Try This Memory Technique

Memory
I am going to share with everyone a memory technique on memorizing a list of 30 random objects, and in the correct order.
Every single person reading this right now can do this.

First I want to give you a list of random objects take 2mins and look of the list, after that cover the list and write down in the correct order as much of the list you can recall from memory.
*list
Cow……….boat……….spoon
Ring……….Mirror……..flower
Car…………Cake………..shovel
Goose……Marble………banana
Mouse……Salt……………comb
Shark……..Laptop………candle
Light……….Desk………….fork
Apple………Box…………..chair


How did you do?

The first attempt for me was garbage I forgot a lot but I didn’t spend the whole two mins on the list because I thought I had it anyway.
Before I show you how to easily remember that list, let me drop a little back story on how I stumbled on all this.

I had a night off work, so bored I started reading a book by Dominic O’Brien you can have an amazing memory, I read 90 pages into the book before having to quit due to the requirements needed to continue.
By the first night of reading his book to page 90 I was able to do 30 with easy and recall them the next day, forwards and backwards. By the second day I just played with 30, the 3rd day I added another 30 to my memory and the 5day I was up to memorizing 100 random items, and if you asked me what was item #77 on the list I could tell you what it was and what was before it or after it, or run the list from there back to the beginning in correct order.


Then I stopped adding to work on the other techniques (my goal was 100), granted I could’ve been at 100 in the first 3days but I didn’t rush. My goal now though is 500.


I will show you the goods of this technique and let Dominic O’Brien give you the details and explanations and further techniques, if you decide to buy his book, which I think is 3.99 amazon.
I’m just going to show you a starting point.



Ok what you do first is you create a “journey bank”
Your journey bank needs to be something your familiar with, like your house for example.

So for example in my journey bank I started with my old childhood house, starting in the bedroom I would look out the window onto the roof, from there I went to the bookshelf and then to the top of the landing of the steps and so on…….( there in my room I had 3 stops I would walk to in my mind)

Working in a linear fashion you create 30 unique stops along the way, never going back into the same room. As you walk through your journey think of how things look, how they smell, and feel. Let your first thoughts take the wheel don’t fight your imagination, you want these unique spots along your journey to feel as natural as possible, and since they are familiar with you this shouldn’t be too difficult.

*There is a spot on one of my journey maps that has changed over the years, it’s an old brick building we used to play in as kids, in my journey the building is there, but for years it’s been gone. My memory of the building is so strong that I keep that instead of changing it.



So right now I want you to make a journey bank of your very own, after you have made your journey bank walk through it a few times remembering all the stops along the way, because each stop is where you will be placing an item at.
Go ahead and just make 12 unique stops or 30, because below I’m going to give you 30 random items you can start out slow with 12 stops or go for 30.
* you don’t have to stay in the house you can walk around the block



Once you are comfortable

Here is your list of 30 random items, walk through your journey bank putting one item at one unique stop along the way, and then after you have done that go over your journey again until you feel like you have it.

**You might want to stop at your 5th location and recite back from your first location to the 5th spot just to see how well the items are holding in your brain**




Take as long as you like

*LIST
1. Horse
2. Toothpaste
3. Spoon
4. Banana
5. Shovel
6. Flag
7. Cake
8. Candle
9. Milk
10. Glow stick
11. Cat
12. Brick
13. Pen
14. Fork
15. Bible
16. Glasses
17. Phone
18. Gun
19. Playing cards
20. Lighter
21. Knife
22. Cow
23. Tire
24. Paint
25. Dress
26. Airplane
27. Speakers
28. Pencil
29. Chair
30. Bed


I’m going to ask a few questions, do not look back at the list.

What was item # 17 on the list?
What was before the tire?
What was after the pen?
Can you do the list backwards?

So how did you do?

When I first learned this (4weeks ago) I was amazed myself and was kind of selfish to be honest, but I had to share it, but for a while I just smiled at others who were like “whoa” that’s amazing, and if they asked how? I would give a slight clue like a secret I learned, its mine, it has value. Kind of like the powers that be
.
It’s great for mental exercise, but like getting into shape physically you have to keep working out.

Today I decided to write this post up to “share” with others what I learned and hopefully you have just learned to, and from here we can learn together.

Matt

That sounds awesome, i wish i had the patience to put it in practice.

reply to post by Sippy Cup


There's a good audio book by Derren Brown where he discusses this memory trick and other similar tricks. Another good trick for memorizing a list of items is to make a story out of the words (I find this method works well for me). It's important that the story is strange and unique for it to stick in your mind. For example the first 10 words of your last list could be made into story form like this:

The horse ate all the toothpaste and then used a spoon to eat the banana. The farmer used a shovel to collect the dry manure and placed a flag in the wet cakes like putting a candle in a birthday cake. The farmer then retired to a glass of milk mixed with glow stick fluid.

