How to Memorize Anything, the Real Deal

That's it. I'm officially tired of websites promising lots of memorizing "tips and strategies" but only tell scientific-sounding treatises on you why you forget things. These fall into two broad categories, the first being a list of what may or may not help, such as forming word associations, initials or using cute, specialized abbreviations; the second is long, technical (read: boring) psycho-babble that attempts to pinpoint the crucial juncture where our brains let go of useful information and we fail to retrieve it at the right time.

I need to point out one thing: They don't help!

Sure, some devices have their place, like the famous "Roy G. Biv" initials we were taught in school to remember the order of the colors of the rainbow. But that's the only use it has. What we need-- and I will offer here-- is a useful and easy-to-learn system that most of us can grasp in a few minutes, but is also more powerful than suggesting vague strategies or brute, time-consuming rote-repeating. What we need is something that is widely effective and has multiple uses-- kind of like a swiss-army-knife of memorizing.

This is just one of the several systems I have come across in my experience, and is the fastest one to learn while being very effective in information retrieval. It works especially well if you are very visually-oriented.

Look carefully at the following list:

1 - Pen
2 - Swan
3 - Handcuffs
4 - Sailboat
5 - Hook
6 - Golf Club
7 - Boomerang
8 - Snowman
9 - PingPong Paddle
10 - Ball and Bat

Do not try to memorize this particular list; while it seems a collection of random objects, they are actually very specific tools on which we will place our actual, real list. Consider this: the number "1" is mainly a vertical line, and so resembles a pen. The number "2" is curiously shaped like a swan. The number "3" somewhat resembles handcuffs. Continue down the list on your own, once or twice, getting the hang of the trend, and you will be able to repeat this entire list forwards and backwards, and in random order. In a few minutes it becomes as easy as counting 1-2-3, because you simply have to remember, for example, what the number "8" is shaped like. These are the hooks (or "pegs" as the mnemonic terminology goes) on where we mentally will hang our items.

This is known to many mnemonics experts as the Number-Shape system (surprised?).
(Note: technically we are dealing with numerals, not numbers. But I'm using the terms interchangeably)

Now for the list. Let's suppose you have to go shopping. You need bread, milk, eggs, cereal, spaghetti, apples, and canned soup. Let's also assume that you are not able to write it down, but were thinking of what to buy on your way to the store. Do you actually enjoy repeating list this over and over to yourself as you navigate traffic and walk amongst your fellow shoppers, mumbling to yourself, hoping not to forget a single thing? Probably not.

The first item is bread, and since the number "1" is a pen, you imagine something bizarre, funny, obscene, or simply strange going on between a loaf of bread and a pen. Perhaps a pen is getting stabbed deep into the middle of the bread. Or you take a big bite out of a sandwich, and instead of your favorite filling, you crunch down on a big bunch of pens! The key to making the imagery is to use most, if not all, your senses -- how would a loaf of bread sound while being stabbed by a pen? How would ink taste in a sandwich? The purpose is to make the image pop out at you and surprise you with something literally difficult to forget, and this kind of link or association is the best way to do it.

Note that this is NOT word association! We are mixing imagery, not just words, vague thoughts or (and I hate this phrase) "getting the general idea of the list".

Next is milk. And the number "2" is shaped like a swan. An easy one comes to mind, a bunch of swans paddling about placidly on a pond of milk. Some flap their wings noisily, splattering the milk around in large droplets. Are you starting to get this now?

The third item is eggs. Number "3" is handcuffs, and I would imagine someone forcibly squeezing handcuffs onto a carton of eggs, crushing them in the process. Wouldn't that make such a mess? The handcuffs are getting slimy and gooey, and no one's cleaning it up!

The fourth is cereal. Number "4" looks like a sailboat. Visualize a boat with its sail unfurled, pushed by the wind, cutting through (not a choppy body of water, but a rough body of...) cereal! Imagine your favorite cereal spraying in high arches on either side of the bow. Some of it lands on the deck, where you can pick some up and eat it.

The fifth item is spaghetti. The number "5" resembles a hook. Imagine trying to eat spaghetti, not with a fork, but using a pirate hook! Some of it slides off the hook, some strands stay on. That does look strange. Not to mention very, very messy.

Now for a quick review.

Don't look back yet. What is the third item on the list? Or put another way, what is the pair of handcuffs doing? How about the fifth (hook) item? The second (swan)? Go through all five items this way.
Now check your answer. Did you get striking images of milk splashing around, and cereal showering down on you? Was it laborious to recall, or was it easy? Or is it much better to keep racking your brain for hours, by worriedly repeating this list over and over, fearing you'd leave something out?

As an exercise, do the sixth and seventh items with your own imagery, linking the number-shape with the item on the list. Make sure to include funny, shocking, strange, bizarre and surprising images (hey-- nobody else can see it but you; so imagine away, and enjoy!)

Now take a break. By this I mean go watch television, go for a walk, chat with a friend, anything. Come back in twenty minutes. And without looking at the list, see how many you can recall.

I get two little complaints from first-time students of this skill. One is, "It looks so time-consuming! Look at the explanations we had to go through!" In truth, it only looks that way, because images are created and recalled much, much faster in our minds than reading a written paragraph describing them. These same students, after a few minutes of practice, actually find them very instinctive and natural.

Another is my favorite: "That's it? It seems so simple, but no one has ever explained it to me! " And my answer is yes, that's it. It unlocks your stream of consciousness like an engineer would use a river's current to power a sawmill or a generator, and put it to a focused usefulness. And it's something you can practice and take with you anywhere.

Here's a bonus exercise: can you expand this system to 11 or 12? Doing so will increase the number of things you can memorize in this peg-list.

Finally as a last practice, take a list of things you have always wanted to memorize: the Ten Commandments, something for an upcoming exam, the first twelve constitutional amendments or even presidents. Then apply them to this peg list. I think you'll find it fun to let your imagination go as you memorize these things.

While very effective with most people, this is not the only system, by any means, and it does have a few shortcomings, as impressive as the results are. There are other systems out there, that are even more expandable than this one. In my next mnemonics-related posting I will cover more of them, as well as address any questions you might have. In the meantime have fun memorizing (does that sound all that strange now-- that you can actually enjoy remembering lists of stuff?), keep practicing, and I'd love for you to tell me how you have personally put this skill to use.