Anthony Metivier's Blog, page 8

7 Proven Steps to Memorize a Presentation In No Time

Ever since my TEDx Talk cracked several million views, people from around the world have asked me how to memorize a presentation.

What qualifies me to offer tips for memorizing a speech of any length?

Well, I spent a decade as a professor at three universities in three different countries. I delivered dozens of lectures during those years.

I’ve also spent over a decade as an online “professor of memory.” My expertise in memory has taken me around the world.

In fact, in the feature image for this post, you see me discussing memory as a part of language learning at a 2016 Polyglot Conference in Berlin. You can also watch hundreds of hours of my presentations on YouTube from years of live streaming.

And on this page, I’m going to share the best of my experiences with multiple kinds of presentation.

If you want to memorize a speech verbatim, I’ll show you how.

Or, if you prefer to work from mental bullet points, I’ll help you do that too.

When it comes to memory aids for speakers, this is the real deal from someone who practices these techniques week in and week out.

Ready?

Let’s get started!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SxbH...

So You Need to Memorize a Presentation… Here’s Where to Start

Getting started… this is the tricky bit.

So here’s a story using the Polyglot conference speech I gave to help dimensionalize the starting point I usually use.

Determine Who Your Presentation Is For… And Who It Isn’t For

Before I wrote a single word, I asked myself a very simple set of questions:

Who can I help and who am I unable to help?

And what’s the one thing that will help the listeners above all?

I went through this same process with my TEDx Talk and many other presentations.

Make no mistake, this step can be tricky. It’s a discipline to whittle things down to the biggest and most important point.

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

But it is possible and often the success of the talks we enjoy most come down to knowing that the audience you’re addressing is defined as closely as possible.

It was hard for me, but I believe focusing on just one kind of person and one message for that person helped my TEDx Talk reach so many viewers.

Of course, some presentations need more details and more nuance, but even then, the principle is the same. If you think about who each principle is for and how to focus on the biggest and most impactful part, it’s going to be easier to digest. And easier for you to remember successfully.

Script The Presentation

When it comes to helping yourself remember your presentation, writing is key. If you write a bunch of mush with endless long sentences, you’re setting yourself up for a struggle.

So when you’re putting the presentation together, ask yourself:

Do I want to memorize the speech verbatim?Or can I memorize keywords and let my expertise fill in the blanks while speaking?

Both ways work very well. It just comes down to your goal. In the case of my TEDx Talk, I wrote the speech and memorized it verbatim.

In my Polyglot Conference talk, I prepared slides and memorized the key points, which involved speaking some Chinese based on how I’ve studied that language.

Either way, scripting or preparing slides can help you decide how you’re going to memorize the presentation.

Review The Presentation

As a final preparation step, it’s great if you can take a moment to review what you’ve prepared. Ideally, you’ll also get at least one other person to review it as well.

For my TEDx Talk, Thomas Krafft reviewed the script itself and a recording of me delivering it from memory. Before presenting the script of my live-action “Memory Detective” game attached to a memory improvement novel I wrote, I had a test audience go through the entire sequence.

Reviewing the speech, slides and related materials with others helps add an extra layer of understanding that helps with the memorization process. I highly recommend making time for review.

7 Proven Steps to Memorize a Presentation from Start to Finish

As Hanna Pishwa points out in Language and Memory, Aristotle was one of the first to intensively describe the rhetorical strategies used for persuasion in speeches.

But we can go a step further: Aristotle also closed his treatise on memory by explaining that we are moved most by people who speak from memory.

This is the first time I delivered a talk about Film Studies in German.

He says reciting from memory is impressive because the person who has memorized their speech doesn’t have to “hunt” for their ideas. They use a “process” that brings those ideas to them automatically.

How can you do that too? Just follow these steps:

One: Learn To Use The Memory Palace Technique

Since long before Aristotle, people have been using the ancient art of memory to commit speeches to memory using Memory Palaces.

A Memory Palace is simply a mental copy of a location you know well, like you home, office, school, church or any place with walls, paths and other environment features.

This is a graphic representation of the Memory Palace I used to memorize my TEDx Talk:

It’s a neighborhood in Brisbane and the numbers represent individual stations.

I teach people who take the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass to number their stations to help them rapidly create these simple journeys.

To do this, it’s helpful to draw your Memory Palaces first. Like this:

A Memory Palace drawn on an index card to maximize its value as a mnemonic device. This one is based on a bookstore in Zamalek, a part of Cairo.

Two: Add Interesting Associations To The Words & Ideas In Your Presentation

The best memory techniques all rely on mnemonic imagery.

When it comes to how to memorize lines for a presentation, you can do this very quickly by tapping into a pegword list.

For example, in a speech that starts with, “How would you like…?” my pegword list suggests Howie Mandel for “how” and Elijah Wood for “would.”

Those figures are laid out in the Memory Palace at the beginning of its journey.

This leads us to the next step.

Three: Make Your Associations Zany

Let me make a preemptive strike here:

A lot of people have protested to me over the years:

I’m not creative. I can’t get myself to see Howie Mandel and Elijah Wood to kick a like button on a platform like YouTube.

Stop right there.

I’m not creative either.

All I’m doing is taking too people who already exist and having them do something strange. There are only so many actions in the world. They could kiss the like button, put it in a rocket ship and send it to the moon, or bury it with thumbs-up shaped shovels.

Seriously. There’s nothing “creative” about this. It’s just borrowing from real possible actions and animating them in the Memory Palace. Please don’t overthink this process and make sure of the exercises I’m going to share with you in step four.

If you’re memorizing your presentation verbatim, you’ll need more associations than you would for a speech delivered based on bullet-points.

Either way, the process is the same.

Four: Make Your Associations Multisensory

Once you’ve decided what your characters are going to do with one another, add some multisensory elements. For example, you can hear the voices of your celebrity associations, or imagine that you’re feeling them interacting with the like button in our example.

We do this because scientific research makes it clear that elaboration helps form memories faster.

To get better at making your associations weird and multisensory within seconds, these elaborative encoding exercises will help, as will these visualization exercises.

Five: Use The Memory Palace To Memorize Your Speech

When the ancient Romans delivered their speeches, they often would start a persuasive passage with a set of points.

“In the first place,” an orator would say before diving into the point. Then the orator would say, “In the second place,” etc.

Anthony Metivier memorizing and recalling names at a memory demonstration in Brisbane

This convention in speeches remains with us today, and those orators were literally using their Memory Palaces in real time to recall their points.

But you can be sure that they had practiced in private before delivering them. We know that Rhetorica Ad Herennium, originally attributed to Cicero, gives many suggestions around how best to practice for both public speaking and reciting poetry.

And you need to practice as well.

You do it by starting at the “first place” of the Memory Palace and then triggering those images to help you recall the words.

Personally, I practice my speeches by following several patterns. For example, instead of always starting at the beginning, I will practice reciting a few lines from the end, then switch to the beginning, then go to a spot in the middle.

This is helpful in ushering the speech into long term memory quickly because it harnesses the primacy effect, recency effect and serial-positioning effect.

Six: Practice Delivering The Speech

Now, this point is a subtly that I personally find important.

I do not go through my Memory Palace while delivering my presentations unless I absolutely have to do so.

See, when you follow the process I’ve described above, the presentation will be in your long term memory.

However, unexpected things can happen. During my TEDx Talk, people laughed at a spot I hadn’t placed a joke. It surprised me for a second and I briefly popped into the Memory Palace I’d made to help me get back on track (instead of standing there like a deer caught in headlights).

But ideally, you want to just have the speech memorized and not have to rely on any mnemonic strategies while in the moment. With optimal setup and execution, the memory techniques will have already done their job and you can do what Aristotle described: speak without looking like you’re hunting for the ideas.

And that means you can connect with that audience you identified during the preparation stage. The more you connect with them, the more successful you’ll be during and after your presentation because people remember connection.

Seven: Analyze Your Performance

Want to be a pro speaker?

Then you’ll want to spend some time reflecting on your presentation.

This step is important because it gives you the opportunity to identify areas to improve the next time.

And it will help you congratulate yourself where credit is due. Please make sure to do so. Giving a speech is a huge accomplishment and you deserve recognition merely for making it happen.

But the real gold is some objective and subjective reasoning about the entire process. It will also reveal new ideas for other presentations you might not have thought about otherwise.

In a Pinch? Here’s How to Memorize a Speech Fast

I know that some people don’t have time for all of the steps above.

To be clear: I do all that I can to make sure I have enough time.

But when I don’t, here’s what I do instead.

The Acronym Method

I’m often invited to speak in the community at the last minute. I literally don’t have time to mindmap more than a few ideas.

But I can take those ideas and arrange them into a keyword.

For example, when I was invited to speak at a “Masters of Marketing” event, I arranged my ideas into the acronym F.R.E.E.

Frequent messaging to a…Relevant audience…Entertains, Educates and…Engages in the direction of a response

I placed that acronym in a simple Memory Palace and talked about what each concept mean for two minutes each.

The great thing about the acronym approach is that you don’t have to practice as much, if at all. The logic of the acronym itself guides you through the parts of your presentation because you’re mentally checking them off by spelling the acronym.

Give this presentation technique a try and you will have no problem committing presentations to memory fast.

Memorize Your Speech in No Time With the Steps Above

Let’s recap:

Presentations are so much easier to remember when you’re clear about who you’re addressing and who you’re not.

Once you’ve decided on whether you’ll be speaking verbatim or working from bullet points, the Memory Palace technique is a tried and true technique with thousands of years of success stories.

To make information “stick,” you need a process of elaborating associations. A bit of prep will take you a long way if you complete the exercises I shared on this page.

Finally, it’s worth repeating that reviewing your talk in any way possible is tremendously valuable. Even if you get a last minute invite to speak, you can probably squeeze in a few minutes to record yourself on your phone and tweak a few things.

Even if you don’t have time to change anything, just seeing yourself once will give you ideas about how to make what you’re about to say in front of an audience better.

Just make sure to avoid perfectionism. Relax and if you make a mistake, just call a spade a spade and find your way back to where you got lost.

And if you want more on the memorization process so you always recover quickly when things happen during live presentations (as they inevitably will), check out my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

 

So what do you say?

Are you ready to get out there and give the best presentation of your career?

Let me now if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to share with you more granular details from my long career of presenting around the world.

Short Term vs Long Term Memory: What You Need to Know

Few things could be simpler to understand than the difference between short term and long term memory.

Check out this simple explanation:

Short term memory holds a small amount of information, often for as little as twenty seconds. That information either enters long term memory or it doesn’t.

Long term memory holds larger blocks of information indefinitely. And unlike short term memory, long term memory seems to have an unlimited capacity.

That’s the brief answer, and let me frame it for you a slightly different way with some quick examples:

Short term memory involves a very small amount of information remembered for a short period of time. Like when you remember a passcode only for as long as you need it.

Long term memory involves much larger sets of information for longer periods of time. Knowing the names of dozens of states in your country even if you haven’t thought about them for decades is a simple example.

Of course, there’s more to long term vs short term memory, so let’s dig in and discover more.

Short Term vs Long Term Memory: An Overview

Both short term and long term memory are about relationships in your mind.

These relationships involve the intersection between:

The major memory typesPerceptionProblem solving

Everything from pattern recognition to critical thinking emerge from those three characteristics of the mind.

Major scientists involved in short term memory research include George Miller who identified chunking and Alan Baddeley.

Endel Tulving discovered the main characteristics of long term memory, specifically episodic memory and semantic memory.

Larry Squire is also an important figure in long term memory research.

Overall, many scientists have contributed to our understanding of these two memory types. But because science is always changing, it’s best to combine a solid understanding of the history of memory science with the latest research articles.

Studies in Long Term Memory and New Research on Short-Term Memory are decent introductions on the fundamentals of these two types of memory. For the latest studies, setting up Google alerts for “memory science” has helped me keep abreast of the latest findings, along with continually talking to memory scientists on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.

The Differences Between Long Term and Short Term Memory

Major short term vs long term memory differences boil down to:

Time spent with the informationThe amount of informationDuration in memoryThe mental and physical condition of the individual

Let’s look at each of these in depth.

Time Spent With Information

In short term memory formation, you will typically have only a few seconds to perceive the information.

Any time someone gives you their phone number or a passcode, your short term memory is engaged. A simple way to improve your working memory is to play games that require you to hold onto to small amounts of information for short periods of time. There are many memory games that help with this goal.

For long term memory, language learning is a key example of spending a lot of time with information. Bilingualism is known to provide many benefits because of how it exercises long term memory.

