory Method principles.

Because we know the alphabet so well from a young age, we don’t have to think about what comes next. We can easily know what comes before and after each and every letter of the alphabet. Therefore, if we want to leap to words that we’ve memorized that start with the letter K …

Boom! We’re There …

… and zooming along to the station where the letter K resides.

In other words, if you’re going to build virtual or imaginary Memory Palaces, I encourage you to think in advance of how you’re going to bind them together.

In the first example, I was already suggesting a chronological rather than an alphabetical spine, and that can work well depending on how long you’ve lived and how many buildings you’re familiar with. With the alphabet, you can reuse it again and again by differentiating each alphabet from the other (A1, A2, A3, etc.)

But when it comes to having an invented room behind one of those doors, be it linked by Grand Memory Palace Central or an alphabetized list, it’s really up to the user to experiment.

 

The Little Memory Palace Engine That Could

 

My greatest success with Virtual Memory Palaces has been what I call “The Locomotive Method.” I use the technique exclusively for memorizing poetry.

The Locomotive Method involves creating a train car that is linked to another train car. You add as many train cars as you need. The stations in each car are fixed. They are:

Entrance to car

Left corner

Right corner

Middle

Front right corner

Front left corner

Exit

Coupling

Followed by

Entrance to car, etc.

This works very good for poetry on a perfectly conceptual level because you don’t need a real journey for poetry in the way that you need for other kinds of information. The poetry is the journey.

This also works for song lyrics. For actors, however, I think a traditional journey through a Memory Palace based on a real location is best for remembering plays and movie scripts if you are an actor.

Plus, an actor can always use the stage or studio where the acting takes place. If that doesn’t present the perfect combination of real and invented space for figuring out how to enhance your memory with virtual Memory Palaces, I don’t know what would.

If even with all of this info tugging your train you’re still stuck in the Kansas of forgetfulness and want a Magnetic Wizard to show you the ropes, feel to join the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

Until next time, keep those Ruby Slippers and then teach someone else what you’ve learned about Memory Palaces. Teaching a skill is one of the best ways to learn it and helping people improve their memory is one of the best ways we can make the world a better place. The more we remember, the more we can remember. And the more we learn, the more we can learn.

Further Resources

How To Find Memory Palaces

Memory Strategies Of The World’s Top Language Learners

These Memory Strategies Can Quickly Boost Your Foreign Language Fluency … Even If You Wind Up Throwing The Mnemonics Away!

Have you ever wished someone would just inspire you and give you exactly the tools you need to succeed in one blast of self-empowerment at the same time?

Well, if you’re into language learning, what I’m about to tell you may be the most important episode of this podcast you’ll ever hear. And of course if you’d like the transcripts in handsome PDF form, you can download them here.

You can also scroll all the way to the end for the links mentioned in the podcast for a power-packed injection of inspiration and practical guidance. Plus, I’ve got something cool to teach you at the very end about using hats to increase your productivity, so go all the way through for that.

Here’s How Philosophy Can Double Your Fluency When All Other Techniques Fail …

Last week I attended the Polyglot Gathering in Berlin.

Among the many talks, Christopher Huff’s struck me the most. All of the other presentations were great, of course. But because Christopher drew some language learning ideas from philosophers I know very well.

He also had some great ideas about memory techniques and more importantly, memory strategies. Taken in the context of philosophy, Christopher presented some exciting ideas you can start applying to your language learning and overall life right away. You may even experience results overnight.

Here’s why:

The Undercover Secrets Of Minimalism And Hedonism

Christopher talked about two kinds of philosophers, which we could call the minimalists and the Epicureans. The first group like to toss out everything unnecessary and the Epicureans fill everything to excess. What they share in common is that only the now exists.

You might want to check out philosophers like Plato and Aristotle for more info on this matter. For example, Plato’s Republic has many passages on frugality in many aspects of life (including thought). Aristotle talked about minimalism in terms of the Golden Mean and eudaimonia, a special definition of happiness.

When it comes to learning a language, minimalism helps you concentrate on the essentials by using only the essentials.

Sell Everything!

Being minimalist also helps you identify what is essential. If you’re only working on mastering one language learning book, after all, you’re more likely to discover what’s essential in that book in a meaningful way than if you try to find out what’s essential in twelve books. You can learn more about this powerful form of whittling down in How to Memorize a Textbook.

By focusing on just one thing, you’re more likely to get a concentrated vision of what you’re lacking. So minimalism creates focus, understanding and diamond-hard clarity about what you don’t know yet. You can make much more powerful decisions because you’re a minimalist. You’re only going to acquire one more book, one that you select well based on your well-developed knowledge of what you need.

Epicureanism, on the other hand, allows for excess. So long as it’s linked to pleasure, epicureanism happily encourages maximalism.

How to Over-Exaggerate Everything And Still Get Results

Although it might sound wild, excess can be done intelligently. Christopher pointed out the value in giving yourself rewards of excess (which is different than giving yourself an excess of rewards).

