Remember Joanna Jast and all those tips she gave you on how to improve focus and concentration while you work on memory improvement?

Good news.

Joanna’s back with a new book called Hack Your Habits and in this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we’ve got her here to talk about it.

As always, I’ve got the interview transcript for you below and would love to hear your comments and questions in the discussion area below. Enjoy!

 

Why You Don’t Have To Have It All Mapped Out
To Get A Handle On Your Habits

 

Anthony: You go into your personal story in the introduction. Why do you think you faced so many challenges and what was the turning point?

Joanna Jast: It’s interesting you’re asking me this question. I actually thought about it the other day on my way to work. And – I don’t really have the answer. I suppose it’s the combination of many factors: my temperament – which is like emotional and behavioural building blocks for personality and to large extend is hardwired, inborn, so my temperament, my upbringing, the environment I grew up in, the challenges I faced in life and the solutions to those challenges I chose to follow etc.

I haven’t got it all ‘mapped out’, but I think the key reasons why I’ve faced so many difficulties is my low threshold for boredom, poor ability to delay gratification, my self-compassion, which drives many of my willpower failures with: ‘But you deserve it, Joanna… you’ve had such a bad day’.

The turning points? There have been quite a few. But if I was to choose the key turning points that led me to create my own system for building better habits, it would be the following three:

The first one the day when my study routine was born. It was actually accidental – I wrote about it in my book Laser-Sharp Focus. It was the moment when I decided to stop trying to study in the evening, sitting on the sofa or on the bed and start doing it in the morning, at my desk.

To cut a long story short, I suddenly realised not only how much more productive and effective my study sessions became, but also how much happier I became – with better grades, more energy and time to do other things in life.

Now, 20 years later, looking back at what happened, I realise that back then I created a study routine, which over the years became my productivity and now writing routine that has transformed my life. My study routine happened to be one on those keystone habits – habits that create a ripple effect throughout our life, creating space and energy for more healthy habits to emerge and grow stronger, ultimately transforming our lives.

 

How The Secrets Of Behavioral Economics
Can Improve Your Life

 

The second turning point was the day when I heard about Behavioural Economics for the first time. It was during a lecture on marketing. I went home, did more research, read books, articles, did a course and… fall in love with the approach. I thought this could be something that would work for me. So I started experimenting with various behavioural economics strategies. Initially, I applied them to sort out my finances – so paid off my debts and started saving money. Then, I started experimenting with my exercise routine and eating habits.

And the third pivotal point was, when I refined my exercise routine, my running routine to incorporate all the lessons I’d learnt about human nature and my own difficulties in forming habits, and particularly – my previous failures in establishing a reliable exercise routine. I used many of the behavioural economics strategies I’d learn about when doing it. And now I’ve got a running routine, where I run 3 times per week, whether I feel motivated or not (and at least once a week I don’t feel motivated at all), whether is raining, or 100% humidity, or my foot is sore. I just do it.

 

The Truth About Your Age And Your Habits

 

Anthony: Is the problem of habits age specific? Does it apply to all ages equally?

Joanna Jast: I don’t know, really. I think this is a problem of our times though – so this modern age. We become more aware of the role and the impact of habits, good and bad, on our health, happiness, success, on our lives, and also we realise that motivation and willpower have limits. And that’s why we think about our habits more, we become interested in strategies for improving them.

You can say that ‘habits are in fashion these days’. And it’s nothing negative – on the contrary. I’m very happy to see that many people are turning away from relying on unreliable motivational strategies towards using more practical approaches to transforming their lives.

So it’s not only scientists, or health and fitness fanatics who are exploring habits. Many people, of all ages, are seeking better understanding of habits, and their own habits in particular, to improve their health, happiness, wealth, relationships and many other aspects of their personal and professional lives.

Anthony: Talk about putting systems on autopilot. It sounds too good to be true. What does “autopilot” mean and how can a person get started?

Joanna Jast: Putting a system on autopilot is about creating a system that makes you perform certain behaviour, or a sequence of behaviours without thinking much about it, without putting much energy into it. It’s like getting up in the morning and washing your face or brushing your teeth.

Most of us do it automatically, without thinking: Oh, geeesh, first, I need to wash my face, then, I need to brush my teeth, and then – I comb my hair. These are things that most healthy adults would do automatically every morning. These are habitual behaviours – well engrained in our brains, within the neural pathways.

For me putting a system, say an exercise routine, on autopilot is about creating a system that kicks in as if with a push of a button, and makes you go out and run three times per week, rain or shine, whatever your motivation level, or the mood of the day.

 

How To Harvest The Power
Of Your Desired Outcome

 

Anthony: How can you get started?

Joanna Jast: I suggest you start with the end result in mind. Start with what you want to achieve. You need to understand what problem you are trying to solve, but more importantly, what you are trying to achieve.

I like the concept of Desired Outcome, which I’ve borrowed from user experience design field. Desired Outcome is what we really want. Not what we think we want. Not what other people are telling us we should want. But what we’re really really want.

In my new book, Hack Your Habits, I write about my own struggle to cut down on my carbohydrate intake. I’ve got a sweet tooth and sadly, also use sweets as a reward and a way to boost my ‘motivation’ or willpower to carry on with tasks I don’t really want to do, tasks that are too difficult, too complex, etc. There was a time I was eating a lot of sweets. I was going through a stressful time personally and professionally, and this was my way of dealing with stress. So I wanted to cut down on my carbs.

So initially, I thought about this task as a cutting on my carbs task, a diet-changing task. I was all motivated to do that, and all. But it didn’t work.

So I looked at the whole issue again and really wanted to zoom in on what I cared about. And don’t get me wrong, I do care about my health, but the instant gratification monkey that lives in my brain always tells me that I can start again tomorrow, and now – I can have that biscuit.

So I had to start with the Desired Outcome. Yes, I wanted to eat less carbs, but what I really wanted out of it was to be able to resist sweets and toast with jam.

So I reframed my goal, taking into consideration my personality, my temperament, my weaknesses and strengths. I’ve got a competitive streak, I’m an achievement junkie, and I get excited with new ideas and testing them. So this ended up as an exercise in self-control and I did really well.

 

2 Of The Most Powerful Questions You’ll Ever Ask Yourself

 

So the Desired Outcome is where you need to start. What do you want out of it? Do you really care about it? And it has to be something you really care about, you care about. If you don’t care about it truly and deeply, it won’t really happen.