The Amount Of Information

Short term memory involves small amounts of information, typically about as long as a password or phone number.

However, memory athletes have pushed the limits. For example, three time world memory champion Alex Mullen has broken records by memorizing an entire deck of cards in under twenty seconds.

Memory athlete Alex Mullen

Long term memory involves much more information. If you’ve ever seen someone recite an entire story from memory, you’ve seen it at work. Likewise, people who memorize speeches are displaying how long term memory relates to large amounts of information.

Duration In Memory

Sometimes the clarity of your recall is astonishingly long. But even more surprising is when you remember selectively. In other words, you leave out certain parts only to have them suddenly flash into your mind after the fact.

For example, sometimes you tell someone a story and miss a few details. A few seconds later, you say, “Oh, I forgot to tell you this important part.”

The reason you suddenly remember those missing details has to do with context dependent memory. No one knows exactly why an entire memory doesn’t come back properly the first time, but context does trigger more of our memories once we start recalling them. It’s a way of experiencing memory durability from a different angle.

Mental And Physical Condition

So much of what we know about memory comes not from studying healthy people. Often we learn about memory by studying the memory of people with a variety of issues.

Baddeley’s theories of amnesia, for example, reveal many interesting things about normal human memory.

As reported in Studies in Long Term Memory, he found that amnesiacs struggle in particular with new material related to verbal memory. This is because the entrance of information into long term memory suffers from more interference.

Incidents of interference possibly increases because the capacity of short-term memory is already limited in healthy individuals. No matter how mentally sharp you are, your short term memory is already easy to distract. When you get disrupted, the amount of time you spend with the information you want to remember is lessened and the quality of that time will not be as good.

This fact means that even though your long term memory seems limitless and is generally more stable and enduring, the benefit of spending time with information does not matter if you cannot get it into either your short or long term memory.

Another characteristic of long term memory we need to consider is repetition. Even the most robust information will require use in order to remain consolidated in your brain. So let’s look at the role of repetition next.

Short Term Vs Long Term Memory: The Ultimate Truth

Ultimately, short term memory lets you juggle small sets of information for a short period of time. You can hold a telephone number for a short while without having to repeat it over and over again.

In fact, if you use rote repetition with a phone number, you’ll probably wind up placing it in long term memory.

That’s really short term memory in a nutshell.

The problem with long term memory is that no one knows exactly how many times you have to repeat something in order to recall it over time. But we do know that we can avoid rote and repeat information in ways that are much more engaging.

For example, if you use memory techniques, you can reduce the amount of needed repetition. And the repetition you do perform will be much more interesting thanks to how the techniques work.

You can also increase your expertise by reading multiple books on a topic in depth. Simply reading more will increase the elaborative rehearsal needed for strong and enduring memories.

Using the information you’re reading will also strengthen its place in your long term information. You can do this through writing or discussing the information, which are natural forms of repetition that can be quite fun and engaging.

But the exact amount of time you need to repeat something is simply not known. We only know it goes down relative to the depth of your experience with a specific kind of information.

For this reason, learning experts never recommend cramming. They recommend legitimate memory hacks instead.

Is Working Memory Short Term Memory?

In a word, no.

But even though they are distinct concepts, they are related.

Working memory is like your mental workspace – kind of like the desktop on your computer. It allows you to temporarily store and manipulate information.

Long term memory is like the folders you use to later clear up your desktop and access the information you decided to keep later on.

Ultimately, it’s easy to be confused by these different terms. But as a general rule of thumb, scientists use different terms to distinguish them. They’re not the same and these terms help us talk about the specific differences, even though they all ultimately fall under the rubric of “memory” at the end of the day.

For this reason, it doesn’t make sense to think of working memory vs short term memory. They work together.

How to Improve Your Short Term and Long Term Memory At The Same Time

There are many ways to improve your memory.

The best ways always involve some kind of goal.

My recommendation is to learn a variety of memory techniques, including:

The Memory Palace techniqueNumber RhymesLinking and Story methodMajor SystemPAO SystemPegword method

These are all modern variations on ancient memory techniques. They exercise your short term and long term memory at the same time for all the reasons discussed above.

You get exercise with both small amounts of information in short periods of time and larger amounts of information over extended periods.

The simplest activity is to . When I give demonstrations in the community, I get the short term exercise. When I later run into those same people, I draw upon my long term memory.

As 2018 and 2022 USA Memory Champion John Graham has shown in his TV spots, it’s easy to add numbers to any name you’ve memorized as well.

And when you use mnemonic images in the ways I teach, you’ll draw upon your autobiographical memory in ways that are personally rewarding and fun.

You can also practice memorizing future events. This will exercise your prospective memory both immediately and over time. Because numbers like the exact day and hour on a calendar are involved, you have a small set of information that needs to be recalled in the future.

This kind of exercise provides the best of all possible worlds – and you’ll be on time too.

Beyond Short Term And Long Term Memory

Now that you’ve discovered the critical differences between these two forms of memory, you might be wondering what to do next.

How about becoming a memory master yourself?

I introduced you to a few people like Alex Mullen and John Graham. You can develop memory skills just as profound.

If you’d like that, please grab my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

It will help you remember everything on this page, and much more.

Even better, it will exercise all the levels of your memory in ways that are easy, fun, effective and efficient.

The ultimate trick to memory improvement is to treat your practice sessions like going to the gym. The more you use your muscles, the stronger they’ll get and the longer they’ll last.

I don’t know about you, but I want both my short term and long term memory skills to be strong for the rest of my life.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to dig deeper into these topics and experience incredible short and long term memory skills yourself?

What Is Verbal Memory (And Can You Improve It)?

Verbal memory is simple to understand when you keep one thing in mind.

And when you understand this one thing, endless ways to improve your verbal working memory emerge.

Ways that are easy and fun.

So here’s the biggest and most important thing to understand before I take you into some examples of verbal memory. Then I’ll share some proven exercises to help you improve it.

Verbal memory is about learning, specifically learning tasks that involve language.

I’m talking about:

Letters of the alphabetNumbersWordsSequences of wordsSequences of numbersPasswordsThe names of symbolsDirectionsInstructionsLearning a language

We need to be able to track, understand and act on verbal information from each of these categories.

And often we have to use our verbal memory for multiple things at the same time. For example, having someone spell a word out loud so you can pronounce it properly involves chunking a few auditory elements at the same time.

So with this big picture in mind, let me introduce you to the granular details and show some ways to improve this very important part of your memory.

What Is Verbal Memory?

Verbal memory is a term scientists use to analyse and discuss how the brain receives auditory stimulus and responds to it.

Psychologists interested in this level of memory usually take echoic memory into account, another sensory type of memory.

According to Donald Kausler in the Psychology of Verbal Learning and Memory, it’s possible that the brain tags certain auditory information for “rightness” and “wrongness.”

If true, this process suggests that verbal memory has to be constantly on guard because there are many homophones like “prey” and “pray” that don’t sound different at all. Yet something about our brain understands the difference, and if we are reading and find a typo with words like these, it is likely because the auditory part of our memory has fired off a “wrongness” tag.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Testing Verbal Memory

The first serious tests of verbal memory probably started with Hermann Ebbinghaus. He made up a list of over 2000 invented words he called “sinnlosen Silben” (senseless syllables).

Ebbinghaus memorized these words and tracked how many repetitions he needed to remember them. He also tracked their rate of decay, which lead to the discovery of the now famous forgetting curve.

Unfortunately, many software developers have misunderstood his findings and created a plethora of “spaced repetition apps” that promise to help you learn faster. Some people swear by Anki, but as Postman and Greenbloom remind us is Verbal Learning and memory, Ebbinghaus was not testing repeated exposure to information and memory. He was testing deliberate practice of memorized information using what we now call active recall.

You can literally test the difference yourself by using a variety of memory techniques, especially the ancient memory techniques that pre-date Ebbinghaus.

Beyond that, verbal memory is often tested by scientists who use Bayesian prediction models. Such testing helps scientists know more about how young people learn and comprehend compared to older people, for example.

Examples of Verbal Memory

There are many examples of verbal memory. Each example breaks down to:

Volume (the amount of verbal information you can retain)Duration (how long you can listen and recall verbally related information)Encoding (how fast your working memory needs to place verbal information into long term memory)Decoding (how quickly you can recall verbally related information)

Here are some examples of where verbal memory plays a strong role.

One: Conference Interpreting

Conference interpreters listen long and hard to what people are saying. They not only understand and remember what people say in real time. They also translate the information.

Conference interpreting draws on other levels of memory as well, such as explicit memory and implicit memory. Although there are differences between these two kinds of memory, in other ways they strongly relate.

Two: Translating Symbols

Remember when I told you that verbal memory involves receiving auditory stimulus and responding to it?

This isn’t always the case. Sometimes your visual memory and your iconic memory get involved too.

Have a look at this picture:

Why does your brain know how to respond by saying, “I love you too”?

Because as soon as your visual memory and iconic memory interpret the symbol, the words come to your mind. Often they are out of your mouth before you even have a chance to think about it.

Three: Obeying Commands

You do this while operating vehicles and machinery as well. Procedural memory comes into play very quickly when you find yourself squeezing the brake on your bike as soon as you hear someone yell, “Stop!”

Four: Playing Games

Recently, the Magnetic Memory Method community played Memory Detective, a memory improvement game I created for people interested in learning and using memory techniques.

Although the game involved several pictures, I often asked questions and gave verbal clues.

Not only did the people playing Memory Detective have a lot of fun. They told me they also learned a lot about how mnemonic devices work.

And the best part is that science has shown playing games like this is very useful for improving verbal memory, especially in adults.

There are many other memory games that will help exercise your verbal memory, so keep an eye out for the ones that involve a lot of listening and speaking.

Five: Language Learning

Few other things exercise your verbal recognition than learning a new language. This is because becoming fluent practices stimulus and response frequently.

Sure, you can get pretty far learning a language with Netflix, but realistically, you need 2-5 hours speaking practice with a native in order to truly flex your verbal memory enough to get substantial results.

Six: Pi Day

Here’s one of my favorite verbal learning examples of all time.

For Pi Day, my student Marno Hermann memorized 1200 digits of pi. As a result, he established a new record in South Africa, the same country Unlimited Memory comes from.

Many people memorize numbers directly from an auditory source. Brad Zupp, Nelson Dellis, Alex Mullen and many more are memory competitors.

During these competitions, someone reads numbers out and the memory competitors memorize them. Moonwalking with Einstein was written by a journalist who reported on such competitions and wound up winning himself.

The best part is that anyone can learn these techniques and get similar results. Even if you don’t become a memory athlete, you’ll get a brain brain workout.

How to Improve Your Verbal Memory

In a word, improving verbal memory comes down to practice.

What kinds of practice? At least these kinds:

Serial learningExtended serial learningPaired-association learningFree recall learning

In all of the verbal memory examples I gave above, we’ve already seen these practice activities at play.

But let’s look deeper at some specific activities you can do.

Memorize Vocabulary

You can readily get in some serious serial learning practice by memorizing vocabulary lists.

Personally, I like to practice with a foreign language dictionary rather than a software. But there are certainly tons of programs that will pump out lists for you.

If you want to replicate the Ebbinghaus nonsense syllable activity, you can use this one from Uni Saarland in Germany where I used to teach.

Memorize And Sing Lyrics

If serial learning involves memorizing a list of words, extended learning is the same thing extended to sentences.

And one of the most fun and easy ways to exercise your verbal memory in an extended way involves memorizing songs. Here’s a tutorial on how to do it, including information related to the notes themselves.

Remember: It’s extended practice because it involves both entire sentences, and entire verses.

Play Word Games

Of all the brain exercises out there, the simplest for improving verbal memory involve word pairs.

Get a friend and just start listing out words, asking them to supply either the opposite or whatever comes to mind.

So if someone says “sky,” the other person says “earth.” Or if you say, “banana,” your partner can pair with the category. In this case, that would be “fruit.”

Not only will this game exercise your verbal memory, it’s also silly and fun.

List Games

Free-recall involves listing out as many things as you can with no specific order.

For example, you can list out all the states in the USA that start with the letter A. The order doesn’t matter, just that you name as many as you can.

It’s actually more challenging than it seems, even if you already know how to memorize the States.

Other versions of this kind of free recall would involve naming as many composers, artists, authors and other celebrities as you can.

We use this kind of activity a lot in the world of memory improvement, so if you’d like more listing exercises, grab my free memory improvement kit:

It will help you conquer so many verbal memory and verbal learning activities.That’s because it provides you with superior memory skills. And fast.