Christopher also implied that having a library of special books you’ve collected, even ones you’re never going to read, is not really clutter. Each book is a memory of the passion behind why you got the book in the first place.

So even though Christopher (and probably you) may never study some of the language learning books in his collection, they serve as part of a language learning whole. It is a specific library, one that contains many touchstones that point to the larger goal of gaining fluency in many languages.

In other words, overkill can be an effective memory strategy.

So there is a sense that bigger is better, especially if people who amass such enormous collections of language learning materials also practice minimalism.

The “Stubborn” Principle That Can Make Your Language Learning Soar

When people select just one book from that collection and work through it in a dedicated manner, they may need to buy a new book thereafter. But they are strengthening the collection as a whole by adding material that is now much more targeted. It’s kind of like growing as a content specialist as you allow the maximalism to inform your minimalism and vice versa.

The Golden Mean between these two extremes is what Christopher called the Stubborn Quintile. It basically refers to the percentage of words that language leaners struggle with no matter what.

This concept allows you to identify the material that eludes you and figure out what techniques will best help. Be it certain difficult words, phrases, grammar concepts or other issues, by identifying this 20%, you can approach getting them into memory minimalistically.

And That’s When Things Got REALLY Interesting!

Christopher talked about certain memory techniques and gave some mind-boggling demonstrations. He sang, for example, the names of the American presidents in historical order. He also showed how he used some of those presidents to remember tones in Chinese.

It was brilliant because he was following one of the fundamental rules of memory: rest new information on information you already know.

For example, he used a very familiar song to assist the recall of all the presidents.

With the presidents in tow, he used them to help memorize tones.

Were he to push the technique further, he might find a way to use the memorized tones to memorize something else. For example, a set of tones might be used as an anchor point for developing perfect pitch. Or it could be used to find a note in a song to help with transcription study.

For example, Scott Devine has talked about memorizing the notes of Stand By Me so well that you can see them on the fretboard of your bass. Then, when you hear a song on the radio you want to learn, you can use that anchor point to figure out a great deal of how other songs might be played.

In other words, by having an Epicurean mass of information in our minds, we have many more opportunities to use that info in explosively minimalist ways.

I loved Christopher’s talk very much and was grateful that he attended my own. He’s going to be a guest on the MMM Podcast in the near future, and I hope our conversations about memory will continue.

About the 20% concept, I was pleased to dine with Richard Simcott and Lea Tirard-Hersant.

Richard’s the man behind Speaking Fluently and you might want to head over to his site for information about the Polyglot workshop he’s holding with Alex Rawlings in Budapest.

Richard echoed Christopher’s great point that for people who don’t have a difficult time remembering words and other aspects of language learning, memory techniques still have a place. There is always an elusive number of words that don’t seem to stick in the mind no matter what one does. At least not without the ease that these words could have.

Richard seemed very interested to give Memory Palaces a closer look with the Magnetic Memory Method principles in mind. This is a huge treat for me because he is one of the most respected polyglots in the world and I think he’s going to bring insights back to the Magnetic Memory Method headquarters that’s going to help us all.

Fill Your Vocabulary Coffers With This Special One-Syllable Memory Strategy

Léa Tirard-Hersant had some exciting ideas too. As she shared at the end of my talk, you can leverage the power of rhyme.

Take a one-syllable word like loon, for example. Loon in English is a one-syllable word that can be rhymed with a one syllable word in French, like une.

To get started with minimal pairs for this exercise, you can find a pile of one-syllable words that rhyme within your own language. The example she and I played around with were “ache” sounding one-syllable words, words like:

Lake

Break

Bake

Cake

Snake

Rake

Flake

Take

Make

Jake

Fake

Sake

Blake

You could compile a list like this and then ask your language learning partner or teacher to help you find words in your target language to pair these with. I really appreciate Léa’s idea and am looking forward to exploring it further.

Until I have her on the podcast, you should check out a book she worked on with Benny Lewis called Why French Is Easy.

Sticking With The Program May Be The Best Memory Strategy You Ever Use …

Finally, I had some very nice talks with Olly Richards from I Will Teach You A Language. He’s been on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast before and we’ve since developed a great friendship. We’re in fact now officially collaborating on a Magnetic Memory Live event to take place in London, so stay tuned for news about that.

Anyhow, in talking with Olly about some of my language learning plans and memory experiments for the rest of the year he made a great point. What he suggested is that instead of leaping all over the place, I might do more experiments with languages I’m already fluent in. He suggested that I work with our mutual friend Kerstin Hammes to act as an analyst and coach.

So that’s what I decided to do. I emailed her and explained that I want Magnetic Memory Method 2.0 to address more intermediate and advanced issues.

But in order to do that, I need help from an expert German native speaker to help me get a precise picture of where I need to improve and how I should approach it. From there, it’s my job to figure out how to make Memory Palaces an advantage, track the processes and share the results.

And since she’s in …

It’s going to be great!