Anthony: You talk about getting the diagnosis right when tackling a problem. What does this mean and how does one get started?

Joanna Jast: I really like this quote from Albert Einstein:

’If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute solving it’.

And I would do the same.

If you’re trying and trying and trying to solve a problem, say of your unhealthy diet, or an unproductive study routine, and you’re constantly failing, it may be that you’re using an ineffective strategy, but it may also be that you’re trying to solve the wrong problem.

In medicine, getting the diagnosis right is crucial to an effective treatment plan. And getting it wrong can really result in people dying. This is not as serious as that with habits, but in the end, if you don’t understand, if you don’t define your problem correctly, you can waste a lot of time, energy, and even money on trying to fix something that is not the reason for your struggles.

Let me reiterate it: the better you understand what’s wrong, what’s not working, the more targeted your solutions, your treatment will be.

How to go about diagnosing your problem? Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as doing an X-ray or a blood test, but it is doable.

Start with self-reflection, and be honest with yourself.

For me there are two major components to understand any problem you have: you – how you operate, your personality, motivation, strengths and weaknesses and your context.

The context is the external environment, your internal environment and your social environment. And they all come with their own limitations – what’s possible and constraints – what’s appropriate.

 

Why It’s Never Mind Over Matter

 

And it’s important to include that context -your physical environment, and your social environment as well. The power of those external systems that force us into behaving in certain ways is really undermined by many people. We think it’s all mind over matter – but if your physical environment or social context, is not conducing to exercising, or a healthier diet – it makes the change much, much more difficult. So don’t underestimate that.

And once you’ve got a good understanding how you and your problem or your habits goals sit within you and your context, you are in a good position to start tackling it.

So self-reflection if used with a healthy dose of honesty, is a great tool for discovering, diagnosing your problem. You can ask other people for their opinion what they think is not working for you. But then, they will be biased and what’s more important – they may not have access to some of your hidden motivations, or aspects of your personality or life you don’t share with others.

 

How To Get Started Fixing Persistent Problems

 

To get a really good grip on what’s wrong when fixing persisting problems, I ask myself two questions:

The first question is: What is this for? What is this doing for me? What purpose does it serve? What need does it meet? And this works really well with habits, because every habit serves a purpose. And most bad habits, such as overeating, procrastination, or shouting at your kids usually either helps either deal with boredom or with stress.

And the other questions I ask myself is: why have I failed at addressing it so far?

And once you’ve got it figured out, it will fall into those categories I’ve just talked about – you and your context. It should give you a better understanding of what it is and why you’re struggling to address it. And from this point, finding the best solution is quite straightforward really.

 

Exactly When You Should Run From
S.M.A.R.T. Goals Kicking And Screaming

 

Anthony: Talk about SMART goals. What’s your major concern with this popular approach to goal setting?

Joanna Jast: The SMART goal setting framework is very popular, and it does work for most things, but in my opinion it does not work for habit goals, and for a number of reasons.

First of all, let’s look at the last letter of this acronym: T – time-bound. Setting a habit-based goal with a deadline for achieving it is not a good strategy. Why? Because habits take as much time as they take to develop. Some of it is in your control, but let’s not forget we’re talking about creating or rearranging neural pathways in your brain. That takes time to shift.

Studies shows that habit formation depends on many factors, and most importantly on the person working on it – their motivation, personality, their context, as well as on the complexity of the habit itself. A simple habit can take a few days to develop, a more complex one, such as exercise – up to several months.

So if you give yourself a deadline for your habit goal, you may be bitterly disappointed if you don’t achieve it before it. That’s just setting yourself up to fail. So when setting habit based goals, don’t give yourself a deadline, but rather create a schedule for your new routine.

Then, there is the matter of measurability , so the letter M- how do you measure your success in a achieving your habit. In my opinion, it’s important to look at it carefully and measure what you want to achieve. And my advice is to link it with your desired outcome.

So if you, like me, testing your ability to resist marshmallows, you measure your ability to resist marshmallows, not the side effect, the healthy eating side effect of it, or weight loss. When I’m building a new habit, I’m not interested in performance measures – I don’t care how far or how fast I run (I try not to at least), but I’m focused on getting it done every time I’m supposed to do it. So practice is more important than performance when working on developing a new habit, and we should measure accordingly.

 

Why You Need To Be Realistic With Your Habits

 

And there are two more aspects of the SMART framework I have an issue with it’s the A and R – achievable and realistic.

Call me cynical, call me a party pooper but I am not a big fan of being aspirational when setting your habit goals. It’s great to feel inspired and motivated to achieve greater things in life, but in the end the reality of my life is what It is, and no matter how hard I try to refrain from eating sweets by the sheer power of my willpower and my desire to be slim and beautiful, it’s going to collapse on day 3 or 4. That’s what the 30 years of my experience in doing it tells me.

So being realistic and setting habit goals that are achievable again refer to you and your context – your personality, your motivation, your inner world, your physical environment, your social environment and all these things that affect us with all their limitations and constraints.

Anthony: You mentioned two kinds of environment, internal and external. What are these and why is understanding the difference important?

Joanna Jast: The difference isn’t really that important. I just like having things organised in my head. I also like to make that distinction because it makes it easier to you look for solutions later on. And that’s how I look at difficulties in addressing habit problems. It’s again the same thing: the better you understand where your challenges come from, the easier it will be to find a solution to your problem. So we’re back to the importance of correctly diagnosing the problem.

Your external environment is what surrounds you – your physical environment, your house, workplace, the gym you go to, the supermarket where you shop; your financial situation, even the weather.

Your internal environment is the environment you create for yourself – your thoughts, your emotions, your motivation, your values, what happens with your body.

 

How To Use Cues To Hack Your Habits

 

Anthony: What are some of the “cues” you talk about? Which is the most important in your opinion?

Joanna Jast: Cues are very important. Cues remind us that we need to do something. They prompt us, trigger us to do what we’re suppose to do. They whole idea of a habit as a repetitive action in response to a cue, really relies on the cue being enough of a trigger.

So if you want to have an effective trigger, effective cue, find one that stands out in your environment. There is little point in putting your cue on a sticky note, and pinning it up on a corkboard full of similar sticky notes. You won’t see it.