This course also connects you to some of the cool memory techniques that involve numbers and the alphabet, like:

Number rhymesThe Major SystemPAO SystemPegwords… and more.Give A Speech

Of all the ways to improve your verbal memory, I think learning how to memorize a speech and delivering it is the best.

Not only does it give your mouth a real workout. It also gives you feedback from the audience that helps you improve your next one.

Remember:

Verbal memory is all about reception and response. What finer way to exercise it than to talk to others and hear what they have to say?

Verbal Memory Mastery

So what do you say?

You now have a clear explanation of what verbal memory is, a detailed set of examples and multiple ways to improve it.

Are you ready to get out there and make the most out of this incredible aspect of your mind?

I know I sure am, and if you’re curious about my own skills in this area, check out my TEDx Talk. It gives you proof of concept, in more than one language too.

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

How to Avoid Falling Asleep While Reading & Fully Recall Any Book

If you want to know how to not fall asleep while reading, here’s what you don’t need:

You don’t need another post telling you not to read in bed.

The fact of the matter is that I read in bed often. I love it and have some strategies to share that will allow you to do the same.

Without feeling guilty about it.

That said, reading in bed is not always an ideal strategy.

In reality, any time you rely on just one strategy, reading and understanding will always evade you.

To stop feeling sleepy while reading, you need to combine a small number of reading techniques.

These techniques are easy to learn and match with the specific type of reading you’re doing.

I learned to combine strategies over eleven years as a university student and ten years as a professor.

As an independent researcher I continue to read massive amounts of material to this day.

And sleepiness simply isn’t an issue.

So if you’re ready for my best reading and comprehension tactics that literally push sleepiness away on autopilot, let’s dive in.

“Why Does Reading Make Me Sleepy?” – The Surprising Answer

A lot of people think there’s something wrong with them when they fall asleep while reading.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let me spell this out loud and clear:

Reading is not natural.

It is a learned skill based on artificial technologies of alphabets and books created by humans.

This simple fact means…

No one is born with a brain adapted to reading books. Not only that, but what we call a “book” is not a fixed thing. It’s always changing and you can see that change in this brief history of books.

Moreover, the human eye is optimized for scanning environments and faces, not words on paper or screens. This is why we can hang out at the beach all day without eye strain, but quickly get tired while reading on the beach.

Other Reasons You Get Sleepy While Reading

Of course, there are other reasons you might get sleepy while reading. You could be:

HungoverLacking focused goalsSuffering the effects of poor diet and low fitnessStruggling with an illness, stress or painOverworking while reading due to poor vocabulary (which is easy to increase)

Or it could be a mixture of these factors. I remember when I was in university I suffered depression, poor diet, chronic pain and poor fitness at the same time.

Not only would I fall into hibernations that lasted entire days during this time, but I could barely bring the pages I was looking at into visual focus. It was only until I started applying the tactics you’re about to discover that I started to see improvement.

One of the first things I needed to do, however, was to categorize the different types of reading I was doing.

Types of Reading And Their Demands

We read for many reasons:

To pass examsPersonal learning projectProfessional researchLiesure

All of them can be pleasurable, and sometimes we read strictly for pleasure.

But as Beatrice Mikulecky points out in her books Reading Power and More Reading Power, your eyes can still get tired when reading for fun.

Her answer?

Practice reading more. The more you read, the stronger your eyes will get. And the stronger they are, the less easily they’ll grow tired.

Likewise, you can train your skills by practicing:

Skimming and scanningNon-pseudoscientific subvocalization tacticsLegitimate techniques for reading faster

In sum, reading is a set of trained activities and we need to do it in different ways depending on the kind of book and the exact goal of our reading.

So if you keep asking, “Why do I fall asleep while reading?” you can put the mystery to rest. Reading tires your eyes out no matter how much practice you get. All the more so if you have some of the issues we just discussed.

But even if you have some of those issues (I still have chronic pain, for example), there are strategies that can keep you awake. So let me start sharing them with you now.

How to NOT Fall Asleep While Reading (And Also Actually Remember What You Read)

As we go through these strategies, there’s no particular order of importance.

Each and every one is useful, and it’s up to you to explore them.

Also, always consider context. Sometimes it’s cool to use reading to help you fall asleep, for example. But generally, we want to keep Mikulecky’s larger point in mind:

Reading, even reading for pleasure, is a trained skill.

The sooner you start training yourself, the sooner you’ll find ways to keep yourself awake while reading in a way that creates excitement and energy.

These tips have helped me for a very long time and I hope they help you too.

One: Don’t Read. Hunt.

As I mentioned, we are born with brains evolved to track the environment and scan faces.

So why don’t we apply those natural and inherent abilities to our reading?

Have a look at this image:

All of those books belong to a specific category.

I “hunted” for them and took them from the shelf. Not a bunch of random books, but content specific books. Then, just as if I was scanning for the most nourishing food, I plowed through these books intentionally with the mental attitude of a hunter.

This involves adopting a particular posture. Have a look at this image:

Notice how I keep my pile of books to the side, but am sitting up and looking down at just one book.

There’s really no way to fall asleep while sitting like this.

And the hunter attitude really matters. Some of the science on adapting a mental image like this has been provided by Nir Eyal, who joined us on this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.

Two: Remove Energy Draining Distractions

Speaking of Nir Eyal, his book is called Indistractable. It’s great, but one thing it doesn’t talk about his how draining noise and light can be.

If you want to keep your eyes sharp and fresh for reading, it sounds weird, but reducing noise can help.

Not just while you’re reading, but throughout the day.

So if you know that you have a bunch of heavy reading to do during the evening, consider wearing earplugs throughout the day if you can.

I share more powerful tips related to great study locations and give you my absolute best tip for ear plugs.

Focus also on how you can reducing other distractions. For example, I used to have quite a few dramatic relationships.

Choosing your friends and romantic partners wisely can do a lot to make sure you have the energy you need while reading.

There’s also something called misophonia, which scientists have shown can create a wide range of energy-draining emotions.

Without education on these matters, you could wind up always being tired while reading. But now you have a massive clue that will help you reduce the issue.

Three: The Pinch Technique

If you’re a serious learner like I am, you need to get through some heavy and daunting books.

That’s why one of my favorite focus strategies for reading is the Pinch Technique.

It’s simple.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed by so much reading, I chunk it down by physically feeling how many pages I have left to go in a particular chapter.

This works when reading in bed or anywhere.

I know it seems silly, but it helps me tremendously, especially when I cannot avoid reading while tired.

Four: Be Patient with Boring Books

What makes a book boring anyway?

Usually it’s one of or a combination of a few things:

It’s badly writtenYou don’t have the background prerequisites to follow the book’s message or theoretical basisYou may have vocabulary issues, which I also come across sometimes (and that’s why I’m always improving my vocabulary)

In addition to vocabulary at the level of individual words, there’s also what you might call “terminological vocabulary” or nomenclature. You might also come across challenging charts and diagrams like this:

For example, one of my big learning projects right now as I prepare to write another installment in my Memory Detective series of novels is learning all about linguistics and constructed languages.

I keep coming across terms like functional load, syllable weight, and experiential liminality. Yikes!

I know what each of the words in those phrases means, but I don’t know yet much about what the phrases themselves mean.

But learning them and committing them to memory is like investing in future energy. Through pattern recognition while reading, I feel awake and alive when I see them in the future.

I believe you will too, and it really just takes a bit of patience with boring books. And a bit of patience with yourself too.

Five: Read Aloud

I was required to read James Joyce’s Ulysses for my first field exam in 2004. It’s one of the biggest and most boring books I’ve ever read.

It was a dark Canadian winter, my clinical depression was heavy to the point I was worried I would not survive, and I was not in good health at all.

But I was devoted to passing this first important exam in my PhD, something that was just not going to be possible without knowledge of that book and many others related to Modernism.

So to help my tired mind and body, I listened to Ulysses on cassette with the book in my hands. There was no other way because back then, YouTube wasn’t even a thing, let alone the treasure trove of audiobooks we have online now.

There were many other books where I could not find even on cassette. So I read them aloud myself and often used a micro-cassette recorder so I could listen back to key passages, especially the tricky ones.

I read tricky passages aloud to this day. It not only helps with concentration and comprehension, but it’s a sure-fire way to keep myself awake. I’m confident it will work for you too.

Six: Multisensory Visualization

Nothing keeps you more engaged and awake than comprehending through multisensory visualization.

The process is easy and you can do it while in bed:

Instead of passively reading, you actively put the words into motion.

Typically, this is done by assigning mnemonic images. It’s one of the memory techniques used by our ancestors and I’m sure it helped them keep alert while reading too.

The trick is to make sure that the associations you are using are truly multisensory, which is why I recommend the exercises in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

Does this tactic require a bit of setup and practice?

Sure, but I’ve seen many people pick up the skills in a weekend or less, and you can check out their stories for yourself.

Seven: Ask Questions

Constant questioning can certainly feel tiring, but it can also generate more energy and enthusiasm when asking philosophical questions.

Do your questions have to be philosophical as you read?

No, but I do recommend that you question just about everything. Not only will this process of questioning help keep you away.

It will also help you understand a lot more of what is going on.

Some standard questions I use include:

What else does this point connect to?Who else says something like this?If this point is correct, who benefits?What is the author missing here?Why is this point valid?What could make this point stronger?

The more you question, the more unique and interesting questions will arise.

Eight: Sleep Without Guilt

Sometimes we should stop trying to figure how to not fall asleep while reading.

Depending on your age, you will likely remember a lot more if you get plenty of sleep after reading.

As scientists have shown, sleep helps you consolidate memories. This means that reading a bit and taking a nap can be beneficial, not just for reading, but also implicit and explicit memory functioning overall.

And it bears noting that when you’re well-rested, you’re much less likely to fall asleep.

Nine: Build a “Magnetic Index” While Reading

Many “speed reading” courses (like this one) talk about using a pointer.

Personally, I don’t and would rather train my eyes to follow a line without a pencil getting between my eyes and the page.

However, there are some key ways I use a pencil while reading.

One of them is to take quick notes. I use this technique a lot while reading in bed, where I do not keep notes using devices or even my beloved journals.

The technique also helps me stay awake, and it’s part of the “hunting” mindset we discussed before.

One way I ensure I do not fall asleep while reading is to build what I call a “Magnetic Index.”

I call my approach the “Magnetic Index” technique. It’s a clean and efficient way to keep engaged while also avoiding marking up beautiful books with all kinds of underlining and highlighting.

All you do is put the page number and some keywords related to the key ideas. Later, you can find them. This fast process helps with recalling all of the key details from any book. And it will help you brain make connections that bring up even more details you haven’t made note of.

This technique supplements but does not replace the advanced flashcard technique I share in How to Memorize a Textbook.

Ten: Abandon Boring Books with Caution

People like Scott Young talk about abandoning books early and often.

Although I don’t disagree outright, I think it’s horrible advice in a lot of contexts.

I don’t know what kind of reader you want to be, but I want to be as thorough and complete as possible.

I do skim through books and read them out of order, but overall, I push through big and challenging books precisely because I want to be the kind of person who enjoys foundational knowledge.

That way, it’s possible to see things no one else sees and make connections no one else makes.

The question is:

How can developing stick-to-it-ness help you keep awake while reading?

The answer is simple:

Use a Memory Palace.

This technique, when used fully and completely, helps you established webs of knowledge in your mind that increase your engagement. This happens because the more you know, the more you can know.

I realize this statement sounds abstract, but you’ll experience it soon enough. And it will help you determine with a greater degree of accuracy when it makes sense to abandon books and when it doesn’t.

If you’d like to learn this technique, please grab my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

It will help you develop this skill.

And stronger memory will automatically translate to more alertness, focused attention and understanding that is free from memory biases that hold so many learners back.

Make no mistake, we all have cognitive biases, so to rid yourself of them, I’d suggest staying up late to learn all about them soon.

Stop Falling Asleep While Reading

As we’ve seen, the goal is a bit more nuanced than simply stopping the issue from happening.

In reality, you can read in bed, provided you set yourself up for success. I’ve got a PhD and two MAs and read in bed all the time.

I hope my tips have helped you discover not only how to keep alert while reading, but also to remember and understand more.

And I hope you now understand that feeling sleepy while reading isn’t your fault. It’s normal. And provided you structure your time and environment appropriately, it’s actually okay to fall asleep while reading.

Sleeping isn’t the issue. It’s timing, structure and a personal commitment to exploring better tactics over time.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to get out there and read with greater alertness?

