How to Memorize a List Quickly (And Maintain It Forever)

To make learning how to memorize a list quickly a fast and seamless process, I suggest you learn to use the Memory Palace technique.

That’s because I believe memorizing a list should not be hard.

And people who struggle with with them?

It’s not because their memory is bad.

They’re often just using the wrong method.

I’ve been thinking about lists a lot lately as I reach the final stages of establishing a real-world Memory Palace with a bookshop in it.

To pull it off, I’m studying real estate in a course.

It involves all kinds of acronyms, form numbers and logistics.

And thanks to the technique you’re about to discover, I’m retaining the lists of information with easy.

The Memory Palace technique is not a trick.

It’s a system.

And once you learn it, you can memorize any list. Quickly and for life.

Let’s begin.

https://youtu.be/dJvbbMtA1OA

How to Memorize a List Fast

There’s a fair amount of confusion about list memorization because there are different ways of doing it.

So many ways that people wind up confused and wondering which approach to use.

For example, you might have heard of Harry Lorayne.

He was a magician who popularized using mnemonics for remembering lists using the pegword method.

But what if you want to memorize a list of numbers, like Akira Haraguchi who was able to commit 100,000 digits of pi to memory?

What if you’re a medical professional who needs to memorize lists of symptoms, pharmaceutical information and all the carpal bones?

Or perhaps you want to memorize vocabulary as part of learning a language.

Perhaps your goal is even more modest. You just want to remember a to-do list or the groceries you need to pick up from the store later.

For each of these goals, I suggest you sidestep most memory techniques and get started immediately with the Memory Palace technique.

I teach all of the other techniques in the video above, including number rhymes.

But since I don’t recommend those techniques as the fastest and most practical means of memorizing a list, let’s get into the technique I favor the most.

In detail.

Step One: Create Your First Memory Palace

A Memory Palace is a form of mental association where you place a list of information along a journey you assign within a familiar location.

You’ve probably seen the technique used in Sherlock Holmes when the iconic character says, “I must go to my Mind Palace.”

In case you’re not familiar with this mnemonic device, this ancient memory technique has been used for centuries.

Essentially, you just mentally order locations in the manner you see in this image:

And if you were Sherlock and had to commit a list of facts about a case to memory, you would use a location like the study pictured above.

To avoid laying out associations chaotically, you would identify a few places (called loci) where you can “store” each part of your list.

For example, if you needed to of a suspect, you would place a mnemonic image on the chair labeled “1” in the illustration above. You do that by using a very special form of association, which we’ll discuss next.

Step Two: Pair Each Item on the List with an Association & the Memory Palace

Let’s use the example of memorizing a grocery list.

To do this, mnemonists (people who use memory techniques) use what are called mnemonic images.

If carrot is the first item on your list, you just imagine a giant carrot on the chair in your office.

That’s weird and strange enough to stick in your memory.

But what if you have a list of facts or the names of the presidents? This kind of information needs to be transformed mentally into an association that’s a bit more elaborate.

For example, if the first name is Washington, you can imagine a washing machine on your bed. Imagine yourself commenting that it weighs a ton. Washing machine + ton = Washington.

How to Practice Placing a List Item in a Memory Palace

For practice, write out your to-do list on a piece of paper.

Let’s say you have to attend a meeting about a technology at 2 a.m. The topic is Microsoft’s Zune.

To add an association and place the word in your Memory Palace, you will need to split the word using the principle of word division I teach in my bestselling course, How to Learn and Memorize the Vocabulary of Any Language.

For this word, I would personally imagine my favorite zoo in Berlin and have the movie Dune playing while zebras watch.

Zoo + Dune = Zune.

What about the time of this meeting, 2 p.m.?

To add this kind of information to your to-list, you’ll want to use either the Major System or a PAO System.

Although these memory techniques are somewhat advanced, anyone can learn them.

Step Three: Gather the Information Into the Best Possible Order

Sometimes the order of items is clear.

However, when studying for an exam, you might need to rearrange the main points in different orders of importance.

For this reason, I like to extract information from textbooks onto flashcards. That way I can easily move the facts around and place them in the most logical order before creating associations and placing them in one of my Memory Palaces.