But Wait! There’s More!

You might be thinking … hold on there Magnetic Cowboy. That sounds like a lot of hard work. How are you going to manage all of this with the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, new books and all that other things you do?

The answer is …

It’s actually pretty easy. In addition to Christopher’s minimalism, maximalism and his ideas about The Stubborn Quintile, I’m going to use de Bono’s six hats.

In case you’ve never heard of them, here’s a brief overview and how I aim to make these hats work.

The Amazing Learning Secrets Of A Hat Fetishist From Malta

De Bono talks about six hats, each of a different color. Each color denotes a different function. Like this:

White = ObjectivityRed = EmotionsBlack = Critical thinkingYellow = The sunny positivity huge projects requireGreen = Growth through creativity and the generation of new ideasBlue = Organization

To apply these principles, I’ll spend about 15 minutes on all of these at the beginning of each week.

White Hat: For me, being objective means looking at things realistically. Do I have too much on my plate? Do I really need to be doing x when I would be better off doing y. For example, I’ve got:

A weekly podcast to write, record and release …

Books to write and others to edit …

YouTube videos to create, cut and upload …

Emails to answer …

So wearing the what is all about seeing things for how they really are.

It’s not about judging them or making changes. It’s just about assessing the status quo and creating a solid picture.

Red Hat: The red hat is all about checking in with the emotions. As someone with Manic Depression, I feel everything in extremes and I need to be aware of that.

The white hat helps here, but the main goal is to be aware of the emotions and shape them. I use this hat to make sure I’m getting enough rest, nutrition, exercise and meditation and time to memorize. These are the key factors that have kept me alive during some insane times.

When it comes to critical thinking, I wear the …

Black Hat: This hat is about critical thinking, which means creating strategies. You can only do this when you’ve got all the other hats along for the ride.

Yellow Hat: For sunny positivity, meditating and thinking happy thoughts isn’t enough. I need to gratitude journal, do my daydream journaling with the non-dominant hand, make sure I’m spending time with my bass and Bach and with friends. The Polyglot Gathering reminded me of just how isolated I am so much of the time and just how much better things would be if I socialized more.

Gross … But True!

Green Hat: In many ways, I’ve got the green hat on 24/7. I write thousands and thousands of words every day and almost exclusively either from bed or in cafes between walking. I call this Magnetic Roadwork: writing until I have to pee and then moving on.

Finally, the …

Blue Hat is all about organizing. I could use this hat to free up space on my phone, for example.

I have one organizational tip to mention here. The other I talk about on the podcast. These are having an accountability partner and time-tracking.

The Number One Way To Make Sure You Get Everything Done

My accountability partner is Sarah Peterson from Unsettle.org. What we do is email a report of what we’ve worked on throughout the day. Because we’re 9 hours apart, she often gets my report in the afternoon and I get hers in the morning.

No matter when they arrive, the timing is always perfect. And we almost always say exactly what the other needs to hear in terms of encouragement and the like.

And it’s addicting, so much fun to work and look forward to that email at the end of the day that summarizes what happened and makes a statement about what’s going to happen the next day. The productivity benefits have been very rewarding.

Then there is time-tracking. Listen to the podcast for the full description of how that works.

Finally, I’m officially adding a new hat to the color spectrum …

Transparent hat: Transparent is the day of rest, a regular occurrence that is somewhat foreign to me. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do it, but I’ll give it a try.

And of course I’ll let you know all about how it goes.

So until then, dear Memorizers, grab the PDF version of this episode, and, as ever, keep Magnetic! [image error]

Further Resources Mentioned Throughout The Podcast

Last week’s episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, Memory Improvement Tips From Dr. Gary Small

The Accursed Share by George Bataille

Dan Sullivan talking about Speed of Implementation

Memory Improvement Tips From Dr. Gary Small

Have you ever wanted simple memory improvement tips that you can use straight out of the box?

If so, then you’re in full a real treat. On this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, Dr. Gary Small offers you some of the best ideas from his book, 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain.

It was such a pleasure speaking with memory training and brain health fitness expert Dr. Small that I’ve had the interview transcribed. You can read it below or download a PDF version of the interview using the link at the bottom of the transcription.

Enjoy!

Why Even The Young Can’t Avoid Memory Loss

 

Anthony: Dr. Small, what is your first memory of being interested in the subject of memory?

 

Dr. Small: Well, I think I got interested in it when I started studying Alzheimer’s disease and geriatrics. When I got into the field of gerontology, I realized that one of the biggest problems we face is cognitive decline as we age. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of that decline. It turns out, before people get Alzheimer’s disease, they have milder memory complaints. There is just so much worry and concern among millions of people about these age-related memory slips and what we can do about them. That’s really how I got started.

 

Anthony: You mentioned in the book that memory can start decaying or getting worse even younger than we think. What is one of the typical ages that memory loss can start to occur?