Memory Bias: 5 Ways To Stop Your Mind From Deceiving You

Suffering from memory bias is very common.

As is suffering from cognitive biases overall.

Many critical thinkers, psychologists and philosophers have pointed out that the key to living a happier life is to reduce every negative cognitive bias that you possibly can.

Is doing so a difficult mission?

Potentially.

But when you understand the variety of memory biases out there, nothing could be easier.

And on this page, I’m sharing descriptions, examples and resources that will help you reduce their impact in your life.

Can I share something weird with you before we get started, though?

Here it is:

Not all cognitive biases are bad.

Our brains simply must take shortcuts in order to survive.

Yet, we can develop an awareness of what these shortcuts are and why the brain is taking them.

With that level of “meta consciousness” established, we can lead better lives.

So if you’re ready to understand what these biases are and benefit from the useful ones while reducing the impact of the damaging memory biases, let’s dive in.

What Is A Memory Bias?

Put simply, a memory bias is a mental operation that usually takes place unconsciously.

It’s like a shortcut, often called a “heuristic” by psychologists like Daniel Khaneman in landmark books like Thinking, Fast and Slow.

There are many kinds of biases, and it’s important to note that psychologists give them names by way of bringing clarity to what the human mind is and how it works. It’s like implicit and explicit memory, two terms that help us see the difference between memories we draw upon consciously and those we draw upon unconsciously.

Many memory biases are unconscious, which may be part of why we sometimes use the phrase “asleep at the wheel” to describe how people take mental shortcuts that lead to less than ideal outcomes.

And that’s important to understand. Most of our memory biases are unconscious. They’re difficult to detect as a result.

Yet, they can powerfully force you to associative negativity to neutral aspects of life.

For example, you may have heard someone say they’re a “burnt child.”

I just said this myself. Earlier today I met a marketing agent representative and she asked me if I had any hesitations about working with her agency.

“Yes,” I explained. “I have a history of working with companies and individuals that made huge promises but failed to deliver.”

My leaning toward the negative experiences shines poorly on this new company who wants my business. That’s because my memory is delivering up a bias towards being let down.

Counterintuitively, this company could be the best possible agency to help me, and I might never know if my memory bias wins and I decide to decline their offer.

On the positive side, you can think of companies you’ve used for years and would never change. That is the positive side of a memory bias, and it can keep you in good stead.

Unless this positivity bias prevents you from leaving a company because you’re stuck with previous memories of good service. Your mind could be “tricking” you into holding on longer than you should because it tells you things will get better.

So the question is:

How do we spot these biases and reduce or eliminate the bad ones from our lives? The first step is to get more familiar with what they are and how they work.

5 Types of Memory Bias You Need To Master

As we go through this list, I’ll share with you references and examples.

If you want to learn them all and remember the details, I suggest learning how to use a Memory Palace. It’s a fun and cool way to learn faster and retain more.

Also, note that these memory biases are in no particular order of importance. In reality, they’re all important and they all influence each and every person in different ways.

Do all biases relate to memory?

I believe so. That’s because they’re all taking place in the brain which involves many types of memory, ranging from procedural memory, episodic memory, autobiographical memory, explicit memory, implicit memory, prospective memory and more.

With that in mind, let’s look at the most key biases related to memory directly. And let’s discuss how to use them well or reduce their impact.

One: Memories Are Not Recordings

A lot of my students in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass tell me that they want eidetic memory. This is the scientific term for what people often call photographic memory.

Therein lies the rub.

Memory is more like a process than a photograph, yet we are biased to think of our memories as picture perfect.

Memory is like neither a movie or a photograph. It’s a process that is always changing.

Dr. Gary Small likens our memory to a neighborhood filled with traffic and people moving around from house to house. Our memories literally travel around the brain over time, just as humans move around the world. And just as we change when we travel, our memories change as they move around the brain.

Yet, we have a bias towards thinking of our memories as static and unchanging. This simple is not true, expect perhaps when it comes to semantic facts, and that’s assuming we remember information about words and numbers correctly.

In reality, memories can be implanted and they transform all the time without us even knowing.

Using memory techniques frequently is a great way to help keep your facts straight, but we all need to be open to the fact that we could be wrong. And when we are, we need to use those same techniques to help us update the information.

Two: Bad Habits Don’t Necessarily Fade

I’ll never forget the day I realized that I am my father’s son.

I’d been meditating for a number of years and finally gained enough to detachment to observe myself dispassionately much of the time.

I noticed that I would freak out a lot like he did. Especially when I followed in his footsteps of drinking too much, which gave me a beergut.

Extinction bias happens when you commit to quitting a habit. It can force you to return to it even stronger than before.

I’m not talking about throwing a tantrum, necessarily. It’s more about finding it very difficult to handle things not going smoothly.

Then I would commit to not being like my dad, only to find myself… being just like my dad when I failed at this commitment.

Why does this happen?

Psychologists call this phenomenon an “extinction burst.” One way of looking at it has to do with how the values of our parents rub off on us. Dr. Nick Bendit has related how this happens to us in relation to implicit memory in his research.

I personally respond a lot to his research findings because even though I’ve found great peace over the years (as reported in The Victorious Mind), trying to avoid these habits engrained deeply from birth remains incredibly tricky.

As an exercise, you can journal for self improvement outcomes to help discover where you might have habits that seem to get even stronger after you commit to removing them.

And don’t worry. As reported on Psychology Today, even if the solution to these bad habits might involve “giving in,” it doesn’t mean giving up. And you can really can improve by applying self reflection exercises and simply understanding that this memory bias exists.

In my case, it’s not all bad. Far from it.

When I explored more of my father’s character in me, I also found more inner strength to draw upon. He’s a survivor, after all, and tremendously skilled and creative person. His accomplishments are astonishing and journaling about it helped me realize that and let bygones be bygones.

Three: Recency Bias

If you’ve ever heard that some people have a memory bias toward items at the end of a list, this notion is often true.

Recency bias causes some of us to take into account more recent events. It can be so strong that the brain practically wipes out years of data, not just the details at the beginning of a list.

I have this bias quite badly myself. Often when I look at how my business is doing, my brain takes into account only the past three weeks. It’s like it erases the entire history of my work and I start to freak out.

The best solution for this one is to know what it is and feed yourself with the larger context. It will help unlock your memory from its focus on just the past few weeks. Keeping a memory journal is a key strategy that will give you rapid access to more information, something Johaness Mallow and I discussed recently on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.

You can also reexamine your goals. For example, if you find yourself only focusing on your most recent results on an academic exam, you may benefit by looking at the larger picture.

Once, while I was a graduate student, my dissertation supervisor told me that the job situation looked bleak. Although I was frustrated by his statement and could not deny the evidence, I looked at the big picture.

By realizing that things were indeed in decline recently, I decided not to abandon my doctoral studied. Although I no longer work as a university professor, deciding to finish was very important for my mental well-being and gave me valuable skills and credentials that have served many times since.

But had I let his recency bias influence me to quit, I would have missed out on so many positive experience.

Four: Hindsight Bias

“I told you so.”

Have you ever said that to someone?

Chances are, your memory is playing tricks on you. This is because hindsight bias causes us to believe we knew something all along, when in reality, the result has distorted our memory of the bigger picture.

Hindsight bias is negative when people say “I told you so.” They often don’t realize that their memory changed their perception of reality. This bias can have positive aspects, however.

In my life, I’ve experienced this in a somewhat positive way. True, this example somewhat strokes my ego, but check it out and tell me what you think.

When I finally decided to write for a living, once I started seeing success, I had the feeling that if I had only started sooner, I would have been able to enjoy this career sooner.

Now, this feeling is probably a distortion. The more likely scenario is that I probably wasn’t mature enough to make it as a professional writer. But my hindsight bias that I was always “destined” to write for my living actually helps drive me forward and continue doing it.

Overall, however, this bias is not great. To fix hindsight bias, you can think through “counterfactuals.” This means considering how things could have been different, as I did in the example above. Scientists have validated that this approach helps avoid this bias, or at least have clarity around it.

Five: One Example Is Rarely Enough

The availability bias is a mental shortcut, and a particularly nasty one.

You see it whenever someone tells you, “None of my friends have this problem.”

Or, you might hear about a crime in a neighborhood you want to move into. Because you’ve found one example, the availability bias digs the impression deep into your mind that this particular place is dangerous.

A major time this happened to me took place shortly before I moved to Brisbane. I read in the news that a year before we made the move, someone had set a bus driver on fire.

It’s a really hard bias to deal with because instantly my mind decided that Brisbane must be a very dangerous place.

But because I knew about this bias, I knew that this one case was no way to make such a decision. And as it turns out, Brisbane is actually great.

There’s an old story about Socrates meeting two visitors to Athens that illustrates this bias in a different way.

As the story goes, one traveler asked Socrates what Athens was like. Before answering, Socrates asked, “What’s it like where you come from?”

The traveler said, “Oh, it’s noisy, people are rude and always in a hurry.” Socrates replied: “Yes, it’s like that here too.”

When another traveler approached Socrates with a question about Athens, Socrates also asked his question before answering. In this case, the traveler said, “Where I come from, the people are friendly, help each other and do all they can to lead great lives.’

“Yes,” Socrates said, “it’s like that here too.”

Does It Matter That We All Suffer From Memory Bias?

As the story with Socrates illustrates, we’re all biased and more than one thing can be true at the same time without contradiction.

But it really helps when we can become aware of these biases and reduce their negative impact in our lives. And philosophy is another important tool that can help us in addition to generally learning about these psychological quirks we all share.

Our biases can be beneficial too, such as when journaling creates self awareness and change.

And it is always good when we know what’s going on in our minds and can self-reflexively correct our behaviors.

So we all have every reason to study multiple biases, commit them to memory and work to minimize their impact in our lives, while utilizing them when they’re useful.

If you need help with the memory part, please sign up for my FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

It will help you learn all of the biases we talked about today much faster.

And when your memory starts bringing them to mind as you navigate the world, you’ll enjoy a much better life than you probably ever imagined possible.

The best part?

Your memory biases won’t distort or exaggerate a thing!

The 11 Best Places to Study (And How to Study at Each One)

So you’re looking for a public place to study.

Tricky challenge, isn’t it?

I went to university for eleven years before I finally got my PhD. That means I’ve faced every issue you can imagine when it comes to discovering the best and quietest study locations.

I’ve overcome every obstacle and barrier under the sun.

And later, when I was a professor myself, my skills at focusing in a variety of places paid off big time. I still use these skills as an author to this day.

I’ll share a bit about my current study habits with you too. Because, quite frankly, I wish I’d known what I found out as a professional much earlier.

But more on those points later.

Let’s talk about finding learning locations that you can rely on. I’ll pile on some of my best learning tips as we go.

The 11 Best Places to Study (and How to Actually Study There)

As we go through this list, there’s no particular order of importance.

But I’ll stress one point:

Any place you can study is the best place.

Variety is the key at the end of the day, as is training yourself to focus your mind at will.

One: The Biggest Library You Can Find

Libraries aren’t necessarily quiet places to study. That’s why the bigger they are the better. You will have multiple options to choose from if the part you’re in starts getting noisy.

Multi-floor libraries are especially good, as is moving regularly. Not only can you get the scientifically proven benefits of moving around. You’ll also have a chance to practice interleaving.This process can be as simple as flipping through a few other books so that your brain absorbs the main topic with greater depth and speed.

Finally, large libraries tend to have better trained staff.

Make no mistake:

A good librarian can help you solve many problems. I’ve not only drawn upon the help of librarians around the world. I’ve worked in three libraries myself, once as an assistant for the head research librarian at York University.

Librarians are smart people and they can point out resources you’d never find on your own, which makes your research easier and much more fun.

Two: Clubs & Associations

While at York University, I became the president of the English Undergraduate Student Association for one simple reason:

It came with an office. I also had access to multiple parts of the campus that regular students did not.

When you’re part of a university club or association, you may be able to do the same.

The trick is to tie these activities into the topic you’re studying as much as possible. For example, every guest I invited during my presidency was related to an area of study or assignment I was working on.

And make no mistake: When you can shift the activities of the organization you choose to participate in, you’re getting more than good places to study. You’re getting fantastic experiences for your resume and reference letters for the future.

Three: Parks With Statues & Buildings

Whenever it’s warm outside, I like to study in parks. Back in Toronto, I loved studying in the Allan Gardens because I could use one of its buildings and a statue as a Memory Palace.

