Today I'm going to share some tips on how to memorize something fast and long-lasting. I'm not going to talk about the common tips that most of you guys already know, such as turning the writings into pictures, or making a song out of them, or using colorful pens to write the materials down so you can memorize them more easily.
Instead, I'm going to talk about the not so common tips taught by Yudi Lesmana, who is an International Grand Master of Memory from Indonesia.
Tips On Memorizing More And Faster Than Others
The primary key to these memorizing techniques is to turn everything into a story. So if you're trying to memorize some words, try putting them into a story instead of memorizing them in a linear way. But what if I'm trying to memorize numbers and formulas, huh?
How am I supposed to turn them into a story? You're being unrealistic here!
Fret not because I'm also going to tell you some ways to turn numbers and formulas into things that are easier to memorize!
1. Individual Alphabet Association Method
Let's say you want to memorize this account confirmation code for some reason (RSKHVU).
Of course, you can just read & repeat it once in your head, and you'll be able to memorize it for a few seconds, but we want to put it in our long term memory, so the read and repeat method is not the most effective way to do it.
What you need to do is to take each letter and associate it with something that starts with that letter. After that, make a story using all those words, like this:
RUSSELL SCREAMS when a KID HUGS VALENTINO Rossi under the UMBRELLA. It's way easier to remember that absurd story than to remember RSKHVU, right?
2. Alphabet Combination Association Method
If you think that the previous method is too time-consuming, you can always group the letters first before then searching for the words containing those letters.
Let's divide the code into 3 groups of 2 letters each. RS, KH, and VU. Now let's search for a word or a combination of 2 words that contain those letters. Now let's make a story using those words.
RS= RoSsi
KH=Kingdom Hearts
VU=VUlgar
RoSsi thinks that Kingdom Hearts is a VUlgar game.
That surely takes less time to make than the previous method, and it's also easy to remember.
3. Number Association Method
If you want to memorize numbers, there are 2 ways to do it. The first one is to change the number into something that has a similar shape to that number, then create a story out of all the numbers, just like in the previous methods.
The second way is to swap that number with something that represents that number's value.
For example, I can swap the number zero with my wallet because my wallet has zero money inside of it. Haha.
You can swap those numbers with anything you want; it doesn't have to be the same as what I use.
4. Symbol Association Method
Memorizing formulas can be a bit tricky since they have symbols in them. However, you can always change those symbols into other things that remind you of them. Let's use the formula to calculate distance as an example.
S=VxT
We can change the equal symbol into a bridge because it kind of looks like a bridge, and we can change the X into Professor Xavier from X-Men. Then combine them with the rest of the formula and turn them into a story. Squirtle crosses a bridge and joins Venausaur and Xavier to defeat Trump. The weirder the story, the more you will remember it.
5. Word Association Method
If you're trying to memorize difficult words, you can change them into other words that have similar spelling or sound that are easier to memorize. For example, let's say you want to memorize the animal classification sequence starting from Kingdom to Species.
There you will have 2 words that are quite foreign to your ears or at least to my ears, which are Phylum and Genus.
Before putting those words into one story, I'm going to change them into Film (Phylum) and Genos (Genus), you know, that cyborg from One Punch Man. After that, I can then combine them into one story.
In a kingdom far, far away, there is a legendary film that is always being played inside the classroom. The film contains a strict order for the Addams Family to rescue a cyborg named Genos because he's an endangered species. Again, the story doesn't have to make sense because the important thing is that it helps you remember things easier.
6. Sequence Method
You can also utilize the things around you, for example, your body, to help you memorize things easier. Let's say you want to memorize the items you want to buy in the grocery store, which are Apple, soap, shampoo, carrot, chocolate, milk, potato chips, and tissue.
You can "place" each item onto your body starting from the top until the bottom, and associate it with each body part. You use shampoo on your hair.
You wash your face with a soap.
You shove the carrot in your nostril.
You bite the apple with your teeth.
You gulp the milk down your throat.
You drop potato chips all over your chest.
Chocolate makes your tummy fat.
You wipe your butt with tissue.
When you arrive at the grocery store and forget what you're supposed to buy, just remember the items that you associate with your body parts starting from your hair down to your feet. It'll be much easier than memorizing them from a list that you wrote down on a piece of paper.
