How to Know if You Are Just Memorizing Allnurses
How to Memorize 10X Faster
Your Retentiveness is Like Owning a Ferrari You Don't Know How to Bulldoze
What's more than ridiculous – about people don't even know they own a Ferrari-like retentivity!
1. The #one Mistake of Memorization
Equally a professional memory coach, people say to me all the time -"I accept a terrible memory."
And that'south their biggest mistake, right there.
It's the belief that memory is a thing, or a office of their brain a dr. could look at and say...
"Oh dear, that's a pocket-size and weak looking retentiveness – no wonder you're forgetful".
But retentivity is non a concrete function of your encephalon.
It'due south a mental function or a skill that tin be learned and improved.
Think about this...
If you've never learned to snow ski, would y'all be surprised when yous proceed falling over?
No way!
So if you've never learned best-practise memorization techniques, why should you expect to remember annihilation fast and effectively?
Learning to ski is not magic.
You learn the best techniques and then practise them. If yous're taught well, you're cruising down the slopes earlier you know it.
Unleashing the incredible natural ability of your retentiveness is exactly the same.
You lot acquire the best techniques and then practice them. And you can do it in very little time.
Repeat after me –
"My memory is a Ferrari, and I'k going to learn how to bulldoze it super-fast!"
ii. The Limits of Our Memory
One of the most highly cited research papers in psychology suggests the number of objects an boilerplate person can hold in their working memory is 7, plus or minus 2.
And so I created a whiteboard blitheness video – watch it below – that challenges people to retrieve a list of 10 random words.
Sure enough, afterward xxx,000 responses here are the results:
Words right 1-iv: 16%
5-vii: 62%
viii-ten: 22%
Fifty-fifty if I gave people more words (or more than chances to 'win'), the scores would remain virtually the same.
So it seems hopeless, correct? If there's a proven barrier preventing us from remembering and recalling more than seven things, how tin can we peradventure memorize more effectively?
This is when the video goes on toblow the mind of almost everybody who watches it...
Information technology gives a second list of words – 15 this time. Simply it uses a footling bit of 'brain hackery' and shows the words equally a visual story.
The results this fourth dimension?
Words right 1-three: 2%
4-half dozen: two%
7-9: six%
10-12: 17%
13-xv: lxx%
That's a simple demonstration that your retention isn't so limited!
(For a 21 give-and-take ultra-challenge, cheque out this new video.)
3. How Memorization Should Work
Read any article or volume on memorization and you'll discover the three steps of memorization.
The 3 R's of Remembering are -
- Tape
- Retain
- Retrieve
**Other names include Encode-Store-Retrieve or Learn it-Store it-Retrieve it
Information technology'south nice and uncomplicated, and it makes sense – data comes in, and we store it safely in our mind until we demand to recall it.
So why can we only remember near 7 random words? Where do the 3 R's fall brusque?
Most people rely on their 'unconscious' memory.
They don't intentionally exercise anything in their listen to memorize new things - just hope they'll remember information technology almost by magic.
The three R's are uncomplicated to understand, simply I prefer to think of memorization in an even simpler way -
Memorization is well-nigh edifice connections between pieces of information in your mind.
The key words are 'edifice connections'.
I like this explanation, kickoff because you can't build something without thinking about it. Y'all have to have intentional action.
2nd, that activity has to exist focused on creating a connectedness or link, a bit like building a bridge.
To memorize super-effectively you lot need to put the 3 R'south on steroids, and consciously or intentionally build connections using some specific memory techniques.
No, information technology's not magic.
4. Recognizing Garbage 'Memory Tips'
You can use the three R's equally a checklist to easily recognize if a item arroyo to memorization is going to be effective … or if it's completely garbage.
For example, think about an average person listening to a list of words and hoping to magically remember them.
Did they intentionally do anything to the words to encode and record them in their heed, or to build connections betwixt them?
No.
Have they successfully retained or storedthe words in their retention?
Non really, no.
Did they try to remember the words from their retentivity?
Yes, merely without the first two steps they were inevitably unsuccessful.
It'southward no surprise the average person can only remember most 7 words.
And if y'all asked them a day after to recall the aforementioned words, they would neglect miserably.