It works simple:

You chart out a journey on the statue or use an ancient memory technique taught by Giordano Bruno. I did this with the Robbie Burns statue by creating 30 stations:

By selecting only the parts of the body that come in pairs, you get 30 stations in total. You can also use the pedestal if you like, but in this case I did not.

Once you have the statue mocked out with stations, you just need to apply some mnemonic imagery to each of the stations. That way, the information has a place it can stick.

The only downsides to studying in parks is that the weather can change in a flash. Traffic noise can pick up during certain times a day and you never know when a demonstration might arise.

Other than that, they are by far my favorite places to study. I still study out doors, often for weeks at a time without missing a day.

Four: Buses & Trains

Sure, they can be noisy. But I used to play in bands and always had ear plugs with me.

They’re cheap and you can find them at just about any drugstore or pharmacy.

The main downside is that you have to keep an eye on the destination, but I often set a timer so I could feel my phone buzz in my pocket in good time to gather my stuff in time to depart. Or I would tell the driver that I would be wearing ear plugs and ask for a reminder. Many drivers are perfectly happy to help you out and you can sit close to them. That makes it easier for them to alert you.

Later, when I taught at Rutgers, I found myself living in Manhattan. I had to commute all the way from Washington Heights to New Brunswick in New Jersey.

I would study for my dissertation on the way in and grade student assignments on the way back. More often than not, I got all of my grading done before reaching Penn Station.

Five: Rooftops

When I lived in Vancouver, the “secret garden” on top of the Vancouver Public Library was one of my favorite study places. I also use to hang out and study with my friend Jen on her rooftop to read books and discuss what we were studying.

There are all kinds of little places like these around and all you have to do is ask about them or search the Internet.

Six: Grad Lounges

One of the reasons I learned so much at university is because I hung out in the grad lounge. Back at York, it was called the Seventh Floor Grad Lounge. Now it’s on the ground floor.

Places like these are great for studying at certain times of day. You’ll often hear graduate advisors helping their students and get inspiring ideas from overhearing their meetings.

Or you’ll talk to some of the star faculty yourself. I sat with Robin Wood many times, a highly regarded film scholar during his time.

Frankly, between him and the man who eventually became my own graduate supervisor, I probably learned more talking with these guys than from all of my courses combined.

The only problem with these locations is they can get noisy in the mid-afternoon and stay noisy until late at night. Budget your time for this happening.

Seven: Cafe Circuits

Just as you want big libraries so you can move around, having a “circuit” of cafes is tremendously useful. In Toronto during my university years and later in Berlin while writing and studying German, I charted out a robust map of cafes.

Rather than study in just one, I would spend approximately forty minutes to an hour. Then I would move on to the next.

The routine gave my brain plenty of focus time and an opportunity for mind wandering. If you’re concerned that you’ll be losing time while walking between cafes, Rest, Mindwandering and Stolen Focus are three science-packed books that beg to differ.

The main thing you have to watch out for is not burning out your adrenals. Coffee can boost focus and attention, but too much of it has a negative effect.

Eight: Some Bookstores

There are so many great bookstores. But not all of them are suited for studying.

It can take some hunting, but some of them have cafes in them. Or they have open spaces with nice chairs and tables.

Used bookstores in particular can be especially useful. They have older books that you probably wouldn’t stumble across otherwise. If you know how to read faster, you’ll readily get a lot out of them.

Nine: Closets

Okay, this is going to sound kind of weird.

But during part of my studies, I suffered bad clinical depression.

Noises used to drive me bonkers, as did too much light. “Where can I go to study?” I would fret.

Then, suddenly a memory dawned on me and I returned to something I used to love doing as a kid.

See, we had a hard curfew when I was young. So I would sneak one of my dad’s flashlights into my room. To hide the light, I would crawl into my closet and read until three a.m. or later.

I remembered this when I was struggling during university. Tossing a bunch of pillows and blankets into the closet and propping up the biggest flashlight I could find provided me with maximum comfort and focus while reading.

Ten: Study Groups

Many libraries have rooms for study groups. You just need to book them in advance.

You can often get them just for yourself, but it’s great if you can get a few people together who are focused on a similar topic.

Obviously, you’ll also need private and quiet study time. And you can get a ton more out of studying with others if you’re slightly prepped.

My favorite study group in grad school was hosted by my Hebrew tutor and reach of us read a different article in advance. Then we’d present what we’d read. This mean getting exposure to a much larger pool of knowledge than any of us could have on our own.

Eleven: Places Where You Can Trust Others

“Hell is other people,” as the philosopher Sartre said.

Although that’s a bit of an extreme way to look at things, let’s call a spade a spade:

One of the biggest problems learners face is getting people to keep quiet and eliminate distractions.

To do that, you sometimes have to draw upon a kind of commander-in-chief aspect of your personality.

Make it clear to people that you’re not to be disturbed and they will tend to respect your request. And realize that there is a hidden, yet massive benefit to alerting people in this way:  You have to schedule your own time in order to schedule their “no interruptions” periods.

You should also block off certain spaces.

I learned a lot from my friend’s mom. She was a professor and had a simple sign on her home office door. It said, “writing.”

And when that word was facing you, no knocking or talking was allowed.

Simple, yet effective.

The Best Public Place To Study

The absolute best public place to study is the one you:

Practice studying inGet the best results inTest and experiment with over time

This set of conditions means that many places can be the “best.”

And my philosophy has always been to do whatever it takes to get the job done. That’s why I often moved around and continue doing so.

Even when revising my books, which is a kind of study, I will get them printed and read them in different locations. It’s so key to observing a maximum amount of details, rather than the minimum.

As I shared, ear plugs are key, but here’s one step better.

In 2012, I invested in custom ear plugs. These are the kind you can put filters in.

They’re so comfortable and you can still hear your surroundings. The noise just interferes with you less.

It takes a bit of time to get them fitted and they’re not exactly cheap. But they last for years, travel small and make it possible to study just about anywhere without any distractions.

So there you have it. My best tips for finding incredible study spots.

Why not get out there and start experimenting so you can find yours?

How to Use a Memory Palace for Studying: 7 Simple Tips

Nothing could be easier than using a Memory Palace for studying.

The problem is that you have to learn how to use one correctly first.

But is that really a problem?

After all, you have to learn how to tie your shoes and floss your teeth, don’t you?

The cool thing is, once you can walk with those shoes on, you can run.

The same thing goes with the Memory Palace technique.

If you’re willing to learn the foundational skills first, you’ll be able to apply the technique to memorizing anything.

And I do mean anything. I have yet to see a topic or information type for which the Memory Palace technique cannot provide tremendous learning advantages.

Ready?

Let’s dive in!

Using a Memory Palace for Studying: 7 Tips to Memorizing Anything Fast

As we go through these tips, please understand that not all of them are in order.

But the first one most definitely is.

And if you’re reading this, you already understand that it’s a must.

One: Use Memory Palaces Correctly

I see so many people treating the Memory Palace technique as if it’s a “set and forget” treasure house.

There’s a few good reasons people get this impression. For one thing, that’s basically how St. Augustine described the technique.

As he wrote in his Confessions:

And I come to the fields and spacious palaces of my memory, where are the treasures of innumerable images, brought into it from things of all sorts perceived by the senses.

The problem with Augustine’s description is simple:

He makes it seem as if you just file information away as if Memory Palaces are the medieval equivalent of a hard drive.

No, no and a thousand times no. 

In order to make the technique work, you want at the very least to add the elements of active recall.

Briefly, you need to do these three things within your Memory Palaces:

Make sure all of your mnemonic imagery is personalized and use as much variety as possible.Don’t cheat when reviewing. Push your mind a little to call back the information.Use the Recall Rehearsal patterns that are central to the Magnetic Memory Method

This final point is so essential. You cannot just encode information and expect memories to form.

Rather, you need to recall the information as if you’re “reading” it from the walls of your Memory Palaces, ideally using the different patterns the Memory Palace allows for, including backwards. 

And if you think backwards is a stretch that doesn’t apply to you, Matteo Ricci would surely beg to differ.

Make sure you’re using Recall Rehearsal based on your Memory Palaces. It is literally like “reading” from the walls of your mind, with associations instead of words.

Two: Take Care When Assigning Your Memory Palaces 

Unfortunately, many people follow the advice of people who don’t actually use Memory Palaces for studying.

Look, the memory competitors are impressive. I’ve interviewed many of them on my podcast, including Tony Buzan who created the initial memory competitions.

The problem is that the vast majority of memory competitors have short term goals. Those who have taken on larger learning projects for things like medical school and language learning include Alex Mullen, Nelson Dellis and Joshua Foer. They all put a lot of care into how they select and use locations for their Memory Palace efforts. And you should too.

So what are some quick tips to follow? From what I’ve seen, here’s what matters most:

Simple and small journeys work best, even if you wind up needing a lot of Memory Palaces.Start at the “dead end” instead of at the door. That way you’re leading yourself to an exit and can add more loci later if needed.Don’t worry about “connecting” one Memory Palace to another. This usually wastes time and can be avoided by using Memory Palaces correctly.Only worry about reusing Memory Palaces after you can successfully use at least 10-20 with predictable positive results.Consider using the alphabetical method so you can link Memory Palaces with Bridging Figures. This technique is not always helpful, but you’ll be glad you’ve got it when you need it.Three: Organize the Information Before You Start Encoding It

The Memory Palace technique is generally quite easy for most people who take it seriously.

But what isn’t always so easy is figuring out what main points you need to memorize.

I suggest you get started small and use the technique I share in how to memorize a textbook.

This process will help you start recognizing what counts as a main point faster. And the more you practice how you’re going to place those points in your Memory Palaces gives you the personalization experience that active recall requires in order for you to master these techniques for memory and studying.

It’s really important not to overlook the organization step. As another great memory master from the past named Thomas Aquinas put it so clearly in his Summa Theologica: “the mind favors organization.”

Just as we organize food on a shelf, we can organize information in a Memory Palace. It takes a moment to work out a well-formed Memory Palace, but it’s worth it.

Four: Get Past the Need For Mnemonic Examples A.S.A.P.

I’m sometimes criticized for not giving people enough mnemonic examples in my books and courses.

First of all, this is not true. If anything, I’ve given way too many. There are well over 300 in The Victorious Mind alone.

Secondly, the legendary Harry Loryane says the same thing in Ageless Memory. He’s probably the world’s leading memory expert, so if you can’t take my word for it, you can take his. Even Tony Buzan said Lorayne was the best of the best.

The question is… why is this essential?

As pointed out in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, even students back in 90 B.C.E. were weakened by receiving too many mnemonic examples.

This is because the only true way to make mnemonics that stick is to come up with your own.

The sooner you start doing that, the sooner you’ll be able to apply them and remember what you study and read.

Five: Practice Encoding At Calm Hours (P.E.A.C.H.)

So many people try to “squeeze” their learning in.

Yes, cramming can work once in a while. But it ultimately interferes with effective chunking using the best possible memory hacks.

Here’s who to practice encoding at calm hours:

Don’t reach for a phone or turn on a computer first thing in the morning. Use the time to meditate and then study.Sit with your book or flashcards in a quiet area.Bring the best possible Memory Palace to mind.Use your training with mnemonic images to bring the best possible associations to mind.Place these in the Memory Palace in the way that makes most sense to you.Test in intervals throughout the day, ideally in a Memory Journal.Use Recall Rehearsal while testing.

Moreover, it’s helpful to know your goal. Literally say it out loud: “I am studying history and using my history Memory Palace.”

Then, prepare everything you need the night before. That way, when you show up in the morning, you can dive right in.

If you have multiple topics to study, instead of feeling overwhelmed or getting stuck in decision anxiety, here’s a little tip:

Check in with your body. See if you intuitively have a felt preference. Then go with that.

Or you can do an exercise I learned in The Wise Advocate. Ask which study topic makes you feel more expansive and go with that (as opposed to feeling limited or constrained).

Decision metrics like these can help you loosen up and just get moving. You can also add the relaxation and breathing exercises discussed in The Victorious Mind.

It is critical to be relaxed when using memory techniques for studying, especially the Memory Palace. Make sure to spend at least 10-15 minutes each day stretching, breathing and meditating, ideally in nature.

Six: Treat Your Memory Practice like a Profession

To be honest, the idea of memory techniques for students really doesn’t make that much sense.

I suggest learners think of themselves as entrepreneurs, or at least investors.

Yes, you’re learning and people who learn are called students. But often we use that image of the student to expect less of ourselves.

If you treat the time you’re spending using memory techniques as an investment, you’ll immediately get a much higher return on that investment.