 

Dr. Small: Usually people begin to notice it in their 40s and studies of neuropsychological testing, pencil and paper tests done on many, many research subjects, has found that for the average 40‑year-old a decline in memory performance can be detected. However, we have done some recent studies, collaborating with Gallop Poll, where we find that people even in their early 20s begin to start complaining about their memory. Now, their complaints are probably different from those of somebody who is in their 70s, but still the methods we’ve developed for the book apply to people of all ages.

 

Anthony: Given this wide age range, is there a common so to speak anti-memory activity that people are engaging in every day and if so what are those things and how can they be treated or how can people go about their daily activities differently so that they are honoring their memories and their brains?

 

Dr. Small: That is really what the book is about and it takes the latest science of the brain and explains it in a way that people can understand. It then translates that science into practical strategies that people can begin using.

 

In the 2-week program, we introduce them to these exercises, strategies and they gradually build up their mental strength, and memory power over that 2-week period and it is just long enough for those exercises to become habit-forming. It involves physical exercise, it involves mental stimulation, stress management, nutrition and learning techniques to compensate for any age-related memory challenges people are experiencing.

 

Can We Really Trust Memory Exercises To Ward Off Alzheimer’s?

 

Anthony: You mentioned a lot of different memory exercises in the book. I am wondering if you have a personal favorite out of them all that addresses some of the prevention of Alzheimer’s and just longevity in general that you enjoy the most that you do yourself?

 

Dr. Small: Let me just clarify. I do not know that the memory exercises will prevent Alzheimer’s, but I think that physical exercise very well may delay the onset of symptoms as will general mental stimulation and proper diet. What the memory exercises will do is to compensate for the decline so people can have a stronger memory longer even as their brains age.

 

Now, if you look at all of these different exercises, it really boils down to two methods that we now call focus and frame. We need to focus our attention because the biggest reason people do not remember is they are simply not paying attention, they are not getting the information into their brains.

 

Frame is shorthand for trying to frame the information, providing a framework so that it has meaning. If something is meaningful, it will become memorable and we do that by using visual images. Our brains are hardwired to remember visually very effectively.

 

We can take a very common memory complaint like names and faces, forgetting names and faces, and teach people how to create visual images to link the name to the face. Therefore, if you meet Mr. Foreman, you might notice that he has a prominent forehead. You notice that distinguishing figure and that links it up with the name in a visual way.

 

The Shocking Truth About Visual Skills And Memory

 

Anthony: Many of the memory exercises do involve some sort of visual imagination, and one thing I hear from a lot of people is that they are just not visual. They are maybe more auditory or kinesthetic or conceptual. Is there any advice you would have who would feel they do not have the visual capacities that many of these exercises seem to call for?

 

Dr. Small: That gets down to a common principle that we want to train and not strain our brains and try to cross-train the brain. Everybody has innate strengths and weaknesses. In areas that are weak, it may be visual skills. Those can be built up gradually. In areas that are strong, we can leverage those strengths to help us compensate better. People who are better with auditory skills can say the name or word to themselves or think up a musical jingle that might help them remember something better.

 

The Minimalist Guide To Einstein’s Brain

 

Anthony: You mentioned in 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain a few times Einstein’s brain and maybe you can describe that a little bit. Why does not everyone have a brain automatically like Einstein’s brain?

 

Dr. Small: I think, to a certain degree, it is genetics. Let us face it some people are Einstein’s at birth and others are not. When they looked at Einstein’s brain remarkably, it looked very much like the average person’s brain except for this area called the corpus callosum, which is the connecting point between the right brain and the left brain. What we might theorize is that Professor Einstein was better able to process information quickly compared to the average person.

 

Another point we make in the book is that genetics is only part of the story. In fact, the MacArthur study on successful aging taught us for the average person nongenetic factors are more important to keeping your brain young. That is why we emphasize all the simple things that people can do every day to get their brains to function better and their memory to be sharper.

 

What Video Games Can Teach You About Strengthening Or Harming Your Brain

 

Anthony: One of the interesting stories in the book is you talk about chiding your son for playing video games and there is a bit of a surprising twist at the end of the story. What is going on with video games and memory?

 

Dr. Small: It is complicated, but we do devote a whole chapter to brain games and what people can do to use them effectively. That was an incident where I was annoyed by my son playing some kind of a violent videogame. Knowing that this kind of repetitive videogame playing may not be great for his developing brain, I shouted to him, “Harry, get off of that video game and come downstairs and watch television with me.”

 

Of course, I thought how ridiculous that sounded, but in my mind, I was thinking we are watching a public television program, it is educational, we will have a conversation, but what I did not realize was that my son was playing the videogame with his friends. There was a conversation going on. It was a social interaction.

 

I think our relationship with this new technology is very complex. In some ways, it can cause wear and tear on our brains when we are spending too much time doing email or searching online doing repetitive tasks. On the other hand, the technology actually augments our biological memory.