I say: choose something that disrupts the fabric of your reality. Just like the sound of a notification ‘time to go for a run’ popping up on your screen. And it disrupts what you’re doing, right? But that may be not enough. If then instead of going for the run, you just snooze or close the notification, it’s just doesn’t work, does it?

So once again, it’s very important that the cue you choose stands out in your environment and is hard to ignore. The best cues are those that have a cost of ignoring involved.

 

The Cost Of Ignoring Your Cues

 

I’ll give you an example of what I mean by having the cost of ignoring the cue. So I run three times per week. And my cue is seeing my greasy hair in the mirror in the morning – I run on days when I need to wash my hair. This is how I know it’s my running day.

And the cost of ignoring this cue is that I’d have to go to work with my hair unwashed. That’s unacceptable. Or that I have to jump in the shower and wash my hair. I don’t like washing my hair in the morning. So if I wanted to back off and don’t go for a run – there is a cost involved. And it’s just so much easier to just go for a run.

Anthony: Talk about checklists. What’s the most important thing people need to know about them when building habits?

Joanna Jast: Checklists are fantastic tools. Checklists help saving lives, prevent infections and industrial accidents. Checklists are simple, effective, they lower your cognitive load, they have high reliability. Research shows that if you follow a checklist, you’re 75% less likely to miss any of the steps required – and reduce the likelihood of failure to carry out your desired behaviour from 23% to 6% .

I use checklists particularly early in the process of establishing new habit, when I’m still learning what to do, when, in what sequence. I can’t rely on my memory anymore and I don’t want to add any more cognitive load to it.

The best way of creating a checklist is to:

• Focus on critical steps and use as few steps as possible (the more steps you have, the more intimidating the checklist looks and the less likely you are to follow the steps – that’s just human nature
•  Ideally, you want it to fit on one page (my checklists need to fit on a standard size post-it note – no room for writing novels!)
• Make sure the sequence of steps fits the flow of your behaviour (e.g. Don’t turn your fitness tracked on before you put your running shoes on)
• Use simple sentences and basic language
• Have it visible and ideally where you will be carrying out your new habit. So if you’re trying to create a productivity or a focus routine – have your checklist somewhere in your workspace; highly visible to you of course. If you have a checklist for working out – keep it either with your workout gear, on your phone if you use your phone for tracking your workouts, or maybe even in the pocket of your running jacket.

 

How To Make Your Habits Perpetuate Themselves

 

Anthony: What is a habit loop?

Habit loop is the secret formula for creating and remodelling habits. It’s a three-element self-perpetuating cycle that is behind any automatic behaviour. It consists of three key elements:

• Cue (also called reminder or trigger) – which we’ve just talked about
• Routine (sometimes called Behaviour, Action)
• Reward

Every habit rests on these three pillars: Cue that prompts you to carry out the Behaviour, which is then reinforced by the Reward. The more of those habit cycles you go through, the more often the behaviour gets reinforced, the stronger the habit is ingrained in your brain, and the stronger the neural pathway that is created in your brain.

 

What To Do If You Fall Off The Wagon

 

Anthony: What should someone do if they miss a day on their habits? How about a week? A month? A year? Is there a difference when it comes to getting back on the wagon?

Joanna Jast: There are habit building strategies that rely on performing your action every day – for example ‘don’t break the chain’ but actually, research shows that missing on a day in your habit routine does not make a difference to our habit formation process, but psychologically it may.

I wouldn’t worry too much about missing a day. I do it sometimes, not very often and only for very good reasons. Because life does get in the way of best-laid plans, so I just accept that. Sometimes you will be just too busy or too tired, or maybe sick, or you may have something super-important to do. Don’t beat yourself up about not ‘turning up’ one day. But get back on track as soon as possible. Don’t let the not turning up become a pattern, because this is when it becomes a problem.

When it becomes a pattern? You may have your own individual ‘definition’ of pattern, for me it goes like that: once can happenstance, twice is a coincidence, three is a pattern.

The more days you miss, the harder it will be to return to your routine.

If you notice that you miss your routine are more and more often, you need to look at your system again. Because it means your system is not working as well as it could or should.

And for me, it’s going back to the beginning – maybe not necessarily to the desired outcome, but at least going over all those limitations and constraints that come from within me, or from my environment. Because it my system is not delivering as well as it used to, it means that something has changed.

And sometimes those changes are temporary. For example you are on holidays and working away and you’re struggling to keep your exercise routine up because your environment is different. And sometimes the change may be more permanent. For example if you just had a baby your productivity or sleep routine may be affected in a way you’ve never experienced before.

Things like that will happen, because that’s part of life. For me, it’s always about being mindful that your habit system will also be affected. So it is crucial that you recognise when it happens and adjust your system to cater for your changed needs, or changed life circumstances.

The key thing is to realise when a temporary change has become more permanent, and make appropriate adjustments in your system. Or redesign it completely.

 

Why Your Willpower Resources Are Limited

 

Anthony: You talk about how willpower needs to replenish itself. What’s this all about?

Joanna Jast: This is about the concept of willpower or ego depletion – the theory that the amount if willpower we have is limited. We have like a willpower tank, where only so much willpower can be stored. And every time you use some of that willpower from your tank, there is less left for later. The amount of willpower will not increase, until you are able to replenish it. And that goes back to the studies done by Roy Baumeister, who is a social psychologist and one of the key researches in the field of self-control and willpower.

However, newer research challenges this belief about willpower depletion, suggesting that we have as much willpower as we perceive it. So again, it’s all in the mind.

Personally, it’s not a scientific argument, I know, but personally I experience those willpower outages quite often, and I’m aware of typical situations that are likely to cause it.

I’m also very conscious that I don’t have much willpower and need to be careful in how I use it. I make sure that I’m able to recover safely before I make any silly decision when my willpower tank is on zero.

What helps with the process of replenishing willpower is rest, and sadly, something sugary, or at least of a sweet taste in your mouth.

 

How To Experience A Miracle Every Morning

 

Anthony: What is scribing?

Joanna Jast: Scribing is one of life SAVERs, as Hal Elrod calls them. One of the key elements of the morning routine he recommends in his bestselling book the Miracle Morning. (Silence, Affirmations, Visualisation, Scribing, reading, Exercise)

In a nutshell scribing is about taking a minute out of your time, in the morning, to write down what you’re grateful for, what you’re proud of, and the results you’re committed to creating for that day. Doing so, you put yourself in an empowered, inspired, and confident state of mind.

