How to Memorize Anything (8 page)

Patient: ‘Doctor, I have a serious memory problem. I can’t remember anything!’

Doctor: ‘So, since when did you have this problem?’

Patient: ‘What problem?’

The doctor is shocked!

CAN I HAVE A GOOD MEMORY?
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Being a memory trainer, I meet hundreds of people from different professions and lifestyles who are constantly complaining about memory problems. Some people complain that they have a very bad memory and are not able to remember anything while others say that they face problems recalling phone numbers but are good at recalling names and faces. And then there are those who remember phone numbers, but cannot remember the names of the people they wish to call. Some people are fast at memorizing things but cannot retain it for long whereas there are a few others who though take a long time to memorize but can retain that information for a long time. They often ask me to give them some tips on how they can improve their poor memory.

Let me first tell you that
there is no such thing as a poor memory
. This may come as a shock to those of you who have used your supposedly ‘poor’ memory as an excuse for years. But, I repeat, there is no such thing as a poor memory. There is only
trained or untrained memory
. Trained memory means that we can learn to remember things in a simple and definite way just as we have learnt to speak, walk, and eat. With the use of some smart memory techniques, we can remember much more information for any given length of time, and all this in a very systematic way. The good news is that by training our memory,
we all can have a very good, quick, and retentive memory for almost anything
.

WHAT YOUR UNTRAINED MEMORY CAN DO

Be ready for a small test of your present memory. Read the following list of words:

• Ant
  
• Mobile
  
• Elephant
  
• Paintbrush
  
• Poster
  
• Tree
  
• Spiderman
  
• Rainbow
  
• Mug
  
• Biscuits
  
• Lake
  
• Dragon
  
• Cloud
  
• Umbrella
  
• Shoe
  

Now, if I ask you to memorize the above list of 15 words in the same sequence, how much time do you think you will take?

When I ask the same question during my seminars, I get responses varying from ‘15 minutes to 2 hours’. Some people even say, ‘We would never be able to memorize it’.

You can take a self-test. Take a stopwatch and try to remember the above list in 3 minutes and after 3 minutes, check how many words you are able to recall in the same sequence correctly. Most of the people are able to recollect the first 4–5 words or last 2–3 words, getting confused in the middle.

Now learn to memorize the above list in less than 2 minutes.

WHAT YOUR TRAINED MEMORY CAN DO

As we have already learnt in the last chapter, registration of information is the first step in the process of memorizing. By adding meaning and structure to the information we take in, we can improve our recall.

Let’s say you know only one language i.e. English but this book is written in French. No matter how well things are explained or how relevant the matter is to you, you would not be able to understand it. Unless it makes some sense to you, you won’t be able to take it in. In the same way information or data should be fed in a language which the brain can understand.

In computers too we input data through the keyboard, but it is processed through different softwares and is stored in binary language.

Similarly, the brain also takes input through the five senses—hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste. Since we don’t know what processing is required and in which language it should be stored in, we try to register it as it is and that is why registration of information is not done properly.

WHAT IS THAT PROCESSING?

Let’s understand it by reading the following passage. While reading, try to visualize it clearly in your mind.

An
ant
is holding a
mobile.
With the mobile, it makes a call to an
elephant
. The elephant is holding a
paintbrush
. With the brush, he is painting a
poster.
This poster is pasted on a
tree.
On top of the tree is a
Spiderman
from whose hands a
rainbow
is coming out instead of web. Rainbow is going into a
mug
, from which a lot of
biscuits
are coming out and falling into a
lake
. In the lake there is a
dragon
, from whose mouth
clouds
are coming out. On the cloud there is an
umbrella
on which a
shoe
is placed.

Now close your eyes and try to repeat it mentally…

Now, without looking back at the story, try to answer the following questions:

1. What was the ant holding?________
   
2. Whom is it calling?________
   
3. What is the elephant holding?________
   
4. What is the elephant painting with the paintbrush?________
   
5. The poster is pasted on what?________
   
6. What is there on the tree?________
   
7. What is coming out of his hands?________
   
8. The rainbow is falling into what?________
   
9. What is coming out of the mug?________
   
10. Where are the biscuits falling?________
    
11. What is in the lake?________
    
12. What is coming out of the dragon’s mouth?________
    
13. What is coming out from the cloud?________
    
14. What is there on the top of the umbrella?________
    

Are you able to answer every question correctly? Awesome! Isn’t it?