 

We could pick and choose what we try to remember like names and faces and socially that is very important, but we do not need to remember birthdates and appointments. We can use programs for that and we can look at a lot of stuff up. In addition, there are new video games that actually train our brains. They can boost IQ or improve multitasking skills. I am very excited about the technology we use it wisely and do not overuse it.

 

How Classy Is The Neighborhood Of Your Brain?

 

Anthony: Speaking of technology, there is something really interesting that you talk about. The brain has kind of a relationship to memory and information where the age of a memory somehow determines where it is located in the brain, and that memories travel from one lobe to the next. I have this picture of sorting files through my computer and they move according to date and rearrange themselves. What is happening in this idea that memories age and then that determines where they are found in the brain?

 

Dr. Small: The brain is very complex organ and there is a lot of neuroscience research understanding how memories are consolidated. We describe how there are very fleeting momentary memories we call sensory memories that we all experience from moment to moment and we do not notice them. If we pay attention, or if there is an emotional component to the memory, it is more likely to be consolidated in an area that is called the hippocampus underneath the temples.

 

Once that happens, it is like an information highway as the memory becomes stronger as it becomes more long-term it moves towards the front part of the brain very gradually. They also reside throughout the brain depending on the type of memory. If it is a visual memory, it will be in the back of the brain because that is where the visual cortex is.

 

 

It is quite an interesting phenomenon. These memories, in a sense, live in neighborhoods, which explain why it is often difficult to remember some information, but when you are reminded of a neighboring memory, then the memory you are looking for comes back to you.

 

Is There A Way To End Your Struggle With “Senior Moments”?

 

Anthony: That is a very interesting metaphor. Given this neighborhood image where do memories go when people are having “senior moments?”

 

Dr. Small: Well they are not going anywhere. Memory is very much like a filing cabinet. You have to file the information in the proper place and know where to look to pull it out. When we cannot find those memories, we are distracted by other memories so we are a little bit mixed up in our filing system, and we need some help in how to locate those files, which many of the memory techniques we teach help us do.

 

Anthony: Well heaven forbid that you were to lose your memory, but if that were to happen, is there one memory in particular that you would never want to lose if all else was to disappear?

 

Dr. Small: Those are such tough questions, and I think to me the memory I would not want to lose is the memory of the emotion of love because I think that is so important to all of us. It is such a strong compelling feeling. It really draws people together and it defines who we are as a species. Humans are very social animals and those positive emotions that we experience really make life so worthwhile.

 

Anthony: Speaking of love I really loved 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain. I am grateful and honored that you gave us the time to speak about your book for the audience of this podcast. What is coming up for you next?

 

Dr. Small: In the short term, I am doing a public lecture on the book this afternoon. I am continuing my research on memory and brain aging. My wife and I are continuing to work on a monthly newsletter, Dr. Gary Small’s Mind Health Report. We are putting our heads together for the next book. We have not quite decided what we are going to do but it will probably be in the general area where our interests lie and we are looking forward to continuing our work together.

 

Anthony: Great. Well again thank you so much and 2 Weeks to a Younger Brain is such an excellent book. I hope everybody listening goes out and gets it.

 

Dr. Small: Thank you and I appreciate it.

 

Further Resources

PDF transcript of this exclusive Magnetic Memory Method Interview with Dr. Gary Small

Dr. Small talking about his book, The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program.

More books by Dr. Small

For more memory improvement tips directed at brain health on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, check out this episode directed at university students dealing with depression.

Improving Memory And The Moral Obligations Of Memory Improvement

A lot of people suffer from a “bad memory.”

Me too.

If I don’t use the simple memory improvement techniques I’ve learned, my memory has about the same chance as a dog hearing “sit” once without a shred of repetition. It doesn’t do much good for improving memory.

But we’re not dogs. And we have memory techniques. We can hear something once and memorize it forever.

And without being dramatic or theatrical (a rare thing for me, dear Memorizers), I can tell you that I think that not developing the skill to do so is a crime against humanity.

Failing to memorize using the simple techniques I teach robs not only yourself, but many others of the benefits of this powerful skill.

Plus, you get to share information that you’ve placed in your mind. Valuable knowledge that you can produce at will. Change the world kind of stuff.

Or it can be the memorize of simple things that makes a huge difference.

Like when you’re boarding a plane and you keep forgetting your seat number, holding up the line to look at your ticket for the umpteenth time.

Or when your child asks you what year some important event took place for his or her exam at school (major).

Or when you’re playing Blackjack and you have no idea how many cards are out (could be major, could be minor depending on your pot).

Or when you’re talking to someone and you have to ask them for a second time what their name is, sometimes just 30 seconds or less after the first time you heard it …

This final point is a real doozy.

Memorizing names is a moral obligation because it tells the person you’re meeting that you care about who they are, that they’re someone worth knowing, that their name has value.

Some names are easy.

You don’t need a special method to memorize Tom, Dick or Harry (at least most of us probably don’t).

But the world is becoming more and more internationalized.

