How to Remember Anything: The Proven Total Memory Retention System (31 page)

Use the following steps, in sequence, to learn the chronological history of any nation:

1.
Change the name of the leader to an audionym.

2.
Associate the audionym of the leader’s name with location 1 in your first room.

3.
Change the year the leader entered office to a Code Word, using the Number Code.

4.
Associate the Code Word of the year with the audionym of the leader’s name.

5.
Change the first event of the leader’s term to an audionym (s).

6.
Associate the audionym for the first event of the leader’s term with the Code Word for the year the leader entered office.

7.
Repeat steps 5 and 6, associating (linking) the audionym for each event with the audionym for the previous event. You can link as many events as are needed for each leader.

If there is an extensive number of events for a leader, then each numbered room location can be used for a different event. Or each numbered room location can be used for a decade with links representing the major events of that decade.

This system is quite flexible and can be easily adjusted to your particular needs or to any application. Using a combination of only the techniques you learned in this book, you can remember virtually anything.

HOW TO MENTALLY CONVERT KILOMETERS TO MILES

Here is an amazingly simple method to convert kilometers to miles. I de
veloped it during a trip to Europe in 1984. Select a “kilometers room.” Mentally face the front wall. Follow these simple steps:

At location 1 (back left corner) see a gigantic
shoe!

At location 2 (left wall) see a
tuna
leaping through the wall!

At location 3 (front left corner) see a gigantic child’s
top
spinning!

At location 4 (front wall) see a huge
nail
stuck in the wall!

At location 5 (front right corner) see a huge
mat
(doormat) hanging in the corner!

At location 6 (right wall) see a gigantic
mike
(microphone) stuck in the wall!

At location 7 (back right corner) see a
ram
leaping out of the corner!

At location 8 (back wall) see a
lasso
flying out of the wall!

At location 9 (floor) see a gigantic
lily
bursting and growing out of the floor!

Imagine that each numbered room location has a zero to the right of it. The room, therefore, is numbered 10, 20, 30, 40, and so forth. The numbered room locations represent kilometers. The objects we placed in the numbered locations represent miles.

To mentally convert single-digit kilometers to miles, just slide the decimal point one position to the left.

To convert three-digit kilometers to miles, just slide the decimal point one position to the right:

Notice that the pictures for units of kilometers and hundreds of kilometers remain the same. As long as you remember that the kilometer room is set up in tens or hundreds, rather than in units, it is easy to mentally slide the decimal point to accommodate units, hundreds, thousands, and so on.

To convert 444 kilometers to miles:
Convert the hundreds: 400 km = 250 miles
Convert the tens: 40 km = 25 miles
Convert the units: 4 km = 2.5 miles
Add the miles: 250 + 25 + 2.5 = 277.5 miles

Typically, however, you will not need to be so precise as to even use the units column. In the previous example, you would most likely convert 444 kilometers to “approximately 275 miles.”

This is a very practical application. I suggest you use it every time you see or read distances in kilometers.

HOW TO LEARN VERBATIM INFORMATION

I have worked with thousands of individuals who want and need to learn
verbatim information. For most people, learning verbatim information is difficult, boring, and very time-consuming. With this system, however, it is fast and easy.

Verbatim information is required by actors, public speakers (especially when quoting others), and fraternal organizations requiring absolute accuracy in the conferral of ritualistic degrees.

In one application of my system, I applied the techniques to a presentation of more than 8,000 words of unusual and sometimes ancient grammar that required absolute accuracy. By absolute accuracy, I mean that every word had to be exactly right, including singular and plural words.

The more than 8,000-word presentation had been handed down through centuries and was not available in print. Yet, the accuracy required by the organization was so precise that a single word or a part of a word mispronounced or misplaced would be instantly detected by those in the organization who, themselves, had spent years learning the approximately one-hour presentation. What normally required many months or years to learn was accomplished by many members of the organization in only thirty-five to forty hours using a combination of the techniques you have learned in this book. It is unlikely that any verbatim application you will ever require will approach the difficulty of that presentation.

To show you how I apply the system to verbatim information, I’ll use just part of the Gettysburg Address. The first step is to break the speech down to just a couple of words per line. It is very important to know that you would seldom need to break any text down as much as I have broken it down here. In fact, sometimes a single word will trigger a complete sentence in your mind without needing to break the sentence down at all.

Also, although you may need to break a text down into short lines initially, as you practice the presentation, you will need fewer audionyms and, in turn, fewer lines. You must always start with the known. In this case, the known is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, so start by seeing Lincoln.

Always use your natural memory and common sense in learning anything with the memory system. There are many words such as
a, an, to, the, in, on,
and so on that just make sense in context and, therefore, you will not need an audionym to remember them.

Start with
Lincoln.

See
Lincoln
holding
four scoreboards!
(fourscore)

The
scoreboards
have
seven ears
on them! (and seven years ago)

Each of the
seven ears
has an
hourglass
with
fathers
standing on it! (our fathers)

The
fathers
are holding a
bratwurst
with a
fort
on it! (brought forth)

The
fort
has a
pond
with a
thistle
sticking out of it! The
thistle
has
cotton
with a
net
on it! (upon this continent)

The
net
has a
newt
eating a
nacho
in it! (new nation)

See the
nacho
with a
cone
in it! The
cone
has a
sieve
in it! The
sieve
has the
Liberty Bell
in it! (conceived in Liberty)

On the
Liberty Bell
is a
cat
playing
dead!
(dedicated)

The
dead cat
stands up and holds
two propellers!
(to the proposition)

The
two propellers
have
almonds
all over them! (that all men)

The
almonds
have a
crate of quails
sitting on them! (are created equal)

Again, if you are learning this or any other presentation verbatim, you will find that, soon, you will not need many of the audionyms and that one or two audionyms will be enough to trigger one or more sentences. Try it! You’ll be pleased with your results!

The above speech (as far as it is given) uses twenty audionyms. The same speech (as far as it is shown and as one becomes familiar with it) can be presented with only one audionym:
four scoreboards.
However, it is best to use more audionyms at first so you learn each sentence verbatim. Then, when you know the sentence, a single audionym will trigger the sentence or sentences.

Following is the Gettysburg Address highlighting the words and audionyms I ultimately used as memory aids to recall the entire speech.