Stuff I Wonder

A guy named Dave is able to memorize hundreds of phone numbers, entire credit card numbers, faces, recipes, decks of cards, and all sorts of stuff. On the other hand, others have a hard time remembering a single phone number, their anniversary, or where they place their keys everyday.

Many people seem to think that they are either born with a good memory or not, and that there’s nothing to do about it. However, for those of us who like to question everything, we realize that those with great memory capabilities aren’t necessarily smarter, more special, or more gifted than the rest of us.

Take for example Dave, the guy we mentioned at the beginning. As a child, Dave was diagnosed with two learning disabilities: ADHD and dyslexia. He struggled in school and constantly got in trouble, but out of frustration, was determined to better in school by bettering his memory. It turns out he did quite well. As a matter of fact, Dave Farrow is now a memory expert.  He holds 2 Guinness World Records in memory techniques, and teaches  classes on Memory Improvement for the U.S Army, Bank of America, and other companies. Here are some tips and tricks that Dave used as a child and some he uses and teaches now. He calls them mnemonics.

What are mnemonics, and how they can be used?

MNEMONICS are simple tricks or devices that can help us memorize and remember stuff. Most of us are actually familiar with them, and have been using them since we were kids. Basic mnemonics  include acronyms, rhymes, acrostics, etc..  Advanced mnemonics, like the ones used by the pros, are very similar to basic ones, but are tweaked in such a way that lets them remember all kinds of impressive stuff.  Here’s a short description of some:

• Acronyms are the most familiar type of mnemonics. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Likewise, we are able to recall what FBI, CIA, IRS, etc stand for.
• Rhymes are also taught since we are in elementary school. Rhymes are also the reason we are able to remember our favorite songs or poems.
• Acrostics are like acronyms, but instead of making a new word, you make a phrase or sentence. For example, the sentence “My Dear Aunt Sally” in math class reminds us that you “Multiply and  Divide before you Add and Subtract.”

Now, these may seem too basic; in fact, people stop using basic mnemonics when they grow up, but why? The fact that they work wonders cannot be denied.  Now, you can build on top of these basic tricks and expand much further. Here are some more advanced mnemonics:

• Linking Method: You link something new to something you already know. For example, let’s say you’re trying to learn a bit of Spanish. The Spanish verb for sleep is “dormir”. If you remember that in college  you sleep in a “dorm”, it will be a lot easier to remember that dormir means to sleep, because you “dormir” in a “dorm”.
• Funny/Shocking Method. If you link something new to something very funny, or shocking into your mind, it will be easier to recall. An example that this works is the fact that we are all able to recall where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001, but we probably don’t remember August 4 of that same year. Try recalling where you put your keys this way:  if you put them on the kitchen table, while placing them down, imagine a huge key the size of a person falling from the sky and making a huge hole in your table. Next time you look for them, you’ll remember where your keys are.
• The Major System is a great way of memorizing long numbers. Basically, you convert numbers into sounds, and then make easy to remember sentences that you associate to that number.  I actually used this one myself to memorize my credit cards and almost all the phone #s in my phone.

There are many other methods, and very simple to use once you learn them; you just have to learn how to use them.  If improving your memory is something that interests you as well, and you’d like to learn how to use advanced methods like the ones above,  I recommend checking out Dave Farrow and/or Harry Lorraine.   They have both actually built upon these and invented a few other simple tricks.