You can also use other things aside from your body, for example, your car or the things in your living room, or anything else as long as you remember the order of the items there.
7. Train Your Brain
Of course, you also have to constantly train your brain in order to strengthen your memory, especially now that we are so spoiled with all kinds of technology that we rarely use our brains to memorize and calculate things.
Some simple things I like to do to train my brain are counting the bills without using a calculator, memorizing the book page instead of using a bookmark, memorizing my friend's number before putting it on my contact list, memorizing my parking number without taking a picture of it,
and memorizing the usernames of my active followers.
Those things might be simple, but they will definitely help you improve your memory if you do it constantly. And if you do them often enough, you'll be able to memorize things without even having to use the methods taught in this article.
So those were some of the tips I could share with you guys today from Yudi Lesmana, who is an International Grand Master of Memory from Indonesia.
I hope you guys found them useful.
Memory Techniques for Studying
What is the best way to memorize your study? -That's what I will tell you in this section.
I will show you exactly how to memorize something quickly. If you want to memorize something quickly, you have to find a use for it in your everyday life.
Teach Others
Your brain won't remember something useless, right? If you use the information on a daily basis, you're more likely to remember it. One of the best ways to memorize anything is by teaching others what you've learned. This helps you remember the information for a longer time.
If you teach someone what you've learned, you immediately have a use for it. Plan your day by two sections. One is for learning and one is for teaching. Your brain now has a reason to memorize what you've learned. But this also tests if you understood it correctly.
Once, someone said, "if you cannot teach something to a six-year-old boy, you don't understand that yourself." This is indeed very true.
When we know something, only then can we teach someone else. For example, if I know how to journal, only then can I teach and tell others.
Take Notes
Taking notes in class or meetings is one of the most effective ways to remember anything faster. We all know how important writing could be regarding memorizing something. You can carry a pocket notebook all the time and making it a habit. You can read out the whole article on the benefits of journaling here.
Do Work out
Another thing you can do to memorize something fast is working out. This will increase your heart rate and, therefore, the blood flow to your brain. If you work out, the power of your brain will increase, which will help you massively by memorizing something.
But working out is something you should do whether or not you want to memorize something. So do yourself a favor and work out.
Give Your Brain A Reason
A very common mistake people make when trying to memorize something fast is learning by heart.
Doing this gives you nothing but random facts. Again: Your brain wants a reason to memorize something.
You can give it one by trying to actually understand the information and connecting it to things you need or use every day. For example: Connect the name of a muscle to the pain you feel when working out. Relating new things to things you already know will also help you memorize something. When you find a connection between old and new, it's easier to remember the new one.
For example, you want to memorize a name. The name is "Luke".
You know he is a fan of Star Wars. You could remember his name by connecting it to Luke Skywalker.
Create a Mind Map
If the information is too complex to make it that simple, you should try this: Connect all information through a bar chart or a mind map.
This makes you repeat the information physically by using your hand, verbally by reading it out loud, and visually by looking at the paper. By using these things, your brain is more likely to find a reason to memorize it because you have used the information in multiple ways.
So instead of underlining the things you want to remember, try to summarize them on a separate sheet of paper.
Avoid Learning For Hours Straight
And don't try learning for multiple hours straight. This will only stress your brain out. Rather do multiple 1-hour sessions and make small breaks in between. At the beginning of every hour, you should quickly repeat the main things you've learned in the last one.
Supposedly, you can read a different book for some time. It will help your brain to be ready and eager for the main thing that you are learning. You can read an explained article on the benefits of reading books.
Repeat Things That You Learned
A great way to memorize something quickly is by repeating the things after some time but increasing the breaks with every repetition. Start with a 5-minute break, then try 15, 30, 60, 5 hours, then 24 hours. Every time you couldn't retrieve the information, you have to start at 5 minutes again. Combining this with the mind map strategy is probably one of the most effective ways to memorize something fast.
Have a Quality Sleep
All of the above processes are great, but getting good sleep will also make the process much easier. This fills your brain with new energy to learn and memorize. Without good sleep, not even the best memorization techniques will work. Sleeping well is always a good thing to do.