As a pro tip, here’s something you can try:

I normally draw my Memory Palaces out on a piece of paper (these drawings serve as essentially a list of already-remembered stations within a location).

Then I fold the paper around the flashcards. The example you see above is one of the Memory Palaces I used when I learned Mandarin and passed Level III. Here’s what some of my cards looked like:

If you like the idea of being able to keep the lists of information you need to remember flexible, I also use special flashcard methods known as Zettelkasten and the Leitner System.

Step Four: Use Optimized Spaced Repetition For Reviewing Your List

Here’s where the Memory Palace technique for memorizing lists really shines.

Not only does the technique let you include as many items as you like.

It also makes it easy to use what scientists call spaced repetition. If you’re using flashcards as I discussed above, this kind of rehearsal technique looks like this:

The Leitner spaced repetition system helps you manage your exposure by placing accurate and inaccurate flashcards in boxes.

If you’re using the Memory Palace approach (which is kind of like using chairs and other furniture as index cards you draw on), here’s the process:

You simply mentally revisit the journey in your Memory Palace.

Then, on each station, you recall what funny image or direct association you put down.

Try it now:

If I ask you to think about the list item we discussed on the chair in the Sherlock Mind Palace example above, you will probably remember that we talked about a giant carrot.

That one came easily.

But what about the item you needed to discuss at a technology meeting?

Although it may take a second, provided that you personalized your own mnemonic associations, you should be able to get back the word “Zune.”

And that’s another key:

As the Renaissance memory master Robert Fludd used to stress about using these memory techniques, you need to personalize them so that when you are reviewing the images associated with the list items, they pop much better. He was completely right and contemporary science has shown this to be true.

The principle of personalizing your images belongs to what scientists call active recall. By adding personal elements to the information on your lists while you link them with associations, you increase your chance of remembering them.

Many people learn this technique within minutes and immediately get it working.

Memorizing Lists FAQ

Over my years of teaching the Magnetic Memory Method, people have sent me many questions about dealing with lists.

For example, one of my students in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass emailed today about memorizing the Buddhist eightfold path.

He expressed some concerns that naturally come up when dealing with lists where each item involves multiple words.

We’ll get into these issues and more in the following list of questions and answers.

What’s the fastest way to memorize a list of words?

The brief answer is to become a mnemonist who uses Memory Palaces and related tools.

That way, you’ll have all five of the main mnemonic systems needed for rapidly recalling information in list format.

The longer answer is that you need to start where you’re at.

Learn the memory skills I teach, and then set benchmarks.

If you start by memorizing just 2-3 items and practice recalling them reliably, move on to 4-5 items.

Progressively build the amounts from there by setting time challenges for yourself. If you can memorize 10 items in one minute, challenge yourself to build up to 15, then 20.

If you really want to push your skills, you can explore making your Memory Palaces “stickier” by pre-loading them with associations from your PAO System.

This is how some memory athletes have improved their speed with the kinds of lists that come up in memory competitions.

How can I memorize a long list without fogetting an item in the middle?

To establish long-term retention and recall of each item, you need to use spaced repetition.

You can use Memory Palaces, flashcards, Leitner boxes or software to help.

But giving equal doses of primacy effect and recency effect to each item in the list is key.

How do I memorize a list in order vs. out of order?

Although this is an interesting question, I’m not sure what it means.

Everything we do occurs in time. So if you’re memorizing a list, time always sets some kind of order, i.e. the first thing you memorize is followed by the second.

It’s possible that when people ask this question, they are trying to work out how they can add something to a list they’ve memorized after the fact.

There are two ways:

Use the principle of compounding as taught in the Magnetic Memory Method MasterclassAdd new details to a completely new Memory Palace

I do both, and it depends on the context.

In the case of the student who asked me today about memorizing the items on the Buddhist eight fold path, it actually makes sense to memorize it in two passes within a single Memory Palace.

First, you set the keywords up and use spaced repetition to establish long-term recall. Then you add the description of each step on the path.

How do actors memorize lists of lines or cues?

It’s important to realize that different actors approach learning their lines in different ways.

For those using memory techniques to memorize lines, I suggest this full tutorial. It describes the approach I use for memorizing Shakespeare and recommends a book you might like to read.

You might also have the option of not memorizing your lines at all.

