How to triple your memory skill by using this trick

How to triple your memory skill by using this trick

Tanya Cushman:

 So, I have a little test for you. Don't panic.

 

I'm not here to judge you. It's just a little test, OK?

 First, you get 30 secondsto memorize 10 words in the right order.

 After that, you get 30 secondsto write down what you remembered.

 And then finally, you get 30 secondsto check your answers

 So, are you guys ready? Well, we're going to start anyway.

 So, memorize 10 wordsin the right order in 30 seconds in three, two, one, go! Word in picture above

OK. Stop. Now write down what you remember.

 OK, and stop. Now quickly check your answers. OK, and stop. Very exciting; I hearda lot of grunting and moaning. So I hope I didn't stressyou out too much. Now a moment of reflection.

 I'd like you to ask yourself, "How did I memorize this,and was it the best way to do it?" Now, for the generationof my parents and grandparents, being able to memorize something like thiswas an absolutely essential skill.

 But nowadays, why would anyonewant to remember a list of anything? You just take a picture of the screen,and you're done, right? it seemed as if memorizinghas somehow become less important. 

So why should we then,in today's day and age, still want to get better at memorizing? Well, to answer that question,I'd like to tell you a little story. In high school, I flunked a grade, twice.

 After seven years of torture,I finally got my diploma. Sweet, sweet freedom! What would I do with it? I didn't know. One thing I did know, however, was that I didn't wantto go back to school because that old learning business, it wasn't cut out for me. 

So instead, I wentto sunny California for nine months, and there I worked as a bagger,not beggar - bagger. So in a supermarket, I had to put people's groceries in bags,and then I'd get a little tip. Surprisingly, that year I learned so much

I learned how to bag a bunchof groceries really, really quickly. I learned how to drive a car. And in California, people are a little bit more openthan they are in Amsterdam. 

So I also learned how to havea little chat with a stranger, just for the hell of it. That year I discoveredthat I don't hate learning, just the specific way of doing it. So I decided to go and study psychology. 

Now for the first time ever, I was getting informationthat I absolutely wanted to know. Now I was spendingmore time in the library than I spent skipping schoolas a teenager, voluntarily. 

The only problem was that I wasspending all of my time in the library because I'd never learned how to learn. So I started experimentingwith different methods of reading texts, of memorizing texts, and I got my reading timeof three hours per chapter down to one. 

This way of studyingenabled me to do an honors program, to get my degree, and to fall in love with learning. And now I happily workfor a company called Remind, in which we teach peoplethe science and art of learning. 

We're trying to bring back into educationwhat we ourselves missed. Now for the past three years, we've also organizedthe Dutch National Memory Championships for high schoolers. 

We do this to show that everybodyis capable of amazing feats of memory, but also to show that memorization is about a lot more than just learningyour French or your Spanish words. And today I'd also liketo share this with you.

So, in the beginning, I made you do this little test, just to make you awareof how you're memorizing things right now. Next, I'd like to give youa new type of memory experience. This time you can even sit back and relax.

 So I'm going to ask youto find a comfortable position to sit, to close your eyes,and to take a deep breath. Now, I want you to thinkof someone you know called John, and I want you to see him. Now, John just grabbed the sunout of the sky, and he just threw it on your feet.

 And now your feet are gettingreally big and red and swollen because John justthrew the sun on your feet. Now you look to your knees, and on your knees, you see10 little guys playing basketball - very strange sight. And on their shirts, you can see in brightlycolored letters the "New York Knicks," so you have some Knicks on your knees. Next, you look to where your thighs are, but they're gone. Your thighs have been replacedwith Fords, the cars

They could be Ford Focusesor Ford Mustangs. Your thighs have been replaced with Fords. Now, with your bottom, you feel a hard plastic seatof a go-kart vibrating. With your bottom, you feelthe hard plastic seat of a go-kart. Your belly starts rumbling very loudly. 

So you follow your belly,and it leads you to McDonald's, and there Ronald McDonaldstarts shooting rays of light at you with a ray gun. Ronald McDonald is shooting rays of lightat you with a ray gun. He hits you on your chest, and now from your chest,a big bush of gray hairs is growing. 

A huge bush of gray hairis growing from your chest. So obviously, you hurry hometo shave it off, and on your doormat, you see a letter. So you open it and it has good news. As you read it, you feel a huge weightfalling off your shoulders. A huge weight falling off your shoulders. Your shoulders get all light and tinglybecause you just paid all of your bills. Big bills, little bills, each and every bill has been paid for,and you have plenty of money to spare.

