How to Remember Anything: The Proven Total Memory Retention System (32 page)

Four scoreboards
:
Four score
and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal
.

Engagement ring:
Now we are
engaged
in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.

Metal
:
We are
met
on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.

Feet:
It is altogether
fitting
and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate--we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground.

Brave men (soldiers):
The
brave men
, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.

World (Globe):
The
world
will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

Forest, tea leaf:
It is
for us the living,
rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on.

Rat
: It is
rather
for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion …

Thatch roof, weed, hearing and:
…
that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain …

Thistle, gnat:
… that
this nation,
under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

MENTAL EXERCISES FOR MENTAL ALERTNESS

Psychologists recommend that to stay mentally alert, we should do cross
word puzzles, read, play cards, and engage in other challenging games. While these may be helpful mental activities, they pale in comparison to the advantages of using the organized techniques you have learned in this book. Here are a few things that, with just a little practice, will enable you to astound yourself, your family, your friends, and anyone you meet. Best of all, it will continually sharpen your mind.

1.
Have someone give you a list of twenty, forty, or sixty numbers two digits at a time. Use the Number Code, the Cube, and association to recall them forward, in reverse order, and randomly.

2.
Make a set of one hundred flash cards numbered zero zero through ninety-nine and practice recalling the numbers yourself

3.
Have someone give you a list of ten, twenty, or thirty randomly numbered items.

4.
Make a set of flash cards with random words and practice recalling the words.

5.
Learn and practice the Tour of the Knight.

6.
Practice recalling ten, twenty, thirty, or an entire deck of playing cards.

If you have carefully followed all of the steps in this learning system, you should feel justifiably proud of your accomplishment. It is always difficult to dramatically change the way we do anything—including remembering. I congratulate you on your willingness to explore the untapped natural resources of your mind. I guarantee you that if you continue this memory exploration you will reap countless rewards for the rest of your life!

TEACH YOUR CHILD HOW TO REMEMBER

Next to love and respect, what finer gift could you give your child than the gift of learning how to remember? Many parents are now using this system to teach their children the presidents and their terms of office, the states and the dates they entered the Union, U.S. geography, world geography, music theory, the multiplication facts, and so much more.

Every time your child uses this system to learn anything, they strengthen their ability to remember. It also makes them realize that it is much easier to use an organized system to learn things than it is to use the antiquated and inefficient method of repetition.

Start by having your child use the numbered Cube to learn just five or ten items. Build from there and you will be amazed at how quickly and easily your child will learn with this organized system. Let us hear about your successes!

TEN MORE EVERYDAY APPLICATIONS AND EXERCISES

There are many everyday applications that are short, fast, and very practi
cal. Following are ten examples of applications of the system that you may find most useful.

1.
Your son and/or daughter plays soccer. You would like to know the name of each of his/her teammates and the names of their parent(s).

a.
Get a list of all the team members and the names of their parents.

b.
Change the name of each player to an audionym. For example, Madaline to
mandolin.

c.
Select a familiar room for the names of the first nine teammates.

d.
At location 1 (the back left corner), see the mandolin, at location 2 (the left wall), see the audionym for the next teammate, and so on.

e.
Change the name of each parent to an audionym. For example, Madaline’s mother’s name is Teresa; imagine
trees
. Just see the mandolin with trees growing out of it! Later when you think of location 1, you’ll see the mandolin with the trees. That will remind you that the player’s name is Madaline and her mother’s name is Teresa.

f.
If the father’s name is Larry, picture a
lariat.
See the mandolin with the trees, then see the trees with a gigantic lariat around them! Mandolin, trees, lariat: Madaline, Teresa, Larry. Repeat the process at each numbered location. When you get to location 9, select a 10s room and start at the ceiling with location 10, then the back left corner with location 11, and so on.

As a mental exercise, practice recalling the names of all the teammates and their parents. Use the system for remembering names and visualize the teammates and their parents as you practice reviewing their names.

2.
Prepare a list of things to purchase at a grocery store or at a drugstore. Use the Cube method to learn the list. Take the list with you as a backup, but don’t use it unless you need to. After you finish shopping, you may wish to check the list to confirm that you purchased everything on the list. Soon, however, you won’t need to take a list with you. This is an excellent mental exercise and one that will help keep you mentally alert for a lifetime.

3.
Here is an application I used to do during my presentations to large groups. I would memorize the contents of a current issue of a popular magazine. Then during my presentation I would have the audience pass the magazine around. Someone would give me a page number and I would tell them what was on that page. Sometimes someone would tell me what was on the page and I would give them the page number. This is another great memory exercise—just for fun.

Using any magazine, look at the contents of page 1 and associate the contents with location 1 in your Units room (zero to nine room). Next, look at page 2 and associate the contents with location 2 in your Units room. Continue to page 9. Then associate the contents of page 10 with location 10 (the ceiling) of your 10s room.

To further impress your family and friends, you can pay attention to the finer details of what is located on a page of a magazine. I remember a page of a magazine that had a dollar bill with the serial number very visible. It was most impressive to recall the serial number of the dollar bill.

4.
Once, while sitting in the lobby of a corporate office waiting for my scheduled appointment, I noticed the mission statement and corporate objectives of the organization on a framed poster on the wall. Naturally, I incorporated that into my presentation to the vice-president with whom I met. She seemed more impressed with that than she was with the rest of my presentation. She even had me demonstrate it to several other officers before I left the building. Oh, yes, and she scheduled my memory training for her entire executive staff. Every opportunity to exercise your mind is worthwhile. Some of those opportunities can turn into great rewards.

5.
When traveling, especially on interstate highways, a good mental exercise is to memorize the names (towns) of the exits and their mileage markers. It is fun, easy, and practical. It is also a great mental exercise. Start with room location 1 and place the audionym for the town in that location. Then convert the mile marker to a Code Word and link it to the audionym for the town.

If the exits are numbered sequentially, 1, 2, 3, and so on, use the numbered room system for the exit numbers. Link the audionym for each town to the room location for the exit number. Then convert the mile marker to a Code Word and link it to the audionym for the town.

6.
Learn your credit card numbers, expiration dates, and any related codes. Create a visual image for each credit card as the known (a place to start). Then change the numbers to Code Words and link them together. Review the numbers immediately, then the next day, then the next week, and so on. When asked for your credit card number, develop the habit of giving it from memory.

7.
It is not practical to mentally store hundreds of recipes. It is practical, however, to mentally store a few food or drink recipes that you may make frequently. For a food or drink recipe, change the name of the food or drink into an audionym. If the food or drink is already something you can visualize, just use that visual image. Then, if the ingredients are not already things you can easily see or imagine, change them to audionyms and link them together in sequence. Use
tea
for teaspoon,
table
for tablespoon, and so on. For quantities, use
one fork
for ¼,
one tree
for
1/3
,
one half-dollar
for
1/2
, and
three forks
for ¾.

Buttermilk Cornbread

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1
1/3
cups buttermilk
1 large egg

Select a room for the ingredients and see buttermilk cornbread covering the ceiling.

In location 1, see one cup of all-purpose flour (1 cup all-purpose flour).

In location 2, see one cup of yellow cornmeal (1 cup yellow cornmeal).

In location 3, see one fork with a cup of granulated sugar on it (¼ cup granulated sugar).

In location 4, see a table with baking powder all over it (1 tablespoon baking powder).