In Dustin Hoffman Teaches Acting, Hoffman relates a story where he saw Robert De Niro reading lines from index cards he kept in his pockets shortly before the director would call action.

According to Hoffman, De Niro said that he didn’t memorize his lines because he didn’t want to look like he was carrying around his responses for two weeks. By not memorizing his lines, he made his performances more authentic.

Of course, the ultimate answer is to ask what your director wants and be prepared to collaborate with them. That way, you’re much more likely to produce an incredible stage play, series or film.

For more on the relationship between memory and acting, please see 8 Unusual Memory Tips from Actors Who Don’t Clown Around.

How do students memorize lists for exams (like biology terms of historical details)?

Unfortunately, many students cram.

But the best students do what we discussed today. Or they might pursue a study strategy that involves linking without using a Memory Palace.

The important thing to understand is that the exact nature of the information is not that important when it comes to using memory techniques.

So long as you’re prepared with the techniques, you can learn anything that involves numbers, words, concepts or symbols.

For examples, you can see my tutorial on memorizing historical dates and medical terminology training post.

What’s the best way to memorize vocabulary lists in a foreign language?

Technically, the best way to study vocabulary lists is to find a method that you’ll actually use.

If using rote repetition helps you achieve your goals, that’s a great way to go about learning a language. In this tutorial about rote learning, I suggest reasons why it’s not the best idea for many people.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.

Beyond that, I would suggest that memorizing lists is just part of learning a new language.

You also need to add reading, writing, speaking, listening and reading.

Combined with memorization, I call this approach The Big Five, and this illustration shows how these activities work together:

This process is very effective because it gives you natural spaced repetition and lets you experience the words on your vocabulary list in context.

How to memory champions memorize decks of cards or digits of pi? Are lists different?

This is a great question because although committing a sequence of digits is a list, it can feel different.

This is because many mnemonists memorize pi from left to right in their Memory Palaces.

Likewise, many memory athletes memorize cards by following horizontal lines along their memory journeys.

When I memorize cards using the strategy I teach in this card memory tutorial, however, I often place cards in vertical rows.

Using a chunking memory strategy, I usually memorize the cards in clusters of two or three at a time. This makes the task much faster.

However, just because the cards are memorized using different spatial configurations, the information is still essentially a list.

How many items can the average adult reliably retain without using memory aids?

The answer will differ depending on the state of your working memory.

Most people can memorize 5-8 items if they are simple, like numbers.

But we’ve all had the experience of memorizing words and forget a bunch of them, even though they seemed simple.

This is why I personally commit to applying memory techniques to just about everything.

Today in my real estate class, for example, I quickly attached images to various numbered forms to start the process of committing them to memory.

And with memory techniques, there will be no end to the exact amount that any person can memorize, except lifespan.

People who attend my live workshops are constantly amazed by how much information I recite during my courses.

And the way I do it is simply described. I just memory techniques.

How much time should I budged for spaced repetition reviews?

The exact amount depends on:

The volume of informationThe typeYour current level of skill with memory techniques

Rather than consider time in the beginning, think about building your skills.

Then, once you’re able to reliably memorize lists, work on shaving off the amount of time you need by practicing so you get better.

Does writing a list by hand improve recall compared with typing it?

Yes, and this Scientific American article gets into the scientific reasons why this is the case.

Also, I mentioned active recall above and the importance of personalization.

A second aspect of active recall involves writing.

The specific process is that you:

Bring the information in your list to mind by visiting the location you established in your memory palaceWrite it down on paperCheck your accuracy

I’ve been doing a lot of this kind of active recall in my real estate course. The teacher and the program designers are very wise for including a lot of writing exercises.

How do I blend chunking, the method of loci and spaced repetition for maximum retention?

One way is to use the Magnetic Memory Method, which I designed precisely to form that blend of rapid learning strategies.

Once you have the techniques in operation, all you have to do is organize your time.

If you’d like to discover more about what this approach is like, please register for my free course now right here:

It will help you create multiple Memory Palaces, discover fun and easy ways to use the method of association and more about how to rapidly apply spaced repetition.

Combined, you’ll soon have all the lists you want stored in long-term memory.

So what do you say?

Are you ready to give this approach to memorizing lists a try?

Make it happen!