The Only Skill that Matters: The Proven Methodology to Read Faster, Remember More, and Become a SuperLearner

by Jonathan A. Levi

To build a memory palace, you first need a few things. Most important, of course, is a suitable location. In reality, any location will do: past homes, office buildings, even stores you’ve casually strolled through. With that said, I encourage you to remember what we learned in our chapter on preparation. Start by carefully thinking ahead and determining what information you need to know, in what order, and how you need to access it. This step alone can save you the hassle of memorizing something in the wrong way—and being stuck with it indefinitely. Ironically, the biggest “side effect” of the memory palace technique is how obnoxiously effective it is. If you memorize a speech, only to change the order of the points later on, you’re likely to deliver it as memorized—for better or worse. When, for example, I memorized my TEDx talk using a memory palace, I spent a few minutes thinking about how to logically lay it out. How many paragraphs were there? Where were the transition points? This is something you can do “in your head,” by walking around the space physically, or even by drawing a quick floor plan on a piece of paper. This type of preparation beforehand helped me determine what size memory palace I would use. It also helped me create a logical template. I chose to assign each paragraph or key idea to a specific room and memorize the important “transitions” in the walkways between rooms. When I needed to memorize the circle of fifths, a concept in music theory, I was ...