How To Memorize Faster And For Longer Time: [3 Best Systems]
Today you’ll find out how to memorize faster and longer.
This easy method makes you a fast learner by showing you how to use a few easy techniques to memorize entire lists of data that you will automatically remember months after you learn them.
It is a well known indisputable fact that the mind remembers something new best when it’s related to something that’s already known and stored in the memory bank.
How to Memorize Fast:
Most of the memorization systems you’ll find are based on this fact. Three of the best are:
- Memorizing through association;
- Memorization through mental images; And
- Memorization through mnemonics.
The first two are more effective when combined in one system. But, they work individually and, I might add, are the most efficient.
The former normally teach you how to memorize lists of ten or twenty items after hearing or seeing them only once. When you demonstrate this unbelievably easy memorization technique to your friends, expect to see shocked faces.
1. Memorize through association
There will be many occasions when you must memorize a list of things. For the most part, they must be memorized in a certain order.
Now, you can do this the hard way by going through the list over and over until it becomes steady in your mind. However, this may take hours. There is a much shorter way.
The very first thing to do is memorize a list of ten items that you can associate sound with a number from one to ten. For example, my pre-memorized list looks like this:
For number one, I envision a lady. (Note the “W” sound for the number one and the word woman.)
For number two, I imagined a tulip. Notice again the similarity of voices.
For number three, I envision a THREad.
For 4, phone; 5, file; 6, sinking; 7, yeast (flat dough); 8, monkey; 9, knife and 10, tent.
Don’t memorize this list if it does not sound natural to you. Think of your own list. But it’s a necessity to memorize the list first because you need each item to form a mental picture that will connect to the item you are trying to memorize.
As an example, here’s a random list of objects I’m going to show you the mechanics of this system. Remember, our goal is to memorize the whole list in the order given.
stick, book, typewriter, can, razor, skate, apple, pole, shoe, feather
To memorize the first object – the stick – make a mental image of a lady (the object we memorized earlier to represent number one) holding a stick in her hand.
It fixes the very first thing on your mind next to the number one. Thoroughly describe the lady holding the staff.
After that, all you need to do is think of “one.” Mentally connected to her was the mental image of a lady carrying a cane. That’s all there’s to it. That’s how the mind indexes data, and that is the foundation of this memorization system.
It works backwards too. Imagine that the stick and the lady holding it will appear. It will notify you that it’s the first item in the list.
To memorize the second item – the book – make a mental image of a tulip lying on top of the book; when this sinks into your mind – it only takes a few seconds – you have memorized the second item.
To memorize the third item – the typewriter – make a mental image of a piece of string hanging over a typewriter key.
To memorize item four, make a mental picture of a phone balanced on a can.
For item #5, imagine a razor cutting through a wooden filing cabinet.
For item #6, mentally place the skates in the sink.
For item #7, imagine an apple in unleavened dough.
For item #8, imagine a monkey climbing up a pole.
For item #9, mentally drive the knife through the shoe.
And, for item #10, imagine a feather at the entrance to the tent.
That’s all there’s to it. It’s very easy to do, even the first time you try it.
Now, the best demonstration of the effectiveness of this system is telling you about what just happened while I was dictating this material to my secretary.
I have demonstrated this memorization system to many people, but he never heard of it. To test me, he asked me to name an item
I’m just dictating backwards. The result, as usual, surprised people. Now, you can do a surprise.
You will have the ability to recite the list backwards, forwards, by number or item.
Here we go again. First, memorize a list of ten items that you’ll then associate with the numbers from one to ten.
Then, make a mental picture of these numbered objects with whatever objects you want to remember. As easy as that.
Try it now. I’d bet that you memorized the list in less than five minutes. I’d also bet that you will have the ability to name objects by number, backwards, or even randomly.
2. Memorizing names through absurd mental images
I’ve at all times been bad with names; and for a teacher, it can be critical.
People do not like being called, “Hey you!” In the past I’ve tried to hide the indisputable fact that I’ve forgotten a name, but I normally do not succeed.
So, I learned this easy method. I suggest you do the same. It will save you from many embarrassing moments in your social life.
Whenever you want to remember someone’s name (1), quickly become aware of what the name reminds us of, or what it sounds like, or what the person looks like. In some way, attribute this to the person himself.
For example, I was once introduced to an extremely important man named Mr. Rosenwasser. How do you think I remember his name?
I associate it with two objects: a rose and a washer, like the one on the bolt.