If a person recalls viii, 9 or even all ten words, information technology's typically considering they were able to somehow build connections in their mind between the words – that's the power of recording and retaining.
v. Some Mutual Garbage Memory Tips
Just so you don't waste your time on memory tips that are NOT going to 10X your retentiveness...
...permit's chop-chop apply the same 3 R'south checklist confronting a listing of tips you'll frequently see on study blogs everywhere.
- Eat right
- Drink water
- Go a good dark's sleep
- Take Omega-3
- Meditate
- Exercise
- Learn a new skill
- Socialize
- Express joy
- Lose weight
- Moderate alcohol
- Beginning a hobby
- Quit smoking
- Take supplements
- Listen to music
Do whatever of these involve encoding information or edifice connections within it?
No.
Do they involve an intentional strategy to retain data?
No.
Do they even require you to call up knowledge you've learned?
No.
In fact, none of these 'tips' even mention what you need to call back or how to do information technology. They're focused on having a 'healthy encephalon'.
That's fine, merely it's a bit like going to your first snow skiing lesson and the instructor says -
"OK, what's really of import is that you have skis that work properly".
Your reaction? A deeply sarcastic -"Thanks very much Captain Obvious!"
Aye, it'southward important to have a fresh and alert trunk and heed, merely that'southward non a retentiveness tip – that'southward full general advice for salubrious living.
six. Why Repetition and Spaced-Repetition are Terrible (the Way Most People Utilise Them)
At present let's think about some other huge error people brand.
What's the most common way to remember something?
Repeat it over and over.
Repetition'south slightly more sophisticated cousin is chosen 'spaced repetition'.
This basically means reviewing things less often once you can confidently remember them.
You could also telephone call repetition 'practice', and exercise is plainly valuable…
…except when you lot don't do it right!
Allow's go back to the three R's again -Tape, Retain, Retrieve.
The way most people use repetition is this – they practice retrieving the information over and over.
When you study with flashcards (a concrete tool for using repetition) this is what you practise…
"Exercise I call back the answer? No?
How about now? No?
What virtually this time, do I know information technology however?"
Unfortunately, they don't use an intentional strategy for recording and retaining the information.
They're relying on 'magic' over again!
No wonder repetition doesn't work very well.
If you throw enough mud against a wall some of information technology will eventually stick…
...simply your arm volition nearly fall off from exhaustion.
7. The Science of Forgetting (and Why Spaced-Repetition is Fantastic)
Back in 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus created the 'Forgetting Curve' that demonstrates the concept of how nosotros forget data.
Afterward nosotros learn something, it naturally starts to fade from our memory over time.
We can stop this turn down by reviewing or refreshing the information in our mind.
If we review again and again, the strength of the memory is increased, and it'south 'decay' is slowed down.
By strategically spreading out the time between review sessions, you can review the aforementioned information less often only all the same strengthen your knowledge.
That is what'due south fantastic nearly spaced repetition.
You lot spend the bulk of your time and endeavour focused on new data that isn't yet glued in your memory, and less time on knowledge that'due south already putting downwardly roots in your listen.
However, strategically throwing mud against a wall is withal throwing mud against a wall!
Yous demand to employ the commencement two R's as well as retrieval .
But spaced repetition (without encoding and storing) isn't the only popular approach to memorization that's less than optimal.
8. The three R's Exam of More than Ineffective Memory Tips
Earlier nosotros get into what you should be doing to memorize more effectively, let'southward rapidly use the 3 R's Test to place some more than memory tips that but don't cut it.
These are all 'sub-optimal' memorization strategies -
Highlighting - this identifies what needs to be memorized (which is important) but doesn't utilise the 3 R's.
Re-reading - this is another form of repetition. It doesn't include recording or retaining and depending how you lot exercise it, may non even include retrieval.
Re-writing - this is more active than re-reading only it's still only repetition.
Summarizing - there's by and large no encoding or storage, and probably little retrieval either.
Don't multitask - this is proficient advice only it doesn't involve the three R's.
Play encephalon games - these generally aim to train your working memory, but any success doesn't transfer to improved long term memory.
Use your learning style - this is only bad communication. The concept of individual learning styles is popular but has long been shown by academic inquiry to exist a myth.
Chunking - this means breaking data into smaller 'chunks'. That'southward a useful first step, but the three R's don't get a look in.