Stay Away From Multitasking
"Multitasking is a lie" Nir Eyal wrote in his best-seller book 'Hooked'. Memorizing something effectively will be much easier if you stay away from multitasking. You can easily speed up the memorization process by focusing on one task at a time. This will be much easier if you start meditating. Meditation helps you focus on something, as journaling helps you to nourish your mental health.
A Bonus Method of Learning Things Fast
Do you ever wish that you could lock something in your memory the first time you hear it? What if you could instantly remember things like people's birthdays, your grocery list, phone numbers, or if you are in school, things like the periodic table historical dates and events all the first time that you hear them.
While you can just buy slightly changing the way that you think and with a little bit of practice, I'm about to teach you the method that world memory champions use to memorize a deck of cards in under a minute.
The first thing we're going to do is remember this super simple list of 10 rhyming words. This list is your key to being able to remember almost anything. Are you ready?
Number one is a bunt.
Number two is a shoe.
Number three is a tree.
Number four is a door.
Number five is a hive.
Number six is chicks.
Number seven is heaven.
Number eight is a gate.
Number nine is a vine.
Number ten is a hen
Now, after you've memorized this list, the rest is easy. From now on, instead of thinking of numbers, you're going to think of the words on this list.
Instead of the one, you're going to think of a bunt. Instead of five, you think of a hive. The way our mind works is that it's much easier for us to remember stories and crazy pictures than is for us to remember numbers. Which is why we can look at our credit card number a thousand times and not remember it. But we can remember a story that somebody told us once from years ago. Using the same idea, we're going to hack our mind into being able to remember almost anything.
For example, let's try a grocery list now.
Remember, this is just one example. You can use this to memorize almost anything by changing the technique slightly. All right!
- Milk
- Eggs
- Carrots
- Peas
- Sauce
- Gum
- Ice cream
- Dog food
- Oranges
- Soap
The first item on our list is milk. Instead of remembering one is milk, we think one is bun. So we imagine a bun and milk being associated with each other somehow in a story.
For instance, we can imagine milk being poured into a bun like it was a glass getting all soggy inside.
The crazier the image and the crazier the story, the more likely you will be able to remember it.
Let's move on to the second item on our list, eggs; number two is a shoe.
So we could remember eggs being smashed by a shoe.
Number three is a tree; we can remember a tree with carrots growing from it.
Number four is a door, so you can imagine peas being thrown at a door and then splatting.
Number five is a hive. We can imagine tomato sauce being poured on the hive and easy really angry about it.
Six is chicks. We can imagine little baby chicks chewing gum and blowing bubbles.
Seven is heaven. We can imagine an ice cream cone being floated up to heaven with angel wings. Number eight is a gate we could imagine a gate made completely out of dog food, maybe a little dog behind the gate too.
Number nine is oranges. We can imagine a vine squeezing an orange.
Number ten is hen, so we can imagine a hen try and eat a bar of soap.
What we've just done is associated our list of things that we wanted to remember with a list of things that we do remember. Now, whenever we think of a number like 3 we will automatically think of a tree, and that tree will have carrots going from it. Try this out!
Final Words
Who else doesn't want to remember stuff the first time he hears or reads? Without a doubt, this is something really admiring. Whether it is in your school, office, or just simply remembering someone's name after a long time. You can make people surprised at you with this amazing skill.
This is more of a skill than talent. I don't oppose or deny the power of talent, yet there are some techniques and tricks that will immensely help you to memorize facts and things faster and for longer.
You need to be mindful before applying any of these above tricks. Honestly, you'll get a plenty of techniques on how to memorize something fast. But it won't work unless you are sincere and mindful.
You get to know first what you are going to do and why. Finding a why and solving that why makes anything easier to remember. Having said all of those tricks, if you are not careful, sincere, and mindful about remembering your stuff, you won't be able to.
Last of all, for being sincere in your work; try to make it fun. For example, you are getting prepared for your upcoming exam; and you want to memorize something really fast. But you don't feel that at all. Try to use some multicolor pens; if possible, take some notes in your hardcover notebooks. In other words, by any means, make your study fun to make an easy way out of it.
I hope you get all I intend to give you through this article. If you have any further questions, please comment below.