It’s scribing is journaling that encompasses gratitude – one of the key factors in creating the sense of happiness and fulfilment in life, positive affirmations, stock-taking, reminding yourself of your goals.

It’s an excellent to start your day.

 

One Of The Most Powerful Principles
You Can Ever Live By

 

Anthony: You have a bonus section in the book. What habits did you use to get in contact with all those high-profile authors and convince them to contribute to the book?

Joanna Jast: It’s not really about me or my habits. The people who contributed to my book, Steve SJ Scott, Hal Elrod, Stephen Guise and Martin Meadows – they are amazing people, who are very generous, humble, and have fantastic knowledge and experience to share and they desire to use it to help other people. And that’s really what it is about – collaborating in helping people become happier, live more fulfilling lives.

But from the practical point of view, what helped me in reaching out to them, it’s not a habit, but more a principle I live by – it’s about building relationships with people; it takes time and you need to invest upfront.

Anthony: What’s coming up next for you and where can people get in touch?

Joanna Jast: At the moment I’m very excited with the launch of my new book: Hack Your Habits. 9-steps to finally break bad habits and start thriving. I’ve been also getting a lot of emails and messages form people asking me to help them transform their habits, speed up the learning and adaptation curve. I’m not providing individual support at the moment, but I’ve been thinking about it. So watch this space.

Early next year, my previous book Laser-Sharp Focus will be published as an audiobook and I’m really excited about it, too. I’m also thinking about translating the into other languages, as people have been asking me about it.

For now, if you want to stay in touch – visit my website www.shapeshiftersclub.com and subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date and get some insider tips on habit hacking, focus sharpening and faster learning. You can also try to catch me on Twitter and on Quora – which is the only site I allow myself to browse when procrastinating.

Further Resources

Joanna Jast on Quora

Not Another Motivation Book: A Pragmatist’s Guide to Nailing Your Motivation, Keeping It, and Effortlessly Achieving Your Goals

Joanna Jast on Twitter

 

 

The post Joanna Jast On How To Hack Your Habits appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Chinese poems thrill poetry fans around the world. They’ve been translated into umpteen languages and create wonderful images in the mind.

Here’s something even cooler:

As a student of the Magnetic Memory Method, it’s easy to encounter a new Chinese poem just once and memorize it with a high level of recall.

We’re talking 92-95% accuracy after 24 hours, with 98-100% accuracy thereafter using MMM Recall Rehearsal.

And the best part is:

 

Each Poem Is Easier To Memorize Than The Last!

 

So by now you’re probably asking …

How does the Magnetic Memory Method work for memorizing Chinese poems? And how can I do it too?

I’m glad you asked because the steps are clear, crisp, clever and concise.

 

1. Get some Chinese poems (Duh!)

 

In this regard, I’m the luckiest man on the planet. I’m married to a woman who knows a bunch of Chinese poems by heart.

But even if you don’t have a Chinese speaker in your life, it’s easy to find someone using a learn languages online service.

The important thing is to choose poems that are short, sweet and simple. This helps reduce the cognitive overload at the beginning.

Songs work too. Like this one:

 

2. Have More Than One Memory Palace On Hand

 

It’s no secret that I teach the Memory Palace technique as a skill of multiples. One is the most dangerous number when it comes to memory, so make sure that:

1) You always have more than one Memory Palace ready to go.

2) You have the ability to create an impromptu Memory Palace on the fly.

With these two abilities, you can either use a pre-existing Memory Palace or just whip one up on the spot.

In this case, each of the Chinese poems I’ve learned are only four lines each. I used a new Memory Palace for each.

I created the first two Memory Palaces on the fly, one in a hotel room, the other in an AirBnB. The third was in my current kitchen, a Memory Palace I’ve been using and reusing for Chinese since I started learning the language.

 

3. Create Your Associative-Imagery
Word For Word, Line By Line

 

Nothing creates more fun than creating associations that let you recall information like the lines of Chinese poems.

I like to get a sense for the word and let my mind do the work without force. Daily meditation helps because I’m relaxed, but I also tell April to give me a second when she feeds me the lines. In that second, I’m breathing and accessing the deepest reservoirs of relaxation I’ve cultivated over the years.

I also do a quick body scan and squeeze all my major muscles. This calms and centers me. My ego gets out of the way and all forms of resistance slip away.

Please don’t laugh at the meditation and relaxation. They are key to the success of most memorizers and memory competitions incorporate a version of it into the events.

 

The “Buttock Squeeze” Memory Technique
You Should Not Dismiss

 

I’ll never forget the Amazon reviewer who dismissed one of my books because I talk about relaxation and memory – including squeezing your buttocks. It was a seriously strange review.

But here’s the thing:

If taking a second to clear the mind and body good enough for memory competitors who demonstrate intense memory feats like memorizing a deck of cards in under 20 seconds, it’s good enough for my simple goal of memorizing some Chinese poems.

Don’t discount the power of relaxation in your memory practice. It makes a huge difference.

And yes, squeezing each muscle in your body – including your rear end – helps. Try it before you knock it.

4. Keep Your Mindset Intact

 

As April feeds me the lines, I see Han Solo, Dee Snider and Shania Twain interacting in uncouth ways with Horton from the Dr. Suess book. I see my friend Shayne strangling Jar Jar Binks and Bruce Lee fighting a Chia pet. And that’s just for starters.

Are all these images a lot to juggle?

Not really. I do it all the time, as you can see on my Basic Chinese Phrases and Mandarin Mnemonics playlist:

And the truth is … I don’t even really see the images. It’s somewhere between sight and sense using all the Magnetic Modes.

I made this infographic to help explain what I mean:

 

 

In such, the Magnetic Modes are entities of thought that have specific locations in a Memory Palace. Like Carl Jung dumping sand on my mom’s old friend Sandy. Where else could that be taking place except over the garbage can in the kitchen?

That where else question is one of the most powerful tools in mnemonics you’ll ever use.

But even if this jumble of characters and actions were challenging to keep moving in the air, it’s all a question of mindset.

Think of it this way: If the people who built rollercoasters said, “Woah, that’s WAY to much track to erect in the sky,” there would be no amusement parks.

Same thing with using a Memory Palace. If you tell yourself it’s too much to handle, it will be. But if you take it just one Memory Palace Station and one word at a time, you’ll have no problem memorizing Chinese poems.