We’re meeting more and more people with name structures that we’re not familiar with. And we need to be able to remember them in to be more sociable and to ensure that people know we value them in the daily interactions we make.

It’s not that difficult. Hear a name, make a bizarre, exaggerated, big and bright picture filled with zany action and you’ll have that name memorized in a Magnetic second.

That’s the basics of one of the techniques.

As you know, there are many others.

And a lot of fine details that structure each. It makes a huge difference if you know what they are and how to use them.

That’s why I’m making the crazy offer of joining the Masterclass for the trial price of $1. For just a buck, you get 7 days access to the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

That’s seven days to work on improving your memory. Seven days to feel the power of memory improvement. Click here for more info and a lesson on 8 Important Memory Principles You Should Follow.

How to Memorize Things Fast Using These Time Management Tips

In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, time management master Tor Refsland from Timemanagementchef.com teaches you how to make ample space in your day for creating, using and benefiting from Memory Palaces and shows you how to memorize things in record time. Take it away Tor!

You’ve finally made the decision.

You are going to improve your memory by building a Memory Palace and learn how to memorize things fast using memory techniques. 

You are so excited! You know that learning how to memorize things fast will give you the unfair advantage compared to the rest of the world.

So you close your eyes and start to dream of your new future.

The feeling of being able to impress your family and friends by reciting stored information as if you were a super computer can only be described with two words …


Freakin’ Awesome!

Perhaps your friends will be so impressed that they will insist on buying you drinks every time you go out.

 And your parents might finally realize that you are the prodigy among your siblings and make you the sole inheritor of your family`s legacy.

There is only one problem.

You are a victim of one of the biggest success crushing myths…

 

You THINK you don’t have time.

 

But if I could prove to you that you actually have more than enough time to learn memory techniques, would that be interesting to you?

If so, then read every single word of this post, because it could really change your life.

Let me show you how to find time to create a Memory Palace and start using it in record time.

 



How To Create More Time

 

Since we all only have 24 hours per day, time is our most important asset.

But you already know that.

The real issue is that you are super busy and your schedule is packed, right?

Welcome to the club!

That is why creating more time is the most important skill you will ever learn.

But before I move on and tell you how to create more time, let me start by explaining my definition of productivity.

 

This Productivity Formula Will Double And Even Triple Your Free Time For Using The Magnetic Memory Method

 

Time period x Goals achieved = Productivity

Your productivity is the total sum of the goals you achieve in a certain period of time. 

There are only two ways to improve your productivity:

– you can achieve the same goals in a shorter period of time

– you can achieve more goals in the same amount of time

If you want to become a productivity superstar you can dramatically increase your own productivity by shortening the period of time and increasing the amount of goals you achieve.

That is the exactly what I did when I increased my own productivity by 200%.

200% is insane.

If you could experience the same boost, that means you would increase your productivity by four times!

Using this formula, I now do in 2 hours what I normally used to do in 8 hours.

 

The Surprising Tip That Will Free Up Your Time – Fast!

 

So how do we actually create more time?

 Let me give you a quick crash course.

 There are 3 components that will help you create more time:

1. Planning and prioritizing

The experts say that every minute spent in planning will save you 10 minutes in execution.

In my article at Successful Blogging I talk about planning and prioritizing.

 For example, you can use the ABCDE method to prioritize your tasks:

A: Tasks I must do – serious consequences if it doesn’t get done

B: Tasks I should do – mild consequences if it doesn’t get done

C: Tasks I could do – no consequences if it doesn’t get done

D: Tasks I delegate

E: Tasks I never do

Never do a B task before you have done all the A tasks. Likewise, never do a C task before you have done all the B tasks, etc.

And apply the 80/20 rule: you need to identify each day, which 20% of the tasks on your to do list will give you 80% of the results.

By starting to implement the tactics above, you can literally increase your productivity with 100 % over night.

2. Focus


One of the most important skills when it comes to becoming more productive and achieving your goals in a shorter period of time, is the ability to focus.

As I talk about in my article on Blogging Wizard, true focus comes with some requirements.

In order to be able to laser focus, you have to:
- knowing what to do (work from a plan – to do list)

remove all distractions (mute your cellphone and turn off Internet connections)no multitasking
- focus on only one task until it`s done

3. Increase productivity


Increasing productivity means that we are able to increase our results in a shorter period of time.

Becoming more productive is key when it comes to freeing up more time in your life, so you can spend it on practicing memory techniques.

On Skip Prichard’s site, I’ve talked about one important factor – a factor that can change everything once you understand it.

Studies have shown that most people are most productive the first 2 hours after they get out of bed in the morning.

Some people are most productive in the evening or perhaps during the night.

What does this mean?

It means you have to identify at WHAT time you are the most productive.

Then you have to reserve that period of time for your most important tasks.

 This will literally turbo boost your productivity.

In combination with the time management and productivity techniques you’ve just learned, to improve your memory fast …

 

You Need The Right Tools

 

When Anthony asked me to write a guest post for his great website, I asked him for more information regarding the memorizing technique topic. 

