How to Remember Anything: The Proven Total Memory Retention System (25 page)

9.
A gigantic
honor roll
covering the entire floor

10.
A
goalpost
sticking out of the ceiling (as the tenth item, even though the ceiling is normally the zero location)

Your first reaction might be, “Why would you memorize this list of ten items when you could just use notes?” The difference is between making a speech and making an impression; between looking at your notes and looking them in the eye; between looking like an amateur and being a professional.

During the presentation—which was to a large, but rather informal, sales group—when I was talking about organization someone asked if planning was part of organization. Because I was talking about organization (
organ
to me), I knew I was at the front left corner in my room. I knew that planning (
plant
to me), was in the back right corner. So I said, “I’ll be covering planning as a separate quality. I have three more items to cover after organization and then we’ll cover planning.”

All of a sudden, there was a spontaneous applause. It sort of caught me off guard, but I quickly realized by the audience feedback—including one thumbs-up—that I had just demonstrated the power of my system. Even with the interruption, I was able to answer the question and let him know I had three more topics to cover after organization before I would get to planning. Then I mentally returned to the front left corner, saw the
organ
, and continued to talk about organization.

You can now see how to present a speech without notes. Just create the outline, then create audionyms for each subject and place them in sequence around the room or rooms. You are likely to already know what you want to say about each subject. If you don’t, just create audionyms for more of the words in the presentation. You will discover, however, that only one or two audionyms for each thought will be enough to enable you to discuss in your own words what you want to say about each subject.

An alternate method for remembering the above topics for a speech is to link the audionyms instead of using the Cube method. The Cube method works best, however, because it offers the opportunity to link the subtopics starting with the audionym in each of the numbered Cube locations.

Part II

MORE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

From this point on in the book, I will show you actual applications of my
system applied to numerous subjects. Just by reading and understanding how the system can be applied to a wide range of subjects, you will understand how to apply the system to many of your specific needs.

REMEMBER THE TEN STEPS TO MEMORY POWER IN THIS BOOK

I was enjoying breakfast with my twin brother, Dale, about an hour ago. I
was nearing completion of this book, and I reviewed with him the contents. When I told him about the section on remembering the contents of a book, he asked if I had included any examples of an actual book or if I had just included the system for doing it. I told him that I had not included any specific examples because the reader would understand how to do it just by an explanation of the system. He agreed, but still suggested that I take advantage of the opportunity to apply the system to this book. “After all,” he said, “your book teaches the reader how to learn the contents of any other book. To remember the contents of your book is to remember all the tools one needs to remember anything.” That makes sense—I should have thought of it myself!

Dale made another interesting point: “Most books for which you would want to recall its contents have a theme and a chronology. This book, because of necessity, includes chapters with unrelated subjects. Readers will understand that when the system works for this book, it will work for any book.”

Following is an actual example of the system applied to an outline of an entire book—
this book.
It will automatically give you a way to remember all the techniques and tools to remember anything. It will also enable you to mentally review this entire book at any time.

First, select a familiar room. At the ceiling, see this book, but it is a gigantic book stuck in the ceiling! Anytime you want to review the contents of this book, just think of a gigantic copy of this book stuck in the ceiling of the room you selected.

To recall what is taught in Step 1, think of location 1—the back left corner of the room. Step 1 teaches the numbered Cube. Look at location 1 and see a gigantic Cube! Later, when you think of location 1—the back left corner—the Cube will enable you to remember that Step 1 teaches the numbered Cube. You already know that the Cube is numbered from zero through nine or ten through nineteen, etc.

For Step 2, think of location 2—the left wall. Step 2 teaches the audionym technique. Change audionym to
audio system
and see the left wall with gigantic speakers blasting music out of the center of the wall! Later, when you think of location 2—the left wall—the audio speakers will remind you that Step 2 teaches the audionym technique. You already know that an audionym is a soundalike object you can see and that it represents the word you want to remember.

For Step 3, think of location 3—the front left corner. Step 3 teaches the association technique. Change association to an audionym—a s
eashell.
See a gigantic seashell bursting out of the front left corner of the room! Later, when you think of location 3—the front left corner—the seashell will remind you that Step 3 teaches the association technique.

You already know that the association technique always involves only two objects at a time: one object represents what you already know and the other object represents what you want to remember. Though they are usually two common objects, they are associated together in some illogical way. It is important to always start with the object that represents what you already know and associate with it the audionym representing what you want to remember.

For Step 4, think of location 4—the front wall. Step 4 teaches the Link system. Change Link to an audionym—
links
(a bracelet). See links bursting out of the front wall of the room! Later, when you think of location 4—the front wall—the links will remind you that Step 4 teaches the Link system. You already know that the Link system is repeated associations of audionyms linked together with each new audionym becoming the audionym you already know, to which you link the next new audionym.