 

5. Make Sure The Images Are Strong Enough

 

When memorizing Chinese poems in a hurry, it’s tempting to use the first images that come to mind. But that’s not always a good policy.

For example, in one line I saw a guy I used to know named Dan doing …

… something.

The reason I couldn’t see what that something was?

Because the image wasn’t strong enough. I had to crank up the volume on whatever forgettable image I’d seen before and see him stomping on a record from The Who with Roger Daltrey and crew screaming in protest.

Yes, screaming. It’s the exaggeration that makes it more memorable. Plus, Dan’s a big music fan, which makes the image incongruous. Because he would never actually destroy music, the image of him harming an album is that much more memorable.

 

6. Rehearse According To A Plan

 

Sometimes I can get away with just encoding the Chinese words and leaving it at that. But usually not and it’s stupid to take the risk.

Instead, I rehearse the words of the poems according to a plan. In the Magnetic Memory Method, it’s called Recall Rehearsal.

Recall Rehearsal is based on a few things:

1) The Primacy Effect

2) The Recency Effect

3) Von Restorff effect

4) Dominic O’Brien‘s Rule Of Five

5) My stubborn insistence on using internal repetition cues rather than SRS to learn.*

* The exception is that, in the spirit of Ebbinghaus, I sometimes complete n=1 experiments with various software as part of my memory research. So far, none compare to the power and the glory of memory techniques – at least not for me.

 

7. Speak And Write The Chinese Poems

 

Although I rehearse the Chinese poems quietly several times, nothing beats reciting them. Getting them out through the mouth creates muscle memory and helps with general pronunciation practice.

Likewise, writing puts the words into the muscles of the hands, arms and eyes as you see the words. Together, you are giving your memory the highest possible chance to succeed.

 

8. Memorize More

 

I also memorized Chinese phrases, individual words, some numbers and an English poem during the same period. This extra activity is not necessary, but I like to do it.

Why?

Because it’s like being a chef. Normally, I’m an expert with cooking eggs, but to get better at cooking eggs, I also need to make the occasional soup or steak or some other complimentary dish. Variety enriches and enlivens the core skills.

And that’s important for all of us as we live our lives using memory techniques. Memory improvement is the most critical activity in the world, especially now that we’re relegating so much of our memory needs to machines.

Be it math, Chinese poems or some other information that will make a difference in your life, following steps like the ones I outlined above will keep you in good stead.

Memory improvement is fun, easy and you can use it to recite Chinese poems – or anything you like – at any time.

Isn’t that exciting?

The post The Steps I Took To Memorize 3 Chinese Poems In 2.3 Weeks appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Life is good, isn’t it? You bet it is.

But for some reason, when times get tough, without knowing a thing about the Prime Ministers of Canada, people around the world throw up their hands and say, “It’s time to head to the Great White North.”

Here’s the thing:

You’ll find some beautiful terrain and plenty of peace-loving citizens. But as a nation, we do not lack our own host of colorful characters.

So if you’re coming over for a permanent BBQ in response to US election results or some dictator who’s been giving you the squeeze, it’s time to learn how to memorize the Prime Ministers of Canada. It’s important to know what you’re getting into, after all.

 

 

Beginner’s Guide To Memorizing Any List

 

The first thing to understand when memorizing the names of the Canadian Prime Ministers is that you’re dealing with a list. We’re talking about discrete units of information. Like, Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891).

The best way to rapidly memorize any list is to create a Memory Palace.

All Memory Palace creation takes is a simple drawing and a list of your Magnetic Stations charted out in a strategic way. Creating an effective Memory Palace reduces your cognitive load to a bare minimum. That reduction forms a huge part of the secret behind how memory techniques like a Memory Palace work:

You use a location you already know to place information you’ll Magnetically encode with imagery you already know onto a station so you can retrieve and decode what you want to know later.

Curious about correct Memory Palace creation? Here’s a Memory Palace walkthrough based on a Memory Palace submitted by a Magnetic Memory Method student:

 

A Small Set Of Super Important Information

 

In this case, we have just 23 names for the Prime Ministers of Canada. When it comes to memorizing them, you have options.

1. You can create one Memory Palace with 23 Magnetic Stations exclusively for remembering them.

2. You can create two Memory Palaces with 12 Magnetic Stations each.

In either case, you ‘ll ideally use Memory Palaces with more Magnetic Stations than you need so that you can use more than one station per name if needed.

Or, if you’re already experienced with memory techniques, you can experiment with the Magnetic Memory Method “passing the baton” technique, which allows you to memorize more than one name per station. That’s for advanced memorizers, however, and even then, it’s good once in awhile to stick with the basics.

And that’s ultimately what I recommend so that you can add the dates of the Prime Ministers later using the Magnetic Chaining memory technique.

 

The Art Of Embarrassing Politicians

 

Let’s assume you’ve got a Memory Palace with a bit more than 23 Magnetic Stations to give you wiggle room.

Next, you need your list of information. The Wikipedia Prime Ministers of Canada page is as good as any. Whip that little darling open and look at the first name.

The trick to memorizing anything is association, also called encoding. It’s easy, fun and with a bit of practice using special exercises I’ve created for you, unbelievably fast.

John A. Macdonald, for example, brings to mind a picture of my friend and fellow mnemonist, John McPhedrine to mind. You’ve heard him on the show talking about memorizing German and music before.

I see John at the first station of the Memory Palace I’ve created with a giant letter ‘A’ in his hands. He’s using this to smash my MACbook Pro, which is playing a video of Donald Trump singing “Old Macdonald Had A Farm.”

Plus, as an advanced memorizer, I’ve got Trump’s hair as the tail of a dog swatting at a bat.

Why?

Because that additional imagery helps me remember the dates of this Canadian Prime Minister.

How does that work? It sounds complex, but it’s actually simple:

Using a special memory technique for memorizing numbers, 15 is “tail” and 91 is “bat.” I’ve got an entire course in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterclass about all the ways you can remember numbers, or you can just check out this post on the Major Method. It’s a great way to instantly memorize any number, and not just short ones like historical dates.

The Prime Minister Who Built Walls
You Can Be Proud Of

 

Wikipedia tells this story about Alexander Mackenzie:

Once, while touring Fort Henry as prime minister, he asked the soldier accompanying him if he knew the thickness of the wall beside them. The embarrassed escort confessed that he didn’t and Mackenzie replied, “I do. It is five feet, ten inches. I know, because I built it myself!”

