How to Remember Anything: The Proven Total Memory Retention System (11 page)

HOW TO REMEMBER TELEPHONE NUMBERS

The ideal way to remember a phone number is to change the three-digit prefix into a single Code Word and associate it with a Code Word for the four-digit suffix. For example, 741-9214 could be converted to ca
rt
-
p
ai
nt
e
r
. Visualize a
c
a
rt
with a
pa
i
nt
e
r
in it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if every telephone number could be changed into Code Words by finding a single word for both the three-digit prefix and the four-digit suffix? Unfortunately, it usually doesn’t work that way. Often, however, it is possible to change the prefix to a single Code Word. For example:

Many times it is necessary to scan the entire seven-digit number in order to find the right combination because the Code Word(s) may not be immediately obvious.

The number 750-1390 is listed below six times, with six different sets of Code Words. There are many more Code Words that could be used. The important thing is that the Code Words need not be related at all—just associated together by forming a link of the objects they represent.

Learning telephone numbers is a two-step process:

1.
Create Code Words for the telephone numbers.

2.
Associate the phone number with the person or place to which the number belongs.

Remembering phone numbers in your local area is often much easier. For example, in some small towns there is only one prefix. In this case, you need a memory system only for the last four digits (-xxxx) .

In those areas where the first two digits of the prefix are the same, as in 243-xxxx and 249-xxxx, apply the Number Code only to the last digit of the prefix and to the four-digit suffix (x-xxx).

It is unnecessary and inefficient to apply a memory system to anything you already know through your natural memory or common sense!

Soon you will learn a Code Word for every two-digit number from 00 through 99. Each Code Word will be the word you always use for a particular two-digit number, and, therefore, will be called the Key Word. After you know the Key Words for every two-digit number, learning telephone numbers will be a snap!

Obviously, the ideal approach to learning a telephone number is to use only one Code Word, but this opportunity seldom occurs.

If you ever have difficulty creating a Code Word for a four-digit number, you will always be able to comfortably rely on the Key Word system taught in the next chapter.

In remembering telephone numbers, there are really only two items involved: a name (or place) and a number. The name (or place) must be changed into an audionym (or object) and the number must be changed into Code Words.

If the number to remember is that of a friend, acquaintance, or a place with which you are familiar, you already have a starting point. If you are learning a list of phone numbers for persons or places with which you are not familiar, you must have a visual image of either the person or the place. Remembering telephone numbers is really just an association and link technique: you associate the phone number (its code) with the person or place to whom it belongs.

Let’s suggest that the telephone number for your bank is 352-5200.

1.
See the bank in your mind’s eye.

2.
Change the number (352-5200) into Code Words: for example,
m
e
l
o
n
-
l
io
n
-
s
ee
s
aw.

3.
Associate the phone number—
m
e
l
o
n
-
l
io
n
-
s
ee
s
aw—with the bank.

For example, visualize the bank as a gigantic
melon.
As you look at the
melon
a
lion
leaps out with a
seesaw
in its mouth! With a clear visual image of the bank in your mind, think, bank, see melon-lion-seesaw, and remember 352-5200.

Now try the system for a phone number you would like to learn. Pick one that you call on occasion, but that you do not know—your bank, the pizza place, the post office, and so on.

1.
You already have a visual image of the person or place.

2.
Change the phone number into Code Words. Link them together, starting with the first Code Word.

3.
Associate the first Code Word with the person or place.

The remaining link of Code Words will fall into place.

When learning telephone numbers, it is a common error to recall the Code Words (objects) out of order. Because there are so few objects, you can see them all at once and, therefore, tend to disregard the sequence.

When recalling the objects (Code Words) for a telephone number, it is not good enough just to see all of the objects. You must see them in their proper sequence! In the previous example, you may remember all three objects—the Code Words—we associated with the bank: melon-seesaw-lion.

You are correct if you remember these as the three objects, but you are incorrect if you visualized them in this sequence: melon-seesaw-lion. This sequence would translate to 352-0052. You should have remembered them as melon-lion-seesaw, because the correct number is 352-5200.

To prevent errors in translating Code Words to phone numbers, always see the first Code Word as the largest object in the link. The next Code Word should be associated with the first, but should be smaller. If you need a third Code Word, its object should be smaller than the second.

You will seldom need more than three Code Words for learning telephone numbers. The sizes of the objects in the link should be visualized without regard to their normal sizes.

For practice, cover the answers below. Convert the following sets of linked Code Words into their correct telephone numbers:

1.
lion-seesaw-melon

2.
seesaw-melon-lion

3.
melon-seesaw-lion

4.
melon-lion-seesaw

5.
seesaw-lion-melon

6.
lion-melon-seesaw

Answers:

1.

52/00/352
520-0352

2.

00/3352/52
003-5252

3.

352/00/52
352-0052

4.

352/52/00
352-5200

5.

00/52/352
005-2352

6.

52/352/00
523-5200

Note that changing the sequence of the three objects changed the numbers.

Complete the following exercise by changing the phone numbers into Code Words. I suggest that you try to develop a single Code Word for the prefixes and two Code Words for the suffixes, because most often this is how you will learn telephone numbers. Then look at the suggested Code Words that follow the exercise.

Some suggested Code Words are:

351 (mallet, malt, melt); 22 (nun); 14 (tire, tear, tour)
532 (lemon); 30 (moose, mice, maze); 33 (mom, mummy)
252 (nylon); 25 (nail); 43 (ram, rim, room)
432 (Roman); 71 (coat, cot, kit, kite); 91 (pit, boat, beet, bat)
939 (pump); 32 (moon, mane); 25 (nail)
357 (milk); 86 (fish); 78 (cuff, cave)

While remembering telephone numbers is a very practical application of the Number Code, it requires more practice, at first, than some of the other techniques. It is, however, a tremendous time-saver and an excellent practice exercise.

I suggest that you select the telephone numbers of twenty people or places you occasionally call but are not certain of their phone numbers. After confirming the numbers in the telephone directory, write the names and numbers on a plain sheet of paper. Then use the following approach:

1.
Visualize the person or place.

2.
Change the phone number into Code Words.

3.
Associate the first Code Word with the person or place. Then link the remaining Code Words.

A VERY PRACTICAL EXERCISE FOR REMEMBERING TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Make a list of at least twenty names of people and places that may be important to you (doctor, teachers, coach, music instructor, pharmacy, or insurance agent).

Visualize each person or place, change the phone numbers to Code Words, and link the Code Words to the persons or places.

Cover the phone numbers. Look at the name of each person or place randomly and recall the phone number. Uncover the number to be sure you are correct. Later, during idle time, think of the names of the people or places and recall the phone numbers.

REMEMBERING DATES (YEARS)

Remembering dates is a frequent application of the Number Code. When it is important to know the year a certain event took place, there are a few simple rules that will help you eliminate 50 percent of the numbers to be remembered.

You can depend, to a great extent, on your natural memory and common sense. I’ll give you a few examples of what I mean by common sense. These will be examples of information you are not likely to know or care about (with the possible exception of the sinking of the
Titanic).
Knowing how to remember this type of information is very important because it can be used in many applications. For example:

The parking meter was invented in 1935.
The air conditioner was invented in 1902.
The
Titanic
sank in 1912.
The safety elevator was invented in 1853.
The Crusades began in 1095.

Observe that there are only two things to remember: an event and a date. The common sense part of it is as follows: you would know that the parking meter would not have been invented before the car, and that the car had not been invented by 1835, so if the parking meter was invented in 35, it had to be
19
35.