For Step 5, think of location 5—the front right corner. Step 5 teaches the Number Code. Change Number Code to an audionym—
numbers.
See numbers pouring out of the front right corner of the room! Later, when you think of location 5—the front right corner—the numbers will remind you that Step 5 teaches the Number Code system. You already know that the Number Code involves converting numbers to consonant letters of the alphabet and that the vowels and w, h, and y have no number value. You also know that double consonants represent a single sound. You know, too, that words are converted to numbers based on sound, not on how the words are spelled. If you can’t hear the consonant you don’t convert it to a number.

For Step 6, think of location 6—the right wall. Step 6 teaches the Key Word system. Change Key Word to an audionym—
keyboard.
See a gigantic keyboard stuck into the right wall of the room! Later, when you think of location 6—the right wall—the keyboard will remind you that Step 6 teaches the Key Word system.

You already know that the Key Word system is a set of one hundred words for the numbers zero-zero through ninety-nine. There are also Key Words for the single-digit numbers (zero through nine). The Key Words are the words you always think of first for any number from zero to ninety-nine.

For Step 7, think of location 7—the right wall. Step 7 teaches the Topograph system. Change Topograph to an audionym—
top
(a child’s toy top). See a gigantic child’s top spinning at the right wall of the room! Later, when you think of location 7—the right wall—the top will remind you that Step 7 teaches the Topograph system.

You already know that the Topograph system is used to remember parts of a whole, such as the bones of the body, countries of a continent, or parts of an engine or a piece of equipment. It is used both to recall all the parts of a whole and the relative size and location of each part in relation to the other parts or to the whole.

For Step 8, think of location 8—the back wall. Step 8 teaches the Grid system. Change Grid to an audionym—
griddle.
See a gigantic griddle at the back right corner of the room! Later, when you think of location 8—the back wall—the griddle will remind you that Step 8 teaches the Grid system.

You already know that the Grid system is actually a memory bank of objects (audionyms). The audionyms are created by using the equivalent of a checkerboard with any number of squares. The rows are lettered down the left side of the grid. The columns are numbered across the top of the grid. An audionym is created from the intersection of each letter and number (location B 1 could have any of the following audionyms:
b
oa
t
,
b
ee
t
,
b
oo
t
,
b
ai
t
,
b
a
t
,
b
i
t
,
b
ut
t
, or
b
oo
t
h. The grid locations can serve as the equivalent of the numbered Cube because you can easily find any location sequentially or randomly.

For Step 9, think of location nine—the floor. Step 9 teaches you how to remember names. Change Names to an audionym—
names.
See thousands of names written all over the floor of the room! Later, when you think of location 9—the floor—the names will remind you that Step 9 teaches you how to remember names.

You already know that every name can be changed to an audionym and that you associate the audionym with the total person. By building a vocabulary of audionyms for male and female first names, as well as last names, the art of remembering names becomes easier every day. It is best to review the rules for developing audionyms for names. It includes many standards for names and parts of names, such as common endings.

For Step 10, think of location 10—the ceiling. Step 10 teaches you how to speak without notes. Change Speak to an audionym—
speaker
. See a gigantic speaker on the ceiling of the room! Later, when you think of location 10—the ceiling—the speaker will remind you that Step 10 teaches you how to speak without notes.

You now know the ten steps to a powerful memory covered in this book. There are thousands of applications of these ten steps, especially when they are used in combination with each other. By knowing the ten steps, you have
ten
memory tools that can be used in various combinations to remember virtually anything!

DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT

Following are audionyms representing the names of the departments in the
President’s cabinet. Here are the names of the fifteen current departments of the cabinet:

To remember the names of the departments (in alphabetical order), just start with the first one (location 1). See a gigantic
agreement
(
Agriculture
) in location 1—the back left corner of your Units room. Continue around to the floor (location 9). Then visualize your 10s room where you will place the pictures or audionyms around to location 15. Recall the audionyms and they will remind you of the name of each department in the President’s cabinet.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

As part of the legislation requiring schools to teach information about the
Constitution, I had the opportunity to teach the Bill of Rights to hundreds of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in a Winston-Salem, North Carolina, elementary school. It was a thrill to have students come to the front of the auditorium and accurately recall the ten amendments, including, for example, the five rights granted in the first amendment alone.

The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, can be learned in ten to fifteen minutes using the memory tools you have learned so far. Even if you are not interested in this information, please complete at least the first two or three amendments so you know how the system works.

1.
Read each amendment. (I have highlighted the most important points.)

2.
Use the Cube starting with location 1 (because it is important to know the amendments by their number).