Chew gum - yes, some people actually promote this as a memory tip. Plainly, it doesn't engage any of the 3 R'due south.
9. The 5 Principles of Memorization
Now you lot can identify poor memory techniques, how exercise you identify actually great techniques?
They use these five bones principles.
Meaningfulness
Things that make sense are easier to retrieve than those that don't.
For example, 'bubbling' is easier to remember than 'sbeblbu'.
If new information is meaningless or disruptive, a good memory technique will start by adding meaning. Rearranging the letters 'sbeblbu' to 'bubbles' would certainly do that.
Organization
Information needs to be well organized in your listen to be hands accessible.
Think almost finding a volume in a library or a word in a dictionary. Y'all tin easily navigate around and find what you demand because there's an organized system.
Association
Association is all about connecting or linking new information to knowledge or facts you lot already accept stored in your head.
A unproblematic example is how I remember the divergence between 'stationary' and 'stationery'. I think of a stationary car, because 'car' has an 'a' in it, and for stationery with an 'e' I think of 'letters' which is also spelled with an 'east'.
Visualization
Human memory is predominantly visual. Images are fundamentally more memorable than words.
If you shut your optics and remember some babyhood memories – best vacations, your favorite schoolhouse teacher or anything at all – you lot'll notice you use visual images to recall each of those details in your memory.
Similar you discovered in the video in a higher place, visual memory is incredibly powerful.
Attending
The concluding bones principle of learning and memorization is Attention. Clearly, you can't remember something if you don't learn it in the get-go identify. This is where lack of attention comes in.
The biggest reason people 'forget' someone's name is they weren't paying attention when they were introduced. Not paying attention is a rookie fault!
The five Principles of Memorization (5PM) all brand sense, right?
They're non specific techniques just you tin use them (just similar the 3 R's Exam) to test whether a suggested technique volition be effective or not.
*Watch the free video grooming at Memorize University to learn more well-nigh these principles.
10. The 5PM Examination of Retention Tips
Let'southward put the 5 Principles of Memorization to work.
When I was a student (before I knew about best-practice memorization techniques) my go-to retentivity tool for exams was acronyms.
I'd put a group of words into a listing, and utilise the first letter from each word to create a new (normally senseless) give-and-take.
As presently as the exam started I'd write out all those giddy words on the test question newspaper and hope I could apply them somewhere in the examination.
One of two things would happen...
...quite oft I couldn't remember all of the 'target' words each of those individual letters represented.
Second, even if I was able to apply an acronym to answer an exam question, a 24-hour interval or two later I couldn't recall either the acronym or the words it related to.
Using the 5PM Test you can easily see why acronyms and other popular retention techniques are ineffective, despite their popularity.
11. Memorization Techniques of Retention Super-Heroes
I spent over 30 years going to school and higher (I know - crazy, right?) and I now take four university degrees to utilise every bit wallpaper.
Unfortunately, during those years I only used study and memorization techniques I've already mentioned equally beingness consummate garbage.
Face up palm.
So what SHOULD I have been doing?
That's what we'll look at side by side...
12. Visual Imagery Mnemonics
When yous see 'memory athletes' memorizing pi to thousands of digits, or remembering and recalling six decks of playing cards, they're using visual imagery mnemonics.
Nope, it'due south non magic.
I'll briefly explain the three Essential Techniques, but there are many variations and different techniques for dissimilar situations.
Link and Story Method
This is a super simple technique.
You visualize an object and then create a story that connects it to the next object.
This is what I used in the video above, so you already know it's amazingly effective.
When you brand the story crazy and exaggerated it becomes even 'stickier' in your retentiveness.
Memory Palace Method
Greek politicians used this technique thousands of years ago to think the of import points in their speeches.
You lot imagine a journey, room or edifice y'all know like the back of your hand. Choose some spots along that journey or around the room/building that stand out. At each location visualize the object yous want to retrieve.
To recall everything, imagine yourself walking past all those locations and 'come across' each of the objects.
At that place'southward a brief sit-in of a unproblematic Memory Palace in this video on how to memorize a speech, but you can utilise the same arroyo for memorizing anything.
It's stunning how effectively this works, which is why it'southward a foundation technique of memory athletes.