As always, you don’t have to take my word for it. The mental metaphors we choose have been well-proven in Nir Eyal’s research.

Keep in mind too that the Memory Palace is itself a metaphor for what is better called “location-based mnemonics.”

Seven: Test Yourself Frequently

If you do all of the above, you’ll have gotten a very high percentage of your learning material into long term memory.

This outcome means that you won’t have to waste time “looking” into your Memory Palaces as St. Augustine’s description seems to suggest.

The information will just leap to mind.

But to get to this experience of topic mastery even faster, self-testing is essential.

There are a few ways to self-test:

Use the practice questions in your textbooks.Seek out practice exams from program secretaries or online.Make your own practice exams (coming up with your own questions is also a great way to improve your focus when reading).Meet with study partners to quiz each other.Visit your teacher for suggestions and to get tips on self-testing.

Students rarely take the opportunity to meet with their teachers. But that’s what they are there for, so make sure to take advantage of their expertise.

If you find that recalling information is difficult, this is when your Memory Palace efforts will come in handy.

The steps are simple:

Mentally ask which Memory Palace the information was most likely encoded into.Ask what your mnemonic images were doing in that Memory Palace.Don’t fear pushing yourself a bit, but also let yourself relax. Don’t get in a panic.If the information doesn’t come, move on to the next question or take a quick break.When the information arrives, celebrate and write it down.Later, think about how you can improve your use of the techniques so that particular information doesn’t slip your mind in the future.

Generally, however, if you’ve used Recall Rehearsal thoroughly and self-test thoroughly, you shouldn’t have issues on exam day.

Memory and Studying Simply Could Not Be Easier

Sure, it can seem like using a Memory Palace involves a lot of moving parts in the beginning.

But once you’ve learned the technique, it really is like tying your shoes.

The main difference is that we had parents to help us learn how to deal with how to navigate those shoelaces.

But as we grow, we’re more and more on our own when it comes to learning something new.

That’s perfect for the Memory Palace technique, however. It is a technique that works best when used in private study.

Yet, you’re never alone thanks to using proper, mnemonic images. You’ll always have cool friends, family and cultural references to hang out with in your Memory Palaces.

So dive in, enjoy and if you need more help, sign up now for my FREE Memory Improvement Kit. 

It will help you take today’s tips further with four free videos and worksheets. It’ll also inspire you to take action when you see just how many wonderful successes other Magnetic Memory Method students have enjoyed.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to start studying with the Memory Palace technique in a much better way?

15 Ancient Memory Techniques That Can Change Your Life

Frustrated when you read an article about ancient memory techniques that only covers the Greek mnemonic tradition?

Me too.

See, when I first encountered memory techniques through Harry Lorayne and others, they mentioned the Greek tradition in passing.

Lorayne in particular mentioned “old techniques in dusty old books.” But he never got deep into what those techniques were.

So, using my skills as a trained grad student at the time, I went as deep as I could.

Over the years since then, I’ve been talking about how memory techniques are way older than Simonides of Ceos and his “Memory Palace.”

Don’t get me wrong.

The Memory Palace is a profound tool for learning faster and remembering more.

It’s just that it’s not the only approach.

And the ancient world has so much to offer our learning lives right now. Not to mention in the future.

So if you’re ready to discover a much wider range of mnemonic devices and add them to your arsenal, let’s dive in.

Ancient Memory Techniques That Still Work

As we go through this list together, two things:

There’s no particular order of importance here. I’m just laying out all the great techniques I’m aware of from around the world and throughout time.You’ll notice some crossover between these techniques, if not repetition. That’s because all memory techniques appear to be spatial in one form or another. Further, as Giordano Bruno has said in many of his memory books, if anyone thinks long and hard enough about these techniques, they’ll reach the same conclusions.These techniques might seem like they belong to or originate with a particular group. Certainly, everyone should take pride in their history. But because there is so much crossover between these techniques, we should see the common humanity in them and not arrive at some kind of tribalism. 

This is a point made by Tyson Yunkaporta in his excellent book Sand Talk and during our discussion on the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast.

So if you notice some repetition and see universal patterns, I suggest being open to exploring them. I used to dismiss things that seemed repetitive. But over the years I’ve learned that doing so is almost always a mistake. If anything, repetition is difference. And in that difference lies so much to explore and benefit from.

Finally, it’s useful to note that “ancient” can mean many different things. We often use the word to mean “very old.” But more specifically it sometimes used to mean “before the fall of the Roman Empire.” That would rule out, for example, Medieval and Renaissance memory techniques.

For the purposes of this article, I’m not going to exclude either of those periods. Both the Medieval and Renaissance periods definitely count as “very old” in my mind, though I’m certainly interested in your thoughts on this and hope you’ll leave a comment if you think differently.

One: Aboriginal and Indiginous Memory Techniques

There are many Aboriginal and Indiginous memory techniques. Some have caught the interest of scientists and been validated through contemporary testing methods.

These techniques include:

StorySonglinesLukasaMemory spacesHand mnemonics

Songlines are among the most interesting of these ancient memory techniques. As Lynne Kelly describes them in her book, The Memory Code: 

Songlines, or Dreaming Tracks are pathways through the landscape connecting a large number of significant locations in a fixed order.

As she later clarifies in her book, Memory Craft:

Songlines were used to help memorize everything Aboriginal people needed to know about animals, plants, navigation, genealogies, the legal system, ethical expectations… the list goes on and on. The culture was entirely stored in memory.

How to Use a Songline

Songlines are all about being connected to the land. So you might want to start by looking at an actual Songline.

Keep in mind that you can use both the land and the sky to help you construct a Songline. Here’s an example of mine based on the Glass House Mountains:

I assigned this Songline based on a mountain range and used the Songline itself to help me remember the mountains and the ancestral stories about them.

For this particular Songline, I memorized the names and the stories related to the main mountains themselves, Tibrogargan, Beerwah and Coonowrin.

The operation is quite simple: You place associations at predetermined points along the Songline. Then you use the Songline in combination with rules of active recall to usher the information into long term memory.

Two: Abbreviations

According to Eran Katz in Where Did Noah Park the Ark?, abbreviations entered use as mnemonic devices at least as early as circa 132 A.D. 

As Katz explains, coins found during this period contain some of the oldest abbreviations in the form of reminders. Used by the Bar Kochba rebellion against the Romans, the abbreviations reminded the Hebrews of the year and their quest for freedom.

It seems like abbreviations are even older than that, however. Messages carved in stone used them, both to make it faster and easier to encode messages. And probably sometimes for secrecy through cryptography.

Medieval scribes also used lots of special abbreviations in their work, including the pecia system.

These days, abbreviations are used to help us remember the Periodic Table of the Elements and even our to-do lists.

For example, you can make simple abbreviations any time like WALK to help you remember a specific routine:

Walk the dogBuy applesLeave the night light onKiss your partner good night

Today, we use memory techniques based on something like abbreviations all the time. For example, the pegword method allows you to attach an image to each letter of the alphabet, which you can expand in many ways, use along a Songline, and more.

Three: An Ancient Number System

Chances are, you already know about one of the modern memory techniques for memorizing numbers.

But it’s not as common for people to know about the katapayadi. The earliest examples are found in 683 CE, but it’s almost certainly much older than that. I’ve written more extensively about this system in the context of mental exercises, but it’s also a powerful memory technique.

I believe it’s probably the origin of number memory systems we use now like:

Major SystemDominic SystemPAO System

If you want to use the katapayadi, all you need to do is commit the code to memory and start practicing it with the numbers you want to remember.

If you’re an English native speaker, one of the more modern options will probably be easier for you.

Four: Buddhist Memory Techniques

It was 2009 when I first heard Michael Roach talk about how Buddhist practitioners sometimes use their temples to help them memorize long form meditations.

Roach is not always considered a reputable source so I was glad when I encountered basically the same description in the work of Karen Armstrong. If you read her book, you’ll find a very similar idea. And hers is solidly referenced. She also ties it to yoga.

So what’s the idea? 

Simple:

First, you chunk down the different parts of your meditation. Then you place these around the temple where your meditation sessions take place. Michael Roach walked his listeners through one such meditation, and the proof is in the pudding: I still remember the different parts of the meditation very well.

In many ways, this approach is a lot like the Stations of the Cross mnemonic in a church. The main difference is that you’re using your imagination to place images on parts of the building instead of visiting actual stations with permanent images in them.

Five: Ars Notoria

This approach to remembering more has to belong to the weirdest of the bunch.

But as Dr. Justin Sledge and I agree, the Ars Notoria probably helped boost the concentration and focus of its users.

In brief, this memory hack asked you to stare at images and recite the names of angels and other words.

It was eminently practical too because, even if it made some really wild promises, it still encouraged its users to read books and attend lectures.

You might not normally think of going to class and reading books as a kind of memory technique, but actually those activities are mnemonic strategies in their own right.

Six: The Memory Palace Technique

Now we get to the ancient Greek memory techniques. But as you’ve seen, many Indiginous people were already using space as a key mnemonic strategy much deeper into history.

The reason the Greek rendition of the Memory Palace technique has been continuously attributed to them probably comes down to one thing:

How memorable they made its origin story. Whereas songlines are kind of abstract to explain, the story of Simonides of Cos is direct and easy to grasp:

He was giving a speech at a banquet hall. An earthquake tore the place to the ground and he was the only survivor. Because he remembered where everyone was sitting, he was able to help the authorities identify all the bodies.

He was literally recreating their positions in the building using a mental journey. And because this journey took place indoors, the idea of a “Memory Palace” took hold. There’s more to the story than that, including the influence of St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and others, but the story is memorable because of the drama in it.

You may have heard of this technique by many other terms other than Memory Palace:

Journey methodRoman RoomMind PalaceMethod of Loci to name just a few

It’s appeared throughout culture in recent years, most notably in the Sherlock Holmes and Hannibal Lecter stories.

Seven: Parallelism and Enveloping

Have you ever wondered why some song lyrics, poems and scriptures are easier to remember than others?

As explored in The Literary Guide to the Bible, this effect often has to do with two writing techniques in particular.

Parallelism happens when an original thought is repeated several times but each time comes with a different example. You see this throughout the Psalms (which one of my students talks about memorizing), but also lyrics in songs like My House by Lou Read.

Enveloping is similar, but happens when images and ideas presented at the beginning of a piece appear again at the end.

Enveloping may involve straight-up repetition or be done with a twist, as Shakespeare often tantalized us with by ending his sonnets with puzzling phrases that make you rethink everything he said at the beginning of the poem.

As Dave Farrow shared in his episode on my podcast, puns like those used by Shakespeare can be highly memorable.

Eight: The Hand Memory Palace

In Medieval Music and the Art of Memory, Anna Berger details the use of the hand as a mnemonic device. People learning music during this period would transfer knowledge about the musical modes to their hands.

You can also use your hand to help you remember the months of the year.

Or you can use your hand to figure out how many days are in any given month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w11Hu5L-2co

Back to the Aboriginal memory techniques, if you check out my podcast with Tyson Yunkaporta, you can see me using his version of the hand Memory Palace to repeat some of the points made in his book.

For more on using your hand as a Memory Palace, check out The Medieval Craft of Memory and The Book of Memory, both projects by Mary Carruthers.

Nine: Noah’s Ark & Other Ancient Structures

I just mentioned The Medieval Craft of Memory. In that book, you’ll read a few extracts from Hugh of St. Victor.

One of them details The Mystic Ark, which Hugh painted to help people memorize key points from the Bible.

What Hugh seems to be stressing is that you can make a lot more progress by fusing the content of a text with a Memory Palace related to that content.

You’ve already read about me doing just that when I talked about memorizing the names of the Glass House Mountains and using the mountains themselves as a Songline.

Another example would be something like the way Masons reenact various aspects related to Solomon’s Temple to help them remember key principles related to their philosophical beliefs.

Indeed, many of their rituals probably serve as a kind of spaced-repetition that help members remember key points and add more details over time.

Ten: The Statues of Giordano Bruno

Renaissance memory master Giordano Bruno discussed using statues in Memory Palaces, specifically for remembering challenging, but important philosophical concepts.

After discussing Memory Palaces in both On the Shadows of the Ideas and On the Composition of Images, Bruno wrote The Lantern of Thirty Statues.

Scott Gosnell has released a recent translation of this text under the simpler title, Thirty Statues.

In this work, Bruno shares how he used the bodies of figures in statue form as mini-Memory Palaces. This is not unlike using the hand, but extended to the entire body. To the body, you attach mnemonic images that help you recall anything you wish.

