How to Memorize Anything (9 page)

A
SSOCIATIONS ARE LIKE
P
EARLS IN A
N
ECKLACE

If I have a fist full of pearls and I put them on a table, chances are that they will get scattered here and there. Some of them might roll down the edge of the table and disappear. Some might remain on the table, constantly changing their position. After five minutes, it would be difficult for me to collect all of them in my hand. But if I put all these pearls in a string and tie a knot and place it on the table, all the pearls will remain in the same place, making it easy for me to pick them up, wear them, use them, and place them back in my drawer without losing any of the pearls.

Associating information with each other is quite similar to putting pearls in a string. Initially, when I asked you to memorize the list, most of you might have been able to recall the first 2–3 words or the last few ones, but not the ones in the middle. That’s because all words were scattered in the memory like pearls on a table. But through association, we connected the first word with the second, then second with third and so on, so the information is secured in your memory. That is why even now you can recall any word from the list in the correct sequence.
That is the beauty of association.

We have been using this association technique consciously in some ways earlier also. For example, most of us must have used the famous phrase—
‘
M
y
V
ery
E
ducated
M
other
J
ust
S
erved
U
s
N
oodles’
to memorize the sequence of eight planets in our solar system through the initials of the words
(i.e.
M
ercury
V
enus
E
arth
M
ars
J
upiter
S
aturn
U
ranus
N
eptune).

Many a times we are not able to make an association of all the information required to remember. In this book you are going to learn how to associate anything you want to remember, and the wonderful part about the whole thing is that after using this system consciously for a while, you will automatically start using it as a natural process.

2. LAW OF IMAGINATION

Law of Association does not work in isolation. It works well with the Law of Imagination or Visualization.

Imagining a thing or an event once is equivalent to hearing about it twenty times.
Our human brain remembers pictures better.
Whatever we see, we tend to retain that information for a much longer period of time as compared to what we hear. This is because the nerves connecting the eyes to the brain are twenty times more powerful than the nerves that connect the ears to the brain. Has it happened that sometimes we meet someone whose face seems very familiar but we are unable to recall his/her name?

Now think again…

Has it ever happened that you remember a person’s name but do not remember his face when you meet him?

No, right? This is because a
face is something we see and a name is something we hear
. Seeing something forms a permanent memory in our brain. In fact, try to recall any memory from the past—your graduation day at college or your first interview or your first anniversary. As you are reading this, images of those memories must have started forming in your mind because brain stores memories in the form of pictures.

From the list of 15 words, when I asked you what was after ‘elephant’, were you not able to give me the right answer without following the complete sequence? Why? Because while recollecting you were not referring to the list. Rather when I said elephant, immediately an image
(which you created while reading and visualizing that passage)
flashed into your mind and you gave the answer just by referring to that image. That is why recollection was so fast and spontaneous.

This is the power of
Imagination
. Instead of visualizing, if you had just mugged up that list, you definitely would have had to go in the sequence, putting a lot of stress on your mind just to recollect the next word.

That means if I can consciously convert any information into an image, I can keep it in my memory for a much longer period of time.
Just like you have memorized a list of simple 15 words
, we can remember anything, even abstract words, foreign language or points of speech/ lectures, etc. by using the power of
imagination
along with association.

The key to
an impressive
imagination is the third law, i.e.
Law of Ridiculous Thinking.

3. LAW OF RIDICULOUS THINKING

According to this law, whatever is odd, silly, funny, outstanding, strange, weird, unusual, or ridiculous, our brain tends to register it fast and is able to retain that information for a longer period of time. Our mind is attracted to unusual and outstanding things, events, or people.

While reading the story mentioned earlier, you visualized weird things.

• Have you ever seen an ant talking on a mobile?
  
• Have ever seen an elephant painting on a poster?
  
• Can you believe an umbrella can be on top of a cloud?
  

All these things were strange and ridiculous and that is the reason you were able to memorize them so fast.

So, if you can purposefully and deliberately make your associations funny, then you can retain it for a longer period. In a nutshell, we learn that the principle of AIR—
A
ssociation,
I
magination, and
R
idiculous thinking—can help us to register any information with easy, fast, and accurate recollection.

K
EY TO REGISTER ANY INFORMATION

Associate two or more pieces of information while imagining them, using ridiculous thinking.

We will explore the principle of AIR in detail in the following chapters of this book, which will enable us to memorize a lot many things from our day-to-day life.

PART B

MEMORY TECHNIQUES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

4

MAKING STRONG ASSOCIATIONS

N
ow that you have learnt the laws of memory, it’s time to take up a challenge and see how you can apply these laws. How about you go to your best friend and tell him that your memory has become very strong and that
you can memorize a list of 10 objects
in the same sequence,
without writing it anywhere,
and that too in just a few seconds? But before taking on the challenge, let’s practice it once.

Just imagine me as your friend who gives you a list of 10 words to memorize.

Now let’s see how you can memorize it using the
principle of AIR
, i.e.
a
ssociating one word with the next while
i
magining it in a
r
idiculous (funny) way.

The list is:

BOOK

BLACK RABBIT

SWIMMING POOL

MANGOES

YELLOW BIRD

RED HAT

BUTTERFLY

WHITE HORSE

SNOW WHITE

LAPTOP

1. Let’s start by associating the
   first
   word
   ‘Book’
   with the
   second
   word
   ‘Black Rabbit’
   . Visualize that you are holding a book and it is very thick. Try to feel its weight. It’s so heavy that you can barely manage to hold it. As you open the book, you see a picture of a black rabbit. Suddenly the rabbit starts growing in size. It becomes real and alive and comes out of the book. Just as you try to touch it to feel it’s soft and shinning skin, it jumps out of your hand, makes a face, and challenges you by saying ‘Catch me if you can!’
   

   

2. Now associate Black Rabbit with the next word—
   ‘Swimming Pool’
   . Visualize yourself following the black rabbit running towards a swimming pool. He jumps into it, splashing water all around, making you wet. People in the pool are taken aback and you can hear their screams.
   

   

3. Swimming Pool and
   Mangoes
   —Visualize that the swimming pool is full of mangoes and everyone is playing with mangoes like one plays with balls.
   

   

4. Mangoes and
   Yellow Bird
   —Suddenly all the mangoes burst open and a yellow bird appears from each mango. Visualize that they are all flying in the sky. The sky seems full of yellow birds.
   

   

5. Yellow Bird and
   Red Hat
   —Visualize one of the yellow birds wearing a big red hat like a British lady. She is looking very pretty in it.
   

   

6. Red Hat and
   Butterfly
   —Visualize the bird holding the red hat in her hand and waving it like a princess, making graceful gestures towards people. Just as she raises her hat, a butterfly flies from beneath. Now see the butterfly flying down towards you.
   

   

7. Butterfly and
   White Horse
   —Visualize the butterfly coming near you. As it comes closer, it gets transformed into a white horse. You are very glad to see him as you touch his soft mane.
   

   

8. White Horse and
   Snow White
   —Visualize that just as you were about to sit on the white horse, Snow White came running from behind, knocked you down, sat on the horse, and rode him away.
   

   

9. Snow White and
   Laptop
   —Visualize Snow White waving her hand in the air and by magic, a laptop appears. She herself disappears in the dust, throwing the laptop towards you. You manage to catch it carefully and place it on the ground.