 Now you proceed to the bathroom, because now on your neck, a bunch of tiny bushesof thin blonde hairs have appeared. On your neck, a bunch of tiny bushesof thin blonde hair. 

As you look in the mirror, suddenly your mouthjust starts talking all by itself, and it's saying, "Yes, we can;yes we can; yes we can." Now you turn around,and now suddenly your eyes are, ah, because Donald Duckjust poked out both of your eyes with a trumpet made of pure gold. Now you can open your eyes againand come back to this place. 

Luckily, it's a lot safer herethan where you just came from. So, I just made you guys memorize the past 10 presidentsof the United States of America in the right order. Now I'm going to show you, and then you can seehow many of these you still know. So with each body part, I'm goingto ask you what happened there, and then you could think of it. Even better would beif you just shout it out.

 Now, what happened to your feet? John threw the sun, yeah -President Johnson. (Laughter) Now, what happened on your knees?Knicks, yes - President Nixon. OK. So what were your thighsreplaced with? Fords - President Ford. OK, and what did you feelwith your bottom? OK, President Carter, yes. Some people are ahead of the game

Now, your belly led you to McDonald's; what happened? OK. Ronald McDonald shooting rays of … So Ronald Reagan. He hits in your chest, and you got what? Big bush of gray hairs - Bush senior. (Laughter) Now, your shoulders got light, why? Paid all your bills - Bill Clinton.

 Now, what did you have on your neck? OK, a bush of thin blonde hairs. Bush junior. What was your mouth saying? "Yes we can" - President Obama. And what happened to your eyes? Yeah, Donald Duck, trumpet, pure gold. Who else but Donald Trump? So, if you memorized more this timethan the first time, please stand up. OK. So we have almosteveryone standing up; that's awesome.

 Now, if you think this way of memorizingis more fun than the last way you used, please stand up or remain standingif you're already standing. Oh whoa, now we almost have everyone. 

I'm very pleased to see this. OK. You guys can sit back down. Thank you very much. Now, when you makebizarre images to memorize, suddenly it becomes a lot easier. If you tie these bizarre imagesto a place you know well, like your body, suddenly memorizing things in orderbecomes a lot easier. OK. Well, cool. 

But I asked you guys in the beginning, "Why should we, in today's day and age, still want to get betterat this - at memorizing?" Well, because by getting betterin a skill like this, you can also get betterat a different skill: the skill of experimentation. By experimenting with differentmethods of doing things, I found out that I canget better at anything. 

I found out what worksfor me and what doesn't. What if I'd never learnedthe skill of experimentation? I may have never gone back to school; I may have never enjoyedstudying psychology, and I probably would nothave been standing here today, because one of the things I thoughtI really couldn't do was public speaking. 

Now, there are people of every generationnot doing things that they might love, that they might even be great at because they think they can't do it. So how beautiful would it be if in schools we can teach kidsthat they can get better at anything, and they can even get betterat getting better at things, get it? But not just the kids, because the older generationis often seen as too old to learn. But they're not too rusty. Anyone can improve themselvesby experimenting, and I hope you experienced that today. 

Now at Remind, we break up this processof experimentation into three steps: the check, the experienceand the experiment. The check is all about becoming awareof what you're doing right now. 

So maybe during the first test,you became aware of the fact that you just repeatthe words over and over and that that doesn't work too well. The second step: the experience is all about being opento new possibilities and trying them out. So maybe during the visualization, you realize that this works a bit betteror at least you like it more.

 And the third step is the experiment. This is about taking somethingfrom that new experience that you had and applying it in your own lifeto see how it works for you. So, maybe you're one of those people that when someoneintroduces themselves to you, you just immediately forget their name.

Yeah, sound familiar? And you want to use visualizationto do something about that. So far I've only taken you guysthrough the first two steps. The final step is up to you. So when I'm done here,I'd like you to take a moment for yourself and to write down an experimenton the little card we've given you and to put thatin your wallet as a reminder. 

By continually followingthese steps of experimentation, you discover what you're doing; you keep yourself opento new possibilities, and you allow yourselfto continually transform. And regardless of what you're learning, be it memorizingor martial arts or mathematics, you'll get better not only in the skillthat you're trying to develop, but you'll get betterat the process of learning itself. 

And that's something that sticks. It's something you could take with youto your new job, your new hobby, your new relationship, your new whatever. So this is somethingabsolutely everyone should know, and I believe we shouldteach it in schools. 

But let's not just wait for itto be implemented in schools. I also believe that the most importantchange starts with the individual. It starts with you. So, go out there and experiment. Learn something new or a new way of approaching something old because there are few skillsas valuable as the art of learning. Thank you.