Bruno suggests that you assign 30 stations to a figure like Atlantis:

As you can see in the example above, Bruno is “double-dipping” by using only the parts of the body that have two parts.

This approach is effective, however. You can for example always have a foreign language word on the left eye and definitions on the right eye. You just repeat this pattern as you move down the body of the statue.

For a modern and more simplified version of this approach, check out this interview with memory expert Ron White.

But if you want to try out Bruno’s version, it’s really great. I don’t use it exactly this way myself, but something close. You can find out more about my approach in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass.

Eleven: Ninja Mnemonics and… Scarring

I’ll bet you never thought ninjas would show up on this page.

But it’s true. They used at least two memory techniques to be successful in their trade, which essentially involved spying. Their particular version of espionage began in the 15th century proper, though some people think the ninja tradition goes back earlier to the 12th century.

While on their missions, ninjas required excellent long-term memory abilities. They couldn’t always carry paper and needed to retain information sometimes for months in order to deliver it.

So, almost as if taking a tip from Giordano Bruno, they used their own bodies and linked numbers using something like the number-memory systems discussed above. Kioku-Jutsu involved basically the same strategy Bruno describes, except in this case, the ninja used his own body.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkg4A...

Fubo-no-jutsu took things one step further. With this ancient memory technique, the ninja cut information into his own body. A ninja might even shave his head before entering enemy territory. That would allow him to imprint information into his scalp and then hide it by letting his hair grow back.

Gruesome, but surely effective!

Twelve: The Memory Theaters of Robert Fludd

Robert Fludd was not as extreme as the ninjas. But he was adamant about how people should use the Memory Palace technique.

For example, he wrote a book with a very complicated title: The metaphysical, physical, and technical history of the two worlds, namely the greater and the lesser.

In this book, Fludd seems to be addressing readers who wanted to create imaginary Memory Palaces. This desire is the equivalent of students wanting to use video games in our era.

Or perhaps, you’re spending time using AI to help you generate your Memory Places and mnemonic associations.

I’m not saying whether you should or shouldn’t because I’ve done some experiments myself. And experiments are always interesting.

But even more interesting is how Fludd’s advice probably still stands, even if it isn’t quite right.

Robert Fludd insisted that we base our Memory Palaces on real locations to help strengthen our skills with memory techniques and avoid weakening our minds.

According to Fludd, you shouldn’t use imaginary Memory Palaces because this weakens the imagination.

Now, I don’t personally agree with this idea. I think you stand to gain a lot by experimenting with imaginary mnemonics. 

But I get Fludd’s overall point because in order to use an imaginary space, you have to spend mental energy on:

Creating the spaceMemorizing your journey through the space

So Fludd points out the most obvious thing in the world to the audience of his era. They were all theater goers so he suggested they use one of their favorite locations for their Memory Palaces. He may also have been influenced by Guilio Camillo’s memory theater concept, but this is not known for certain.

I do something like this in our time by using movie theaters. They make fantastic Memory Palaces and you can readily use the characters in your favorite movies instead of statues.

And, if you stick with Bruno’s suggestions, you can use the bodies of those actors and add a number system. That way, no one has to get cut… at least, not outside of your imagination.

Thirteen: The Computational Memory Wheel

Ramon Llull was passionate about his beliefs. So much so he invented something we now call ars combinatoria.

Bruno, who you just learned about, wrote commentaries on Llull’s work and expanded the concept into what we now call the “memory wheel.”

Here’s the idea:

You reduce key concepts down to their first letter (benevolence becomes b, like an abbreviation)You place these letters on concentric wheels you build in your imagination or create using paperYou then rotate the wheels so that various concepts align, helping you either decide what to do or remember key pieces of information

Bruno probably used his memory wheels while meditating as part of his faith and while completing certain duties, such as counseling others.

Martin Faulks has studied this concept intensively and has impressively demonstrated how the wheels work in practice.

Fourteen: Rote Learning

Rote learning is ancient, even if it’s not the best possible way to learn. I’ve included it here because even if it’s not fun or easy (and sometimes as painful as Fubo-no-jutsu must have been for the ninjas), it’s important to understand a bit about its history.

The word “rote” is connected to learning as early as the 1580s and probably stems from other words like “route,” “routine” and “rotation.”

In Chinese, they have a funny expression for this technique: 死记硬背 (Si ji ying bei). This means: death memory stiff back.

Use it with caution, my friends, and if you want an alternative technique, get my FREE Memory Improvement Technique now:

Fifteen: Knots & Twisted String

As bad and boring as rote repetition can be, there’s a place for it. For example, when reciting mantras or praying, repetition is the bees knees.

One way you can help yourself remember certain parts of a prayer, involves getting a string and either placing a knot in it or twisting a part of the string. 

Next, you encode your desired information into each knot of twist. 

Later, as you feel your away along the string, you practice recalling what you wanted to remember on a knot-by-knot basis. This practice is probably where we get the iconic image of a string tied around someone’s finger as a memory aid.

Much More Than Just Greek Memory Techniques

So there you have it:

15 incredible ancient memory techniques from across time and around the world.

The trick is to pick a few of these and get them into practice.

Picking up some of the books from the ancient memory tradition can also help you in this regard.

All of the teachers of memory experienced resistance in their students.

And if you feel resistance to using these techniques, that’s perfectly okay. In fact, it’s normal.

Just understand that nothing has changed about these techniques for thousands of years.

But the reason they’ve survived is clear:

Because they’ve helped not just a few people. They’ve helped millions upon millions of people.

If any of them seem hard, understand that’s normal in the beginning.

And the only way for them to get easier so that learning can be as fun and easy as you deserve is to get started.

The best time is not tomorrow (because tomorrow famously never comes).

You can’t go back in time, so yesterday simply won’t do.

The best time is now.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to grab your favorite ancient memory technique and put it into action?

How to Focus When Reading: 15 Proven Techniques

If you can’t focus on reading, here’s why you should feel hopeful:

I nearly dropped out of grad school in 2003 because I could barely focus on a sentence.

My looming exams made the stress even worse, leading to a vicious cycle that degraded my concentration further.

But I knew that I just had to solve the problem!

Failure simply wasn’t an option.

Although I didn’t discover all that I’m about to share with you overnight, one concentration tip in particular made all the difference in the world.

I was able to stay in school. Get my PhD. Get a major research grant and travel the world.

All because of the information you’ll read on this page.

But be warned:

A lot of what I have to share puts a different spin on some of the reading comprehension and focus techniques you’ve encountered before.

So if you’re ready to discover how to stay focused while reading from someone who reads a ton and turns the information into knowledge for others each and every day, let’s get started!

How to Focus on Reading: The 15 Things You Need to Do

As you go through this list, it’s important to understand that there’s no special order here.

Each and every tip is equally useful.

But you don’t have to put them all into use overnight.

And some of them are useful for only certain kinds of books.

Frankly, there is no one-size-fits-all or cookie-cutter method for reading with greater focus.

So if you can’t focus on reading, you’re going to love how easy it is to improve.

One: Read More, More Often

The simplest way to improve your focus is to simply read more and read more often.

Read as many different types of information as you can from many different types of authors.

This tactic is incredibly important because one big reason people struggle to focus while reading comes down to weak reading muscles.

Let’s face it:

Humans were not born to read. Evolution has yet to imprint the alphabet directly into our DNA.

Reading is a skill we have to learn.

And once we have the basics down, we have to keep the mental muscles involved in reading strong.

Two: Be Patient With Authors

People who can’t focus often blame themselves. They think they might be lacking focus, when actually the author is not writing in a way that demands focus. 

Worse, some readers may consider themselves less intelligent than they actually are. In reality, the book is not as well written as it could be.

For example, one of the students in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass came to me recently for help with his reading comprehension.

When I asked for an example of what my student was struggling with, he said he couldn’t concentrate on or remember anything from One Nation Under God by James Moore.

This book, which is about the history of prayer in America, is well-written in terms of clean prose.

But the prose is not particularly clear. And it is logically inconsistent. No wonder my student couldn’t remember anything he was reading.

To take one example, just examine the opening paragraph. It will help you understand my next tip, keeping in mind that we’re going to extend Moore our patience with his writing.

Three: Bring The Engagement

Moore says in this book that “nothing in human experience compares to prayer.”

A sentence like this is hard to comprehend for a few reasons. First, what does the author mean by prayer, and human experience? And what exactly does the word “compare” mean in this context?

In reality, prayer compares to all kinds of things, such as confession with a priest and the secular equivalent of talking to a psychoanalyst. Using mantras compares to prayer as does wishful thinking and other forms of self-talk.

Then the author uses an empty, cliche phrase like, “by any objective measure.” But nowhere does the author list a single objective measure. This absence means that the reader has nothing to latch onto.

In fact, it’s not until page three of the book that the author gives an example that the reader can experience and visualize in the mind. The image Moore gives involves a number of people getting together in Yankee Stadium to pray after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

As I explained to my student, the problem isn’t with the focus skills my student was bringing to the table. It’s with the fact that the author writes in vague abstractions. The book would have been a lot better with an introduction like this:

Imagine that you’re in Yankee Stadium with a group of people gathered in prayer. Your heart is flooded with conflicting emotions, ranging from anger, rage, the need for revenge and feelings of patriotism for your country. Prayer helps you navigate these tough emotions, and that is just one reason why prayer holds so much value compared to some of the other ways you could deal with the range of confusion feelings you might experience after such a tragic event.

This writing brings the engagement.

But as the reader of this book, I brought it for the author through a kind of real-time translation. I changed the boring and the vague into the concrete and specific (aided by long practice in reading multiple kinds of literature daily).

And that’s what I suggest you do as a reader to help yourself focus when books fail to stimulate you.

Read what the author says. And then translate it into something much more engaging.

Here’s another tactic that can help you do that.

Four: Interrogate Your Reading with Suspicion (And Faith)

I’ve just talked about translating vague writing into specific ideas and concepts to make the process more active and interesting.

But there’s a sub-routine going on that deserves its own attention. It’s based on one of the favorite reading tactics I learned in university: the hermeneutics of suspicion.

Now, there’s a lot of political nonsense in that style of reading that I have completely abandoned. But the core idea is that you read with skepticism.

I’ve already demonstrated this by looking at the first sentence of One Nation Under God. This “interrogation” exposed that the author is being more than a little lazy with his wording and meaning.

And reading this way allowed me to dig deeper and think about what he really means once the generalizations are cleared away.

To do this, it’s important to balance the suspicious part with faith. I always read in the faith that the author has good intentions and wants to communicate key points.

This circles back to being patient with the author – which in the case of this book required a lot of patience. 

Five: Use the Index

One of the reasons we lose focus comes from authors drowning us in references. This problem lessens the more you read because you’ll catch the references and have ready-to-go images and ideas in your mind.

But until that starts to happen for you, you’ll want to get in the habit of regularly checking the index.

For example, if an author mentions a philosopher, check the index and look at all the pages this person is mentioned on. If they seem like they’re going to be important, make time to read up about this individual.

That way, when you reach those passages again later, you won’t lose focus. You’ll have a cognitive map to help you make a connection.

Yes, this is kind of like interrupting yourself. But done well, this kind of self-distraction is like interleaving, a key strategy when you want to remember what you’re studying.

It’s the external distractions we need to worry about. There are a few key ways you can do that.

Six: Delete Distractions

There’s nothing worse than having external forces interrupt your reading.

Today, for example, I was out at my favorite reading spot when it started to rain. Suddenly, a bunch of people were huddling with me under the umbrella over the picnic table!

No problem. I just left. I have nearly a dozen other places already charted out where I can read.

But how often do we try to push through distractions instead of turning them off?

There are many simple ways to eliminate distractions while you’re reading:

Schedule your reading timeAlert others that you’re not to be disturbed during this timeTurn off the phone or all notifications if reading on a deviceClose all tabs (or open a new browser window and make it full screen)Take notes with pen and paper so you don’t have to close tabs or screensUse notes to look up things later if you prefer to keep your reading flow goingChoose quiet places in low traffic areasHave a plan for where else you can go if something changesHave targets for how much you’re going to read

Let’s talk more about the idea of having targets and how they can help you focus.

Seven: Targets And The Pinch Technique

I read a ton each year. But it’s rarely random. I read more because I pick specific targets and fulfill them.

For example, when I’m interested in a particular topic, I’ll pick 3-5 books in that area and plan to have them read within 4-6 weeks. This is a huge strategy for people who want to read faster.

So that’s what I call a “Macro-Target.”