It's strange story of course, but that's what makes it memorable. You need to imagine the story in your mind from start to finish a few times before it will be properly embedded in your memory, but it works really well because your brain much prefers to remember information in this way compared to remembering a list of generic words.

Another good method for memorizing things is imaging that you have a "mental palace" where you can place objects throughout the rooms in the palace. The "palace" could be your old school or your house, or a combination of different places which are familiar to you... or they may be entirely made up places which exist only in your mind.

But it's important that you never forget the layout of your mental palaces. Different rooms can have different meanings and be used for storing different types of information. You simply place the imagined item into the room so that it is large and bright and colorful in some way. This makes it easier to remember.

The only downfall with that method is that the items don't necessarily have any link to each other, as they do with the method I mentioned above or the method you described. So it's better to store large lists of words using the method you mentioned or the method I described above. But the mental palace method is better for some situations.

Every time I see this I wonder how many people just don't know about it.

But it's also a trap.

Because you can get lost trying to remember what was in your shoe, was it the milk or the orange juice. Oh yeah the cow putting your shoes on, was that for cheese or something udderly different.

I have no imagination. Or I have something that breaks itself.

What it really is, is people with an already good memory can utilise this technique and profit!

but like anything, one size does not fit all.

I'll never forget a guy who explained this to me a while back... he will always have an egg in his bum.

Originally posted by Sippy Cup
I am going to share with everyone a memory technique on memorizing a list of 30 random objects

Yeah, there's a whole bunch of techniques people have developed over the years, and you've mentioned but one of them...
however personally I've never seen what practical use they'd be in day to day life, and have only ever seen them as "party tricks".

Cant recall the last time (or ever) that I've had to remember a list of 30 random words. Its usually much more specific ONE kind of things that needs the memory.
Like... "must remember to buy swiss cheese."
Or... "Bill has asked me to get the box of empty bottles from the back of the warehouse sometime in the next hour or two."
Or (while driving)... "have to check my tyre pressures when I get a chance".
Or just now... "the washing machine just finished. Must remember the hang the clothes out to dry before I go to bed after I finish playing on the computer."

Not clear how the list party trick works here when the list is ONE thing long and it all falls apart if I forget to even bother recalling the list at the actual time when I need to do it.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


The story method is in the book I mentioned, but when the author showed this method and even wanted me to do it; I totally skipped it, because it requires a lot of imagination and time to make a complete random story to stick in my mind. Also the crazy images because my brain to want to blend all kinds of unfamiliar things together, which makes it “work” to recall a list of random objects.

The author did show this as one method, but say’s it’s not the best, and I agree.


If I take a list of 30 all I have to do is look at it twice, the first time I look at it I take about 1-2seconds on each item, and the second time I go over the first 10 and by then I can do the list by memory. So about in 1:30 and I know the list.

The palace (journey bank) you’re talking about could be your house or a school you attended or attend, it’s a place that doesn’t require any extra effort to recall, because you know it so well, it’s familiar so your mind easily can go from one place to the next place. And as you already know this links the items together in sequence

reply to post by alfa1


Agreed; but besides being a party trick what practical use could we use this for? Blackjack?
I’ve asked myself the same question, but I look at it as more of a mental workout, like working out your muscles or jogging.

Why do people jog? To live longer? Outrun the police? They have spare time? Stay or get into shape (look good)?
No disrespect, but I often find the people who can’t do something, or believe they can’t, dismiss it as a useless talent.

So to answer your question… the working out of your brain and using it, and getting it into shape to organizing things , and improve your focus should be beneficial, so if you need to check your tire pressure 20miles before home you might remember it. It’s really how important the task is to you.

Now a list of 30 random objects/items are useless…unless…its extra credit in school, a guys stops you on the street and asked you to recall this list of 30 random items and if you can you would win a million dollars, or if your in a saw movie.

But I’m just a beginner myself, And I do not have a great memory , I often forget what I did two days ago, even yesterday, due to a lack of sleep , and drinking a few to many drinks too often


Now remember I just started , so I haven’t done any research on how this could impact your brain function and whatnot, or others success stories, neither do I have a success story yet to sway you to try any of this.

Now where is the party? I’ve got a trick

It's an wonderful way of improving your memory,even I usually keep playing Quiz games and keep reading which really improves your memory,I liked the memory technique which you shared with us.
Improve Memory