Little anecdotes like this can be fun to remember when memorizing a name. Plus, it’s interesting that Mackenzie was three times offered knighthood, but refused each time.

To encode all of this into memory, it’s a simple matter of seeing Alex from A Clockwork Orange taking … certain liberties with a former high school girlfriend of mine by the last name of Mackenzie against a section of the Berlin Wall now fixed on station two of my Prime Ministers of Canada Memory Palace. (Phew … that was a mouthful.)

But the Mackenzie I used to kiss so gently in high school fights back by trying to knight him with a giant camera that he beats away with a pamphlet printout of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

Why a camera and this bizarre retaliation with an ancient allegory? You’ve probably already guessed it by now. It’s our old friend the Major Method, which tells me that “cam” decodes to 73 and “cave” to 78, the same years Alexander Mackenzie served as one of the Prime Ministers of Canada.

 

Isn’t That Just Too Simple?

 

It really is, and that fun simplicity explains why so many people who get into memory techniques email and ask me …

Isn’t this … cheating?

Absolutely not. And here’s why:

It’s one thing to create the Memory Palaces and have fun dreaming up weird images and vignettes.

Long Term Memory Requires Recall Rehearsal

 

But you’ve also got to replay these stories and decode them in your mind over time. Skip this step and the information might still get into long term memory, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Luckily, setting up a Magnetic Memory Method Recall Rehearsal routine is easy. Just go over the information you’ve memorized about 5 times before the day is through. Make one of those times right before bed to help consolidation.

But here’s a warning:

Some recent research evidence suggests that older people don’t get the same memory consolidation benefits as younger people do. It’s good to keep that evidence in mind, but also be your own scientist. As you can see in this video on making boring information more interesting, I got away with a high recall rate after far fewer Recall Rehearsal sessions. But I would have done better if I’d repeated the poem more often.

 

The Rule Of Five

 

That’s what World Memory Champion Dominic O’Brien calls it and The Rule Of Five holds great power.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or wondering where you’re going to find the time, don’t stress it. The important thing is just to get started. Memory techniques are a skill you’ll want to use for life and the Prime Ministers of Canada is just the beginning.

I hope you’ve seen how you can not only memorize a long list of names, but also add historical dates and facts. When I look at station two of my Memory Palace of Canadian Prime Ministers, it’s easy to see a movie character and person from my past interacting with a few select symbols that help recall an interesting scenario and numbers.

 

Wrapping It All Up With
A Magnetic Little Bow

 

Here’s a summary of all you have to do to experience great success:

1. Create a Memory Palace for the Prime Ministers of Canada.

Remember to pad out your Memory Palace so that you have a few extra stations in case you need them.

2. Have the names prepared.

You can do it directly from a Wikipedia page, but you’re better off printing the list out and encoding the names to your Magnetic Stations somewhere you won’t be bothered by notifications.

Being tempted to skip around on your browser isn’t helpful either. Like I said last time about boring information … Instead of taking it in small doses, make it exciting for yourself. It’s not that hard!

3. Practice Recall Rehearsal diligently.

The Rule of Five is great, but take it on principle, not as dogma. Always test and never hope that five repetitions is enough. It might become more than necessary once you get good with mnemonics, but it will never be too much. Every time you enter a Memory Palace and practice the beautiful art of memory, you get better and better with the best asset you’ve got:

The ability to learn, remember and recall anything.

Now then … How about that Canadian anthem?

The post Prime Ministers Of Canada: How To Memorize Them All appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Studying about boring topics you don’t give a hoot about sucks, right?

Especially when you’re in a rush.

Especially when all you want is the grade, the certification, the knowledge.

Well, I can’t make any promises, but there might be a way to help make any topic much more interesting to you. At the very least, we can remove the sting of boredom. At best, we can make any topic we want 100% Magnetic.

1. Warning Signs That Your Mindset Is Off

 

I know, I know. You’re tired of hearing about mindset.

But let’s face it. We have minds. Every day we wake up with more or less the same world outside the window. Just like we have to make our beds so that the sheets won’t be sprawled all over the place, we have to set up our minds for success.

But that’s the problem, isn’t it?

Lots of people are happy to leave their beds messy all day long and then crawl into the unkempt mess at night. It’s cold because the mattress has been exposed and probably a bunch of insects have settled into the dune-like patterns. Sure, you might fall asleep okay, but there’s nothing like slipping into a made bed.

You know it’s true.

 

It’s The Same Thing With Your Mind!

 

Sure thing, you can get through life without setting up your mind for success, but it will be cold and exposed to the elements. The bugs will crawl in and lay their eggs, and you’ll never get the warmth you deserve.

But take just a few moments to tidy up and you’ll reduce the suffering that comes from studying things you don’t like.

Because that’s just the thing: A lack of mindset is probably the thing that got you into a position where you’re studying things you’re not passionate about in the first place. You’re probably studying material that produces no great excitement because you’re chasing after hopes and beliefs and dreams and wishes – not what you really want.

 

How To Set A Powerful Mindset For Learning

 

Whether you’re trapped or not, the process works the same. The best way to get your mindset in order is to set it each and every morning. As I talked about in the Mandarin Chinese Mnemonics And Morning Memory Secrets episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, having morning rituals is a killer way to conquer the day.

When it comes to creating a mindset for making the material you’re studying vibrant and exciting, all you have to do is write down in a journal how exciting it is to be studying and how grateful you are to have the opportunity.

And it’s true: Not everyone has the learning opportunities you do. A massive percentage of people in the world don’t have access to the Internet, schools, books or anything even remotely related to helping them develop their knowledge.

But you …

 

You’ve Got Everything You Need

 

So take a moment every day to recognize what an amazing opportunity you have. If that isn’t a recipe for injecting excitement into a boring topic … I don’t know what is.

If all else fails, here’s what to do if you or someone you love is considering not completing their high school diploma. They may have already left school, but it’s not too late to go back. I dropped out of high school myself for awhile, but I’m so glad I returned.

Best decision of my life.

 

2. Be An Info-Completionist

 

Okay, so now that you’re plump with self-hypnosis induced excitement for the privilege of study, you still have to sit down and learn the stuff.

The question is … How?

A lot of people ask me how I manage to read so much, and the answer is simple:

Get a book. Find a place to sit. Read the book. Repeat until you’re done.