And the most amazing part is, if you try to recall the words written in bold, you can do it in the same sequence, without actually rote memorizing them!

You must be amazed that what you were unable to do in 10 minutes, you could now could do in just 2 minutes.

How
and
why
you were able to do that?

Irrespective of our academic background, we all have a scientific brain, which is curious to know the
‘WHY and HOW’
of everything. Knowing something is different and knowledge of ‘
how this is useful in my life?
’ increases the chances of using it practically.

Let’s try to understand the basic principles or laws of memory that will enable you to memorize this list or any such kind of list or sequence.

The three basic laws can be summarized in a single word:
AIR

LAWS OF MEMORY

As mentioned above, the basic laws or ‘principles of memory’ can be summarized in a small word i.e., AIR.

A:
ASSOCIATION

Associate the new information with the old information already stored in the mind.

I:
IMAGINATION

Imagine that association in the mind and make a clear mental picture of what you want to remember.

R:
RIDICULOUS THINKING

Visualize the association in a funny way.

1. LAW OF ASSOCIATION

According to this law, any information can get registered in our brain only if it can be associated or linked with any of the prior information already present in our memory. In fact, all learning till date can be attributed to this law of association. Most of the things you remember have been associated subconsciously with something else that you already knew.

For example
, we all know what a line is. If we put four lines of equal length together, end to end, to form a closed figure, we make a square. If we put six squares together, the result will be a cube. Quite simple, but nobody can understand the meaning of a cube without knowing what a line or a square is.

What is true in Geometry is true in every phase of life.
We learn and remember a thing that is new to us only by connecting it with something that we already know.
There is no other way of acquiring knowledge and we have been doing this throughout our life. We may not always be aware of this process, but we make associations regularly.

Association means linking what you want to remember with something you already know.

In fact, our brain always stores information in the form of associations or connections. Whenever a stimulus comes from outside, it recalls the connection.
For example
, you are thinking about your school friend. Immediately, you will be reminded of many things associated with your friend like the time you spent together, your school, classroom, class teacher, etc. Similarly, when we think about a bird, along with it we are reminded of nest, eggs, sky, and tree.

Can you think of any one thing to which no other information is related? According to scientists this is impossible since our brain can memorize information only in pairs. For example, if someone asks you to memorize a random date like 18
^th
February, 1985, it is illogical for us to memorize it. When this date gets associated with the name of any person or event, we can then memorize it. This is because our brain memorizes only connections and for connecting, we need two elements of information.

Given below are some examples from a simple word association game that children often play for amusement:

Thus we find that we instantly recall something after having read a particular word, although we may not have thought about that thing for months. You can easily find an association or relation between the given word and the respective answer.

• Now try it for yourself. Write down what comes to your mind immediately after reading the following words:
  
  • Sachin Tendulkar
    _______
    
  • Books
    ________________
    
  • Pen
    __________________
    
  • Window
    _______________
    
  • Cup
    __________________
    
  • Party
    _________________
    

Association simply means that when one word or idea is presented, another word or idea, with which the first word is connected, is recalled.

Try to recall the list of 15 words you memorized in the beginning of this chapter, starting from Ant, and write all of them in the space given below:

I am sure you have successfully recalled nearly all of them in the same sequence.

Now let’s play a little trick!

Try to recall and write what was after elephant:________

Now check if you can correctly tell what was before elephant:________

Write what is after dragon:________

Once you have written your answers, refer to the list and check. I am sure all your answers are correct.

Whether I ask you something from the middle of the list or from the end, you are able to answer it so fast because when I ask elephant, it is linked to paintbrush in the forward order and is associated with mobile in the reverse order. The moment I give you one information, the other one connected to it is recalled automatically without any effort of going into the sequence of the whole list.