Then, there are “Micro-Targets,” literally figuring out how much I plan to read in a given day. Usually I try to cover three chapters, if not more.

Since all of our minds are fried from the Internet, specifically thanks to digital amnesia, I have found something strange. Chapters that used to seem very short now seem incredibly long. Even my attention span and focus have been shortened.

To combat this, I started to count the exact number of pages in a chapter and then pinch the entire chapter while I’m reading. That way, the feeling of making progress keeps me focused more than if I have to keep thinking about how many more pages are left in the chapter or section.

I save the Pinch Technique for when I really can’t focus on reading. It helps!

Sure, I know this sounds kind of silly.

But I’ve been doing it for years and it helps me maintain my focus a ton.

Eight: Take a Picture Walk

Barbara Oakley from Learning How to Learn talks about the picture walk technique in the book version of that world famous course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAg7e...

Taking a picture walk is a bit like the Pinch Technique, but in this case, you’re going through each chapter in advance to note any pictures, charts or graphs.

By having a quick look for these, you’re priming your mind with something to look forward to. And you’re giving your mind clues about what the information in the chapter might be about.

What if the book doesn’t have any illustrations or diagrams?

Well, that’s useful to know in advance too. It helps you brace for impact from the walls of text so you can better focus your mind on the task to be done.

Nine: Timeless Pomodoro

One thing that I’ve never understood is the Pomodoro Technique. If you’re not familiar with the term, it’s a form of timeboxing where you set a timer and intend to focus on reading for a specific period of time.

The reason I don’t like this technique is simple:

You are asking to be distracted from your reading.

What I prefer to do is intend to read for, say 40 minutes, and then use the pinch technique.

Usually, I’ll get the chapter done and feel like 40 minutes has gone by, only to find that it’s more like 14 minutes.

Then I stand up, do a bit of stretching and read some more.

Using your mind to gauge and experiment with time will likely be much for fruitful for your focus than relegating time to machines in both the short and long term.

Ten: Read Out Of Order

One of the easiest ways to lose focus while reading is to insist on moving from the beginning to the end of books.

Except for novels, I rarely do this. It’s simply not helpful.

When reading non-fiction books, it’s often helpful to read the conclusion first. That way you get a summary of the key points and why the author thinks the thesis of the book was valuable and correct.

Of course, not all books have conclusions, but reading out of order is a generally valuable principle for increasing engagement.

Eleven: Mission Statements For Motivation

Often we lose focus because we forget why we’re reading in the first place.

For that reason, it’s useful to craft a vision statement, write it down and keep it somewhere you can see it.

This might seem silly, but many people use subconscious influence tactics like written reminders – including me.

At one point when writing my PhD dissertation got really difficult, I hand wrote and posted this message on my computer monitor:

None of us works as hard as we think we do.

Every time I found myself slacking off, it was hard for me to ignore this message. So I opened one of the many research PDFs I needed to plow through and got back to reading.

Twelve: Give Yourself A Reward

I never grind without some kind of reward in mind. It’s basic Pavlovian psychology.

Each person needs to figure out a reward structure for themselves, but simple rewards can involve:

Watching a movieGoing to a favorite restaurantVegging out for an afternoonGetting an item you’ve been wanting

Giving yourself a reward for completing a reading goal can help you settle and concentrate better on your reading.

Care needs to be taken around this strategy because it’s tempting to go all in on the rewards without putting in the work.

But with some exploration, you’ll find that optimal reward structures hone your focus while reading.

Thirteen: The Thor Technique

Using mnemonic images is a key memory strategy we’ll talk about in a moment.

But imagery can be useful to help reassert your focus while reading in a flash.

When I catch my mind wandering while reading, I look for the word “the” on the page. Then I imagine Thor smashing his hammer down on the page.

This mental experience is so loud and dynamic – and funny – that it brings my attention back to the reading.

Using the pegword method, you can have an image for each and every letter of the alphabet. This tactic helps you instantly look at anything you’re reading and engage with it much deeper, completely on demand.

Fourteen: Read From Within Your Mind

If you’ve read books like Moonwalking with Einstein, you probably know all about the Memory Palace technique.

You can use this strategy to memorize vocabulary and even entire passages of verbatim text.

Spend just a little time practicing this technique and it will increase your focus for scanning text.

If you’d like to see an example of me reciting long from text – literally reading from the walls inside my mind – here are two demonstrations you can check out:

Reciting long form Sanskrit from the Ribhu GitaReciting a speech at a TEDx Event

I simply cannot exaggerate how much completing these simple memory tasks has increased my ability to focus on what I read.

Fifteen: Take Robust Notes

There are flashcards, and then there are “Magnetic Flashcards.”

The difference is that when you create dynamic and engaging flashcards, it will make it much easier to keep focused.

You can also:

Amplify how you use AnkiMindmap for better comprehension and memoryUse some of my unconventional notetaking strategies

Carrying a notebook with you is also a key strategy.

As you go about your day, get in the habit of asking yourself about what you’ve been reading. Then write down quick summaries of the key ideas.

This simple habit will help improve your reading because you’ll literally be doing two things. First, you’ll be translating the reading material into your own words. Second, you’ll be reading the concepts in your own words. This increases the engagement you’ll experience tremendously.

How To Concentrate When Reading

When you follow the strategies above, you’ll be tapping into the best aspects of memory science.

You’ll be chunking and using active recall. And that’s just to give you two of the science-based principles my best memory hacks stem from.

At the end of the day, concentration is something that is built.

And the best tip of them all is to increase the amount that you’re reading.

And it’s worth repeating that you need to bring patience to the game.

So many books that are well worth reading…

They’re simply poorly written.

That’s not your fault!

But it is your responsibility to milk them for all they’re worth anyway.

And now you have some of my best reading strategies so that you can get through even the toughest texts.

If you need more help and want to learn how to remember what you read, grab this FREE Memory Improvement Kit:

It will take everything you’ve learned to the next level in 4 clear, crisp and fun lessons.

And there’s a PDF that summarizes the course too – a powerful resource that gives you what we all need most:

More good things to read!

So what do you say?

Which of these techniques do you appreciate the most?

And are you ready to dive in and get started focusing on your reading better than ever before?

Make it happen!

Moonwalking with Einstein Review: Will It Change Your Life?

Moonwalking with Einstein is an incredible book for many reasons.

But will reading it improve your memory?

Even more importantly, will reading Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer improve your life?

Sorry to give you a cliche answer, but rest assured you’ll get more nuance as we go.

The answer is:

It depends.

In this review, you’ll learn who this book is for, who it’s most likely to help and whether or not you’re the kind of person who will benefit from reading it.

And in case you’re wondering why I would know, that’s a very good question.

I have a few insights because I’ve interviewed and spent time with many people in the book.

One of them gave me the Warrior of the Mind emblem for Outstanding Contributions to Global Mental Literacy. You’ll read about that pendant in the early parts of Moonwalking with Einstein.

But above all, I’ve benefited from reading this book myself, albeit in a quirky way.

All will be revealed, so if you’re ready to take a deep dive into this fascinating book, let’s get started!

Who Is Joshua Foer?

Joshua Foer was a science journalist when he wrote Moonwalking with Einstein and published it in 2011.

These days, he owns a company called Atlas Obscura that serves as a guide to the world’s hidden treasures.

According to the book itself, he won the 2006 USA Memory Championship and later ranked 13th at the World Memory Championship event.

Foer told Nelson Dellis in a 2022 interview that although he still uses memory techniques once in a while, it is usually for numbers. But he no longer pushes himself to the level of being a viable memory athlete.

Of the greatest interest for language learners, Foer successfully learned Lingala to a decent degree. He attributes memory techniques to his success based on an older version of Memrise, which included a lot of mnemonic examples at the time.

If you’re wondering if Joshua Foer is legit, the answer is definitely yes. He’s gone beyond using memory techniques for competition and applied them to developing knowledge. That’s exactly what we want in a memory expert.

Moonwalking with Einstein Review: What You Need to Know

The first thing you need to know about Moonwalking with Einstein is that it’s not a memory training book. There’s little in it that could be described as a “lesson.”

That said, the title itself is a lesson in mnemonic imagery. And the best kind because it’s a highly specific mnemonic example.

And if you follow along as you read, you’ll come to know how memory techniques work and gain insight in how to use them. The main problem is that, except for the chapter on how to memorize a poem, you’ll primarily discover how to use mnemonics for competitive outcomes.

More importantly, Moonwalking with Einstein is a book based around some classic themes that are very inspiring. These themes are:

The Value of Experimentation

Throughout the book, you discover how many different people learned about memory techniques and made them their own.

This theme is so critical because a lot of people expect someone to hand them a memory system.

Although there are some memory systems that many memory athletes share (like the PAO System, Dominic System and Major System), each person needs to do a number of things:

Learn the systemsUnderstand how and why they workModify them so they’re personalized (part of active recall in memory science)Absorb them through practiceObserve and track how they performMake improvements over timeThe Value of Community

Memory competition requires community by its very nature. You cannot compare your memory skills against others on your own.

A huge theme of the book revolves around the friendships Foer made and the mentors who guided his progress with the memory techniques.

I share one of those mentors with Foer in our dearly departed Tony Buzan.

In one of the book’s early sections, a section that proves Foer’s skills as a writer, Foer notices  “a neuron shaped pin adorned [Buzan’s] lapel.” That pin is the Warrior of the Mind Emblem, something Buzan gave me at an event, making me part of a community of memory teachers. For someone who talks for a living, I was speechless!

As Foer describes the scene, Buzan acts like Merlin by making a great call to adventure. Just as Buzan once took me aside, he took Foer aside and had him imagine becoming the USA Memory Champion.

This call to adventure is what leads Foer to travel and meet many memory athletes, memory experts and ultimately enjoy membership in KL7, a secret society of memorizers headed by the Grandmaster of Memory, Ed Cooke.

The Value of Practice & Having Goals

Although the stories of meeting various people are wildly entertaining, the book’s most important theme revolves around practice.

In this regard, the book could be about many competitive sports, though perhaps chess is the closest comparison.

As Foer learns, commitment is rare. And if the book ends on a bittersweet note, it is that Foer learns how easy it is to slip back into easy mode and stop using memory techniques.

But is the backsliding Foer ultimately describes really about a retreat to easy street?

I’m not sure. Given that we know Foer later used memory techniques to help himself learn a language and memorize 1100 words from a Lingala dictionary, I think a major theme of the book is quite simple to express.

Have a goal.

Having meaningful goals is just as rare as commitment in today’s world.

And in some ways, Moonwalking with Einstein is not just about one science journalist winning a memory competition.

It’s about the nature of how American society practices and sets goals compared to other countries.

I recommend readers think about the differences between nations that Foer outlines in order to get maximum value from the book.

Should You Read Moonwalking With Einstein?

In a word, yes.

However, I think many people who are just starting with memory techniques will need at least one other book to help them fully understand the techniques.

You will learn the Memory Palace technique (especially in the chapter on memorizing poetry).

But I’ve read so many people complaining that Moonwalking with Einstein confused them or didn’t help them learn how to improve their memory.

On the other hand, Braden Adams told me that he read the book once and ran with it. He’s now an impressive memory competitor.

And that’s ultimately the book’s strength and weakness. The subtitle says that it’s about “the art and science of remembering everything.” 

But as we saw in Where Did Noah Park the Ark? trying to address everything can lead to many people doing nothing.

This statement is not a criticism of any memory book that casts its net wide. But people who don’t suddenly wake up understanding how memory techniques work should not blame Moonwalking with Einstein. It’s mostly about what memory is, how it works, and specifically how to harness those characteristics to win a memory championship.

And the key to that is something Nelson Dellis gave us long ago. You have to practice at least two things:

Practice the memory techniquesPractice using the techniques in competition

So if you’re looking for a stimulating read that might give you insights you need as a competitor, Moonwalking with Einstein is pure gold.

But it’s also gold if you want to get inspired and learn more about the value of practice and commitment to a goal.

It’s incredibly well-written too and very exciting.

In my view, you simply cannot go wrong by reading it, but now you know what some of its limitations might be for you.

And if you liked this review and think you might want to learn my approach to using memory techniques, go ahead and grab my FREE Memory Improvement Kit now:

This course is not targeted at competition at all (though my own competition experience is described in The Victorious Mind).

Instead, my course focuses on how ancient people used memory techniques to carry massive amounts of information in their minds when they could not carry books on their backs.

At the end of the day, if you really want to help improve the world, the more books you read and the more courses you take, the merrier we will all be.

So what do you say? Are you reading to start “moonwalking” with Einstein?