How to Memorize Anything (17 page)

Wrinkled

Long Face

Squinting Eyes

Crooked Teeth

STEP 4:
ASSOCIATE THE DISTINCT FACIAL FEATURE TO THE PERSON’S NAME

Once you have observed an outstanding feature on the face, you have to now associate the image of the name to that particular feature of the face. For example, let’s say you go to a party and meet a pretty girl named
Anjali.
She has big lips. Now we break her name as ‘
an+jelly’
. You can imagine her applying red jelly on her lips. So whenever you meet her next time, just by looking at her lips, you will be reminded of her name.

O
FFICE
C
RISIS

Let’s take one more example:

Suppose four new people are joining your team in office. Your boss introduces them as
Shane, Alisha, Kiran, and Balasubramaniam. How will you remember their names just after a brief introduction?

Let’s assume
Shane
has grey eyes. So you can imagine that his grey eyes are shining (Shane) in the dark. Let’s move on to
Alisha
. What if she has very thin lips? Think of her name as
‘a-little-shy’
and imagine that whenever she looks at you, she gives you
a little shy
smile.

When it comes to
Kiran,
you can break her name into two parts as Key + run. You can imagine that she has a big
key
in her hand and is on the
run.
There is no fixed rule for the association. You can do it in whichever way you want to. You can also associate her with
Kirron Kher
, a famous actress who is also an MP now. Another way of remembering her name is through its meaning. Kiran, in Hindi, means rays of sun. You can visualize that bright rays are emanating from her face.

Suppose Balasubramaniam is bald. As it is a big name, you can break it in three parts as Bala+ super (subra) + money (maniam). And you can imagine that from his bald head, hair (
baal
in hindi) start growing rapidly with
super
big coins
(money)
hanging from them.

It doesn’t matter how wild your imagination runs. In fact, the more weird you think, the better will be the recall. As a memory trainer, when people ask me how I memorized their names, sometimes the associated image is so silly that I cannot just share with them what I imagined. So don’t worry about it. As long as it is helping you to memorize, it’s absolutely fine.

Apart from finding an outstanding feature, there are many other things that can be taken into consideration such as manner of speech, speech defects, character, type of walk, clothing style and so on.

You can also associate a person’s name with the kind of work he/she does.
For example, you go to a store every week to buy grocery. The name of the lady at the payment counter of the store is
Rosie.
Now, you can imagine that she is standing outside the store, holding a huge bunch of
roses
(Rosie) to welcome you. Next time whenever you see her even at some place other than the store, you can easily recall her image standing at the gate of the store with roses in her hand. This will remind you of not just her name but also the place from where you know her.

STEP 5:
REPEAT THE NAME DURING THE COURSE OF YOUR CONVERSATION

It will help you to etch the name more firmly into your mind. Do use the name when you say goodbye or goodnight. At the end of the day, think of each new person you have met and as the names come to mind, jot it down. Next day, go through the list. As you read each person’s name, try to see the original association of the name to the face. A picture of the person’s face will automatically come to your mind.

Here are a few examples to help you understand the concept more clearly, followed by some names for your practice.

Some more examples of names that can be remembered through PNN are given below for your reference. Do the last few yourself:

I am sure after carefully going through the examples given above; you will be able to do the ones given for practice easily. In case you face some problem, you can refer to the answers below. But always remember,
your own visualization will serve you the best to remember anything and everything.

Now you are all set to experiment this. Believe in yourself and your ability to remember names.

Meet as many people; just make sure to take interest in their names,

Visualize and associate and you will never forget a single name.

ANSWERS:

C
HAPTER AT A GLANCE

• Name is a person’s most prized possession and most of us have difficulty in memorizing names of people.
  
• Memory techniques can go a long way in solving this problem.
  
• Steps of memorizing names of people:
  

1. Pay attention to the name.
   
   • Consider its pronunciation and spelling.
     
   • Make a remark about it to the person.
     
2. Create an image of that name in your mind.
   
   • The image can be related to.
     
   • The meaning of the name.
     
   • A famous personality with the same name.
     
   • Someone related to you who share the same name.
     
   • In case the name does not have a meaning or does not bring an image to your mind you can use PNN method and give it a nick name which can be visualized.
     
3. It is important to associate the names with respective faces.
   Try and identify any distinct feature in a person’s face like bushy eyebrows, a mole on cheek, high cheek bones, long nose, thick lips, big eyes, lines or creases on the forehead, dimples, clefts, moustache, double chin etc.
   
4. Associate the distinct facial feature of the person to his/her name.
   
5. Repeat the name during conversation.