Those are things that sound like their names. I mentally put the rose in the washing machine and glued this image on Mr. Rosenwasser’s forehead.
I have never forgotten his name, and since I see him maybe once every two years, he never ceases to marvel when I call his name.
Sometimes, a name indirectly brings to mind an object that you can individually associate with the person’s name.
This was my problem when I met a person named, “Mears.” Now, “Mears” is not an object, but sounds like “tears”.
So, I instantly pictured Mr. Mears with tears streaming down his cheeks.
Every time I see him I instantly see my mental image of him crying and outgoing Mr. (tears) Mears. Here are some more examples:
For the name Fetterman, I’m thinking of a tarmac-covered, hairy man. For Garbin, I’m thinking of tarpon (fish). For McCoy, I’m thinking of the guys with the hillbilly guns (the Hatfields and the McCoys). Get the idea?
This skill of memorizing names can be developed to an incredible degree and can be extremely useful to salespeople, executives, teachers or simply about anyone.
But, you must use your imagination with this system. The key is absurdity. Make pictures as “out” as you can.
You’ll remember the person’s name better that way. The mind seems to remember the “unusual” better than usual.
3. Memorization through mnemonics
Do you know precisely how to set your watch for daylight saving time? Do you know for sure when the “I” comes before the “E” in a word? What about the number of days in every month?
This is that easy. Most people know the sayings related to them.
But, how do you remember a stop made by a street car in South Philadelphia? Or the colour code used on electrical resistors?
The principle is the same. It is finished through mnemonics, which simply means “memory technique”. (Did you look it up on FLM #1?)
Once you master the technique of remembering mnemonically, you will find there’s nothing to remember that does not have the mnemonic tools to remember it.
And since memorization is such a big part of your education and learning, it is a good idea to learn mnemonic ways to memorize. Here are some examples to show you how.
If you want to remember whether you are moving the hands of the clock forward or backward at certain times of year, just remember this mnemonic: “Back and forth.” That is, in the fall, move your clock back; in the spring, move it forward.
If you want to remember whether stalactites or stalagmites hang from the ceiling in a cave, remember that the objects must be tight together, as they’re with stalactites, to survive.
The word stalagmite contains a “G” for earth. So you’ll find stalactites hanging “tightly” from the ceiling and stalagmites growing from the ground.
If you want to remember the names of the planets in the solar system, think of the lines, “My very sincere mother just served us nine pickles.”
The first letters of every word stand for the first letters of the planets and the order in which they appear in the solar system. (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.)
Ask any electronics engineer how he remembers the colour codes on resistors and he will read: “Bad boys raped our young girls, but Violet gave so willingly.”
The first letter represents the colour and its numerical value: 0 = black; 1 = brown; 2 = red; 3 = orange; 4 = yellow; 5 = green; 6 = blue; 7 = purple; 8 = gray; 9 = white”
In geography, a great way to remember the Great Lakes is to remember the word, “home.” (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.)
If you regularly drive the streets of South Philadelphia, you can recite this mnemonic to yourself: “The red devil took my mother.” (Reed Street; Dickinson Street; Tasker Street; Morris Street; Moore Street.)
If you want to remember the spelling of the word, “Principal,” think of the mnemonic, “My friend is the principal.”
To spell the word, “consul,” think “Come out, Nina; see us laugh.”
Doctors must undergo a certain routine when they admit patients to the hospital.
If you were to ask someone how he remembers the sequence of routines, he’d reply, “DC Van Dissel.” (diagnosis, condition, vital signs, outpatient care, nursing intervention, diet, intake and output, symptomatic medicine, special medicine, examination, laboratory.)
Ask a biology student to list the Linnaean classification system, and she or he will recite, “King Peter has come from Germany to seek his fortune.” (Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, form.)
I believe I’ve given you enough examples to convince you that whatever your field, discipline, or career, important data can be remembered mnemonically.
All you need to do is think of a catchy phrase or acronym that will represent the things you want to remember.
It’s astonishing how easy this system is and how effective it’s at remembering even the most difficult things (2), such as “pi” to the 14th decimal place.
How about this mnemonic: “How I want to drink, alcoholic of course, after eight chapters involving quadratic mechanics.” (The number of letters in each word gives, 3.1415926535879, “the value of “pi” to 14th place.)
Now, very few people have to remember “pi” to the 14th order, but if you are one, do not let that put you off. Just remember the mnemonic.
Easier and never fails.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read my article on how to memorize fast. I actually hope that its content has been of good help to you.