He recommended that I read one of his posts about creating and populating a Memory Palace.

Needless to say, Anthony Metivier is one of the best in the business when it comes to helping people learn how to memorize things fast.

So what did I do?

I read the article and decided to use my productivity formula, then I got cranking.

 


How To Create A Memory Palace

 

Since I had never created a Memory Palace before, I wasn`t aiming for a world class Memory Palace.

But as a time management and productivity expert, “how long will it take to create a Memory Palace?” was the first question that came to mind.

My next question was, “where should I start my path through the Memory Palace?”

To keep things simple and quick, I decided to use my most familiar place.

So I drew an outline of my apartment, and set a station in every corner of every room. 

To make sure the Memory Palace followed the Magnetic Memory Method principles, I made the starting point in my Memory Palace the front door.

In order to keep my path linear, I made sure to create the journey so that I always follow the right side of the wall. 
 
A couple more decisions later, I had built my first Memory Palace.

And by using a simple system and applying a step-by-step process, I created a simple 32 stations memory palace in 10 minutes!

My success felt awesome!

I thought I was going to spend at least 30-40 minutes on it! 

But 32 stations in just 10 minutes? That`s incredible.

Will you be able to complete your first Memory Palace in less than 10 minutes?

If you follow the principles, I don’t see why not.

The most important thing is that you ask the same questions I asked myself and then complete your Memory Palace as soon as possible.

And remember the following:

use a familiar settingnot world class, just applicablekeep it simple

– move around in the Memory Palace in a logical manner

If you haven`t created a Memory Palace, please spend up to 10 and no more than 15 minutes to create it now.

Have you done it?

Awesome.

Okay, what`s next?

Then it`s time to…

 


Populate the Memory Palace
 With Killer Information!

 

As with most things in life, the more passionate you are about the subject, the easier it will be to remember.

Since I`m a time management expert, I don’t spend my time on anything that doesn’t either save me a lot of time, or give me a good amount of value for the time I have spent. 

I’m always about getting the biggest ROI (return on investment).

After all, what’s the point of building a Memory Palace only to populate it with boring, trivial information that you almost NEVER use?

In addition, your first Memory Palace should consist of information that won`t get outdated and that you won’t need to switch out. 

The best information to memorize is the information you want to hold in memory forever. And because it’s important and excites you, this will increase the speed and intensity you bring to the memorization process.

So what did I do?

I had the following criteria:

passionate about the topicimportant informationinformation that I use often
- static information (information that doesn`t change)

Since I have my own blog where I write about time management, I needed to pick a topic that would be useful for my business.

I ended up with headline templates for blog posts.

Notice, I didn’t say headlines.

I said headline templates.



Why?

Because knowing X amount of headline templates is better, than knowing the same amount of headlines (which you would need to dissect, analyze and convert into a template anyway, if you wanted to use each headline in the best way possible).

No need to recite the best headlines ever made, if you can`t apply their formula? Right?

And as you continue reading, you might want to think how memorizing templates might help you in your studies or profession.

For my purposes, I decided to memorize 8 headline templates from Jon Morrow’s free 52 Headline Hacks:

1. The Zen of X

2. Can`t keep up? The 11 Ways to Simplify Your X

3. How to Take Charge of Your X

4. The Minimalist Guide to X

5. 10 Shortcuts for (CTP – completing tedious process) in Record Time

6. Get Rid of (recurring problem) Once and for All

7. How to End X

8. How to X in 5 Minutes

After 30 minutes I had memorized them.

 

All of them!

 

How did I remember them
?

I started with memorizing bullet point 1 with a vivid picture. Then I recited bullet point 1 and created bullet point 2. And so on.

It looked like this:

1. Memorize bullet point 1

2. Recite bullet point 1 – memorize bullet point 2

3. Recite bullet points 1 and 2 – memorize bullet point 3

4. Recite bullet points 1 – 3 – memorize bullet point 4

5. Recite bullet points 1 – 4 – memorize bullet point 5

6. Recite bullet points 1 – 5 – memorize bullet point 6

7. Recite bullet points 1 – 6 – memorize bullet point 7

8. Recite bullet points 1 – 7 – memorize bullet point 8

It looks rather easy, right?

No degree in rocket science needed here.

Just following a simple system will do the trick.

 

How To Find Time To Maintain Your Memory Palace

 

In order for you to train your memory and to be able to find and recite the necessary information even quicker, you want to take a walk in your Memory Palace daily.

How do you find the time for doing this?

Spend the time that you are already using on other routine activities.

You can recite your whole Memory Palace and everything in it while you do your morning routine, when you are taking the commute or when you are working out.

I would recommend going through your Memory Palaces once a day at the same time everyday.

Think about it.

You will be brushing your teeth no matter what. Why not take a morning stroll through your Memory Palace at the same time?

You may be thinking:

Okay, Tor, I get it.