I don’t say that to be flippant, but it’s the truth. If you’re trying to read in a place filled with distractions or on a device that encourages you to skip from tab to tab and answer notifications …

 

Stop Trying To Read Like That!

 

Seriously. It’s not a recipe for success.

Plus, you want to read in a way that helps you isolate the information you want to memorize. I have two posts with podcasts and videos that show you how to realistically memorize a textbook. Just check out the video for now:

If you want more information, listen to How to Memorize A Textbook and study the infographic.

True, my approach to realistically memorizing textbooks involves a bit of setup, but people who give it a try usually find that the process makes reading and remembering the key points of even the most difficult books much easier.

The best part:

By having a dedicated strategy for reading books, you make it a lot more fun. Like having a mindset, having a process you can follow without having to think about it makes everything more fun and interesting. Having operating principles and guidelines reduces cognitive load, and like Tony Buzan said when I studied with him, the rules set you free.

 

3. Look For The Parts That Do Interest You

 

One thing that you’ll learn from my training on (reasonable) textbook memorization is how to skip the parts that don’t interest you.

No, you can’t always do this. There are times when you have to slog through boring stuff you don’t care about.

But here’s the thing: by knowing what you do care about, you get more interested in things that connect with it. It happens automatically.

And when interest doesn’t spontaneously erupt, you at least get a clearer picture of why those other elements are necessary. The more you know about a topic changes the nature of what you don’t know. It makes it more attractive, more Magnetic.

And that which becomes more Magnetic is easier to attach to memory because you’re simply more interested in it.

4. Invite Information Into Your Memory

In other words, use memory techniques.

You knew this was coming, didn’t you?

Let’s face it: The best way to make dry and boring information more interesting is to make it part of your memory improvement lifestyle. That means organizing the information so that you can rapidly absorb it into a Memory Palace.

To do that, you get to invite the information into a place you’ve created in your mind. I don’t want to sound woo-woo, but there’s something ritualistic about this. It’s like anointing information, blessing it or touching its shoulder with the edge of your sword as if you were knighting it.

Once anointed, you start looking at the information through mnemonic eyes. You’re looking for how you can attach it to associative-imagery and place these images on your Memory Palace stations. You’re already getting excited about revisiting your Magnetic Stations and decoding the imagery to ease it into long term memory.

And before you know it … The information isn’t boring any more.

Far from it! That information has become …

 

The Most Interesting Information In The World!

 

This is without a doubt the finest thing you can do for the life of your memory and overall intelligence. When you privilege information and stop demonizing it by framing it in negative ways, it will want to enter your mind.

Even better: If you’ve invited the information in just the right way, it will want to stay.

 

5. Bore Others To Death With Your Boring Topic

 

Just kidding.

By the time you’ve made the information interesting to yourself, you’ll be excited to talk about it and to do that, you should have something already in place:

Community.

Remember how I told you should be grateful for having the opportunity to learn in the first place? And how you can use your gratitude as a tool for generating excitement in even the most boring topic?

Well, you also have the Internet and thousands of groups people have created for discussing topics that they either find really exciting, challenging or want to kvetch about. You can find these groups meeting on forums, on Facebook, G+ or just shooting the breeze in YouTube comments. Maybe there will be some interesting discussion on this video I put together to accompany this post, for example:

Let’s say you’re studying cognitive therapy, something I’ve recently gotten interested in studying.

The first thing is to show some gratitude for having the time and opportunity even to do so. Write that down in your daily gratitude journal.

Then, hop on to Facebook and search for groups that are already discussing this topic. Ask to join. For example, you can ask to join my Learn German Memory Hacks group, or even the Magnetic Memory Method Private Facebook Group. Have fun once you’re inside!

But Proceed With Caution!

 

Don’t overwhelm yourself with this. Just pick one or two that looks like it has enough members for finding a decent amount of discussion in process.

Introduce yourself once you’ve been admitted. Tell them a bit about who you are and why you’re interested in the topic. Make friends with the group admins and shoot them a note to thank them for taking time to put the group together. Probably no one else is doing that so you’ll be on their radar and recognize your name later.

Why would that matter?

Easy. Because when you get bored or stuck somewhere in your reading, you have a place to go and post where at least a few people are going to know your name.

Knowing that you have a place to go and share ideas in advance is a great way of making sure a topic never becomes boring to you.

Of course, the dark side of this technique is that you’ll get swept away doing a thousand other things online, but we all need to learn how to balance these things. I’m writing this post now in a library where getting online is too much of a pain – deliberately so that I have no distractions.

Because here’s the core of the matter:

 

If You Really Want To Get Ahead, You Will Find A Way

 

And with that monster of a headline, we’ve circled back to mindset, something you can get started crafting or refining right now.

Exciting, isn’t it?

Now get out there and tackle some uninteresting information you using these tools. I dare you to be bored!

Oh, and if you’re still skeptical, check out these 3 Reasons Why Skeptics Succeed With Memory Techniques Better Than Anyone Else.

The post 5 Ways To Get More Interested In Boring Topics You Have To Study appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Want to improve your ability to use memory techniques almost overnight? I promise it’s super-easy. All you need is the willingness to support your nearest art gallery and your awareness of the following 17 reasons going to an art gallery is good for your memory.

 

1. Art Inspires Your Visual Imagination

 

When you’re using memory techniques, you draw upon visual imagination. Even if you’re only using words in your mind when developing mnemonics, you’re using visual words.

The more visual iconography you’ve seen in your life, the more potency the visual words you use will hold. Exposure equals experience. Experience leads to substance. When you use the words “run,” “hit” or any other verb, the more art you’ve seen, the great depth of meaning these words will have.

 

2. Art Depicts Words Used In Visual Ways

 

If you’ve been to an art gallery lately, you’ve undoubtedly seen how modern artists use words. Pop artists use comic strips. Futurists made a big deal out of typefaces. You don’t even have to enter an art gallery to see words used in graffiti on nearly every street in your city.

Looking at art and paying attention to how artists use words is especially great for inspiring how you can use your visual imagination to memorize foreign language vocabulary and phrases. Next time you’re in an art gallery, pay particular attention to how words appear in the exhibits.

3. Art Helps You Make Mental Connections
Between Space And Material Objects

 

Looking at art is never just about “looking.” As your eyes meet the graphic displays, ideas emerge. In fact, “art” happens the moment that you start thinking about what you’re looking at or noticing your emotional responses.