Exchange Method
The big question you probably accept correct at present is –
"How practice I utilise these techniques for abstract words?"
This is the central to making visual mnemonics work for practical things, like studying for your medical, biology or constabulary exams.
It's elementary enough to create a mental picture of a concrete object, simply how exercise you visualize a weird sounding word, or words that aren't nouns?
Commutation is all about transforming a word into a film.
When you hear the word 'dear' you might imagine a heart. Or yous could motion picture a witch for the word 'wicked'.
Want some more challenging examples?
Check out how I practice it for names of the chemical elements in the periodic tabular array in the video below.
I use the Link and Story Method to associate each proper name, but simply focus on the substitution I use to 'motion picture' each name.
This is the same principle y'all can apply to memorize numbers, formulas or absolutely anything .
The first step is to plow what you lot need to remember into a mental picture.
For stride-by-step training in these 3 Essential Techniques, check out this video serial.
13. Why are Visual Mnemonics And then Effective?
The success of these techniques relates back to the 3 R's of Remembering.
Substituting a word for an image records or encodes what you lot need to recollect. Since your memory is predominantly visual, using mental pictures is ultra-effective.
Linking the different pieces of information together (with a story or familiar places) is how y'all can organize and retain what you lot demand to remember.
Retrieving your knowledge is infinitely easier because of the cues and connections you've created.
Visual mnemonics besides combine and use the 5 Principles of Memorization.
Substitution gives meaning to unfamiliar words and concepts.
The intentional and systematic approaches aid organize your new knowledge.
All the information is connected together with directly associations.
Visualization is one of the chief features of these techniques.
And because yous need to consciously and intentionally employ visual mnemonics, they naturally require your attention.
Here's the final reason visual mnemonics are amazingly constructive – with practice yous'll get super-fast at using them.
And that's when y'all'll observe your memory really IS like a Ferrari!
*If y'all'd like to learn more from the world'south nigh viewed retentivity coach, bank check out all the available video grooming.
**Of class in that location'southward more to studying than just memorization. Read nearly the best study skills recommended by scientific research.
Tell me in the comments below how many words you remembered from the video, and if you thought this was awesome, please give it a 'like' and share it with whatsoever students you know - they'll cheers for the valuable data :)
Here are some memory FAQs you might find interesting.
+ Is 'photographic memory' real?
No. Information technology'south a popular idea, just the scientific concept that comes closest to it is eidetic retentivity.
After staring at an image for some time, people who have eidetic retentivity report still being able to encounter the moving picture even afterward it's removed from their sight. This is different to an 'after epitome' when you see the 'negative' image of a pic you've stared at for as well long.
Notwithstanding, unlike visual memories, eidetic memories fade abroad involuntarily and tin last only a few minutes.
It'south thought that a small percentage of children have eidetic memories simply it before long disappears and no adults accept this type of memory ability.
+ What about super memorizers?
These are people who have a heightened power to learn and recall new not-autobiographical information. They're typically fantastic at remembering numbers and facts. The current view of superior memorizers is that their abilities are not innate, but are the issue of using mnemonic strategies and a lot of practice.
Can yous hear the throaty growl of that Ferrari engine?
+ What about people who tin can recollect every day of their life?
There are around 50 known 'highly superior autobiographical retentivity' individuals, or 'HSAMs' in the world.
These individuals are able to recollect the mean solar day of the week and specific details of what happened on that solar day for every twenty-four hours of their lives starting around mid-childhood.
HSAMs practice non have the same amazing ability to recall information that'due south not related to their own life and experiences.
+ Do 'encephalon training' games work?
Brain training games more often than not aim to claiming your working memory. Your working memory allows y'all to 'proceed things in mind' while you perform complex tasks.
All the same, we're focused here on making things stick in your long term retentiveness.
There'due south currently no convincing evidence that working memory grooming enhances full general cerebral ability or improves your long term memory.
To put it another fashion, information technology's generally agreed that brain grooming games improve your ability and skills at … encephalon grooming games.
+ Why can't I create mental pictures?
Up to 2% of the population may have an inability to visualize mental pictures. This status has been named 'aphantasia'.
It means you might struggle to recognize faces – and it as well means visual mnemonics are not for yous.
Source: https://www.memorize.academy/blog/how-to-memorize-10x-faster
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