But when do I find time to expand my Memory Palace?

Well, let`s cover that in the next section…

 

How To Find Time To Expand Your Memory Palace

 

When to expand your Memory Palace, depends on your need.

However, when you are a beginner when it comes to using memory techniques I would recommend to start slowly.

The most important thing is to actually build your first Memory Palace and maintain it by reciting it daily (for example, as part of your morning routine).

You can for instance put new bullet points into your Memory Palace every Saturday after breakfast, or when you are doing commute or working out.

When exactly you do this depends on the schedule you have set for yourself in order to reach your specific goals.

 

Remember …

 

… the most important thing is to have fun and to just start applying it. 

If you set a schedule that is too hard when it comes to expanding your Memory Palace, you will become fed up and probably look at it as a tedious, boring task.

But it should be neither tedious nor boring. 

There’s too much to gain by expanding your memory, increasing your brain capacity, boosting your confidence and saving time reciting stored information.

In addition to the benefits above, I know that when you are willing to set aside time, you can learn whatever skill you want.

Now you have the recipe for how to create a Memory Palace, how to memorize things fast and how to do both in record time.

So get out there, expand your memory and have fun!

If you want to learn how to create more time, click here to get my free eBook Insane Productivity Hacks and learn how to DOUBLE your productivity in 7 days.

 

Increase Memory By Taking Action The Magnetic Memory Method Way

To Everyone Who Secretly Believes That The Powers Needed To Increase Memory Will Magically Fall From The Sky …

It’s true. Some people believe that you can get something for nothing.

But luckily not everyone.

Some people grab the Magnet by the poles and take action.

Not only that, but they take the right action.

What is the “right action”? you ask.

That’s what this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast is all about, so please be sure to listen to every word because it may be the most important episode you ever hear. Then build your first Memory Palace and start using it.

And for your convenience, here’s the letter I received in writing. It forms the basis of the episode.

Give Me A Bit, I’ll Be Swimming Soon EnoughI received your postcard. Thank you very much for that. It means a lot and says a lot about you. It was a very nice surprise and seemed to add a sense of realism to you, your efforts and products, and support. It basically makes you a human and not just some guy on the internet. So, for that, thank you. I will use it accordingly, when I learn that part. I have learned much so far and it has been some serious amounts of work and I’m trying to think of it as good work.Right now, I am still creating memory palaces and moving through them. My approach to just about everything is the same. I infuse some knowledge with confusion, then repeat it to the point of clarity. I liken it to going swimming here in the cold Michigan lakes. Even on the hottest of days, all anyone has to do in order to cool off, is walk, jump or run, into any one of the 11, 500 lakes located here. There are also five, enormous “Great Lakes” that are much more preferable for swimming. Anyhow, rather than jumping in and cooling down immediately, I tend to go: “Now, is it really that hot? I mean, really???  Ok, let’s go to the beach.” Then I have to grab towels, apply sunscreen, get a couple bottles of water from the gas station, and of course fill my gas tank which is usually low. Get to the beach, find a place among hundreds of other people yet still inconspicuous. Then, finally approach the water. If it is too cold, I have to go in several times but only up to my ankles. Meanwhile, the rest of me is burning hot, nearly sun – scorched and screaming “you got everything you need, just get in the water and splash around.” But … I don’t! I wait and double check the water because cooling down cannot possibly be as simple as just going in. After about a dozen times of working my way up to thigh level water and retreating back to shore, I have exhausted my patience and just run and jump in and realize that I should have done so all along. Right now, I’m about up to my ankles in confusion and repetition in your Magnetic Memory Method, but I have my towels, swim trunks, and sandals. Give me a bit, I’ll be swimming soon enough.  For me, I have have doubts, as to whether or not I’m doing something correctly or not. I know a lot of that uncertainty stems from “having a bad immediate memory”, as I call it. Basically, I tend to forget the initial reasoning behind a particular idea or course of action and thus have trouble following through with the initial intended results as my needs, views and reasoning, all change along the way to the intended goal. It’s not as ADHD as it may sound. I think it is just simply not remembering enough general information to justify the actions needed to move forward in life (or progress in a particular field of study). I have been blindly moving about, normally…job, mortgage, family and some other “normal” things. That, mixed with time constraints, have led me to minimize expectations for myself, again forgetting to do more. With that, I have learned a lot from assisting my wife in her collegiate studies and have relaized this lack of memory use has been such a waste, and quite frankly, lame. So, once again, your methods and information are exactly what I needed and I thank you for all your help.  Sorry, for the long winded rant. In my defense, I did just have two cups of coffee.  Alright, I’m off to do some memory work. Thank you again for taking the time to hand write and send a postcard. The Only Way To Get ResultsSo as you can see, taking action is the best action. It’s the only way to get results if your goal is to increase memory.And if you’d like to get some of my Magnetic postcard goodness, registration info for the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass is waiting for you right here.Further Resources:

How to Escape the Prison Of Memory And Create The Future You Desire