Memorization: Mnemonics

Welcome in this lesson we are going to be covering one of the most popular techniques that memory experts use we call it Pneumon x. And on the later chapter one uncover memory paralysis. So Mnemonics is a great tool to be able to remember names of words places. If you're studying anatomy in college and you have the room or all the bones the nerves it's a great technique that you can use for that. So let's start with this list. Bread milk cereal meat apples toilet paper oil and salt. This list is a supermarket list. Now you might be saying I don't need a supermarket list to remember because I have my own but there are some times where like you're taking an exam you are not allowed to bring your phone to cheat. And remember all your words. So but we'll practice with the supermarket list. And I tell you what I use this technique a lot. Even to go to the supermarket it's a short list and I don't feel like writing or I don't have my phone with me and my wife tells me we need this this this and this. I create my little story and I go about here's the thing about mnemonics. There are some people that have their own created pneumonic. KEYES I created my own. It is good that you create your own keys as well. I created mine use in animals. So I start with the letters of the alphabet like a b c d. Each letter corresponds to a different animal. So A's and B's B C is cat D is dog is elephant f as a fox G is a goat. H is a hyena. The key is to link each of your keys. So these are your keys and these are your elements and you link them together. So a and is going to go with Brad Bay's going to go with milk. Seeds can go with cereal. Dog is going to go with meat. Elephants going to go with apples. Fox is going to go with toilet paper. Goes with oil hyena with salt. Now here's the trick to pneumatics the most important thing that you have to understand is that you have to use emotions and emotions elicit a response in your brain. It could be positive or negative it could be a sad or a happy thing it could be something that scares you whatever it is the more emotional charge your thoughts are the more your memory is reinforced. So you want to have an emotional. Like when I do these things I try to be funny. Now if there is an actual word that reminds me of something sad or scary I might use that because it's easier I can link it faster. But if not I tend to do funny stuff. The funny funnier the crazier the more vivid you could do it the better it is. So if you have to imagine your neighbor dancing in a little tutu being a ballerina with a beard and a red and yellow hat while holding a fork because he had to remember for the better. So let's do this example and the story that I'm going to tell you with these words and my keys are not yours so it's even though this will help you and you'll remember with this it's not your story. So when you make your own story it's a lot more powerful by the way I've tested this with my two kids. They're six and seven years old and they did great. We did a list of 10 items with KISS and then we did a list of 10 items randomly and I told him to try to memorize them and we helped them form a story with the first 10 items. And an hour later they remembered it in the afternoon we remembered it the next day they remember the whole list. But Gask him on the other list. Didn't remember. So this just really works. And my nephew who's behind the camera has tried it as well and he can tell you that it worked right. I hope he goes you might not be able to hear. So here we go. And I'm going to imagine that I'm in my house and there is Brad on top of the counter. And these ads are walking while they're dancing doing a little hula dance grabbing a bunch of crumbs and taking them back home for food while I'm in my kitchen looking at my hands dancing. There is a bee roaming around my milk carton trying to steal the sugar from it. Then my dog is chasing my cat. And as that cat runs around he knocks over the cereal box and the cereal becomes spread throughout the floor and it's a big mess and I'm angry. So I grabbed the piece of meat that I had laying on the counter because I just got back from a supermarket I threw it up the door so he stopped chasing the cat while I go into my living room. My children are watching TV and they're looking at a program where elephants have been eating apples but they're not just eating apples. They were actually being trained to stand up and dance and move their trunks and they're catching their apples with their trunks. Then I look out the window and there is a fox running through my yard and it has a little piece of toilet paper stuck on his feet. You know it's like when you go to the bathroom and you get toilet paper it's kind of funny. Well imagine the little fox running a little toilet paper waving behind him. Then I am back in my kitchen. I turned around and I notice my oil canister my olive oil canister has a picture of a goat. That's kind of the brand. It's a goat doing a muscle posts saying eat olive oil or olive oil is better. Whatever you just imagine. And that's my oil. And then finally I hear this laughing outside as well. After the fox and this is why the fox was running it was running away from a hyena That was laughing. So I come outside and you know we've seen those online salt guns to kill bugs. Well that's the only thing I have in hand. So I load my little gun And I go outside and I shoot the hyena with this Salt's shot so I could remember salt. So I know it sounds silly but now I have a whole story so I can start say my aunt's war in the counter eating the bread then I see a bee that's dancing around my milk carton drinking trying to extract the sugar from the milk. My dog is chasing my cat who knocks down the cereal I throw the meat at the dog. So he stops chasing him. I go check on my kids are watching a TV show where elephants are eating apples catching them with their trunks as I look out the window. There is a fox running away from a hyena. And this fox asked toilet paper stuck in their feet. Then I look inside and in my counter there is a olive oil canister with a goat doing a muscle post saying eat this olive oil and I go outside my backyard grabbed my salt gun to shoot the hyena. You see how he's not worse now and I know you're like oh it takes. It doesn't take long once you practice it long enough. It's very easy to create these vivid images. And so now I can go and is bread B is milk. Cat is cereal. Dog is meat elephants. Apple foxes toilet paper Godas olive oil hyæna is salt. Very simple to make sense. It's a very powerful technique. This thing Niek works well to do like long lists. I recommend to do it with shorter lists. Any you know anywhere between one and 20 items for longer items. I recommend you do the memory palace which is the next technique that we're going to cover in the next lesson.