You can become conscious of what you’re thinking and feeling and use your awareness to become more visual. Reflect on how the visual experience has triggered your thoughts and responses.

Also, journal what you’ve thought while at the gallery. By writing down your responses, you access your memory. Accessing your memory exercises your mind, which helps keep it fit.

4. Visiting Art Galleries Makes
You Aware Of World Geography

 

It’s not just that art often depicts different parts of the world. Art galleries also exhibit art by international artists.

Pay attention to the international names and locations of where the art originates. This will exercise your geographical imagination and give you more facts to remember. It’s also great memory exercise to remember the names of the artists you see and include their home countries.

For bonus points, you can also use the Major Method to add the dates of their lives and when they created the pieces you’re admiring. The more experienced you become with memory techniques, the more information you can memorize at a single go.

Plus, the location of the art itself within the gallery amounts to a Memory Palace station. Using the location gives you great practice at using your spatial memory in addition to all the other tools mnemonics draw upon, such as association, semantic memory, episodic memory and the like.

 

5. Art Galleries Are Depositories Of History

 

Yes, you can memorize the raw data of dates when going to an art gallery. But you also expose your memory to information about historical periods.

Artists love to reference other eras and historical events. Some artists have even made careers out of referencing history. Fluency in art equals fluency in history, which is always good for your memory.

 

6. Art Galleries Exercise Your Ability To Create Meaning

 

Let’s face it: A lot of art doesn’t make much sense.

At least, that’s until you give it some thought and learn about how to interpret art. Believe me. Interpretation matters.

After all, a huge part of art interpretation is creating meaning. To have created meaning, you have to remember the meaning you created. Ergo, going to art galleries and interpreting what you see is good for your memory.

And if you’re practicing memory techniques, handling abstract ideas your mind is perfect for practicing the art of remembering challenging and abstract ideas. Art history is loaded with them.

 

7. Art Galleries Give You The Experience Of Puzzlement

 

Being puzzled by something is different than having to create meaning. To be puzzled, after all, you must have already understood something. Two (or more) things are separated and you know they go together …

You just have to figure out how. Visiting art galleries gives you that experience and to fit the pieces together, you need to hold them in memory.

The benefits of being puzzled are massive because it always exercises your memory as you work things out. Even if you give up before you’re satisfied, your memory abilities will have grown.

 

8. Art Galleries Create Enigmas
That Carry On Throughout Life

 

Looking at art not only forces you to create meaning and solve puzzles. It also creates unsolvable mysteries that you will carry throughout your life.

Take “The Persistence of Meaning” by Salvador Dali. What exactly does it mean? No matter how many times you see this painting, it still mystifies. The enigma of surrealism persists precisely because it resists meaning.

And yet, we can continuously connect to the enigma and try puzzling out new meanings even if we know we’ll never come to a conclusion. In Critical Theory, this is called “indeterminacy” and it is a powerful tool in art, cinema, theatre and literature.

 

Try This Simple Memory Exercise

 

For a cool memory exercise, take a painting like “The Persistence of Meaning” and try to remember the first time you saw it.

Even if you’re wrong, right down your earliest memory. For me, my earliest memory is in Collier’s Encyclopedia. I believe it was in black and white.

My next memory is seeing it in a book in high school. After that, I remember buying an art book, cutting it out and hanging it on my wall.

Although I surely saw it countless times after that, my next memory is seeing the painting itself in Manhattan.

My most recent memory is in seeing watch sculptures in Zürich-based on the melting timepiece in the painting. And that triggers my memory of hearing Alejandro Jodorowsky tell me about the time he met Dali as a boy and the story of finding a watch in the desert.

You don’t have to use “The Persistence of Time” when you do the exercise, but give it a try. List as many exposures to the artwork as you can and then free associate. You’ll find that your memory expands the more you use it, and all the more so as you engage in memory games of this sort.

 

9. Looking At Art In Galleries
Creates Conflicting Opinions

 

Even if you go to art galleries alone, you’ll often find yourself in disagreement. Many artists go out of the way to polarize audiences, and using tools like “indeterminacy,” they often pull your heartstrings in opposing directions.

Conflicts like these are perfect for memory because you’ll remember how you felt looking at the painting at a deeper level. You’ll have more interesting inner dialogs which also encodes longer term memories.

If you want to help yourself remember more, keep a journal of the conflicting opinions you experience while looking at art just before you sleep after visiting a gallery. The reason to do this before you go to sleep is that memories consolidate during the night. Some studies have shown that the closer to sleep that you review information, the more likely your brain is to consolidate it into long term memory.

 

10. Art Gallery Gift Shops Have Memory-Inducing Books

 

After you’ve looked at the art in the gallery, you wind up seeing a lot of it over again in the bookstore.

Don’t get annoyed at the upselling. It’s good for your memory.

Plus, there are often cool books you can buy and read to learn more about the art you’ve encountered. Interview books with the artists themselves appeal because you find out more about their personal stories, theories and opinions at the same time. It’s a very cool way to make sometimes difficult information more concrete.

One of the reasons interviews with artists makes the ideas easier to remember is because you get stories and examples, but also the questions of the interviewers. Interviewers bring particular perspectives. If you pay attention to them and absorb their character, their attitudes instantly make the ideas under discussion more memorable.

 

11. Art Galleries Make You Look At
The Outside World Differently

 

Often artists use everyday objects within the art gallery to change our perspective of the outside world. But when you deliberately remember more of what you’ve seen inside the gallery, you will find that you also see the outside world differently.

For example, I just saw “Michael Jackson and Bubbles” by Jeff Koons for the first time in Oslo. You often read about the effect that it has in art criticism, but it’s not until you’ve seen it with your own eyes that the kitschy art in stories takes on the intended effect.

 

12. Visiting Art Galleries Inspires New Ideas

 

Art galleries are idea-generating machines. After all, every piece of art started with an idea – even if it was just the idea to throw paint at the wall.

The more ideas you encounter and the more you play with those ideas in your mind, the more likely you are to come up with ideas of your own.

Plus, you might walk away with the idea of actually creating some art. If you do follow through, that might be the best idea of all. No matter what happens to the art you create, you learn so much just by taking action.

 

13. Visiting Art Galleries Gives You More To Talk About

 

Be honest: You wish you were a more interesting person.

I know I do, and the secret is in always feeding yourself new and exciting things to discuss.

“Hey, did you see the new exhibit at our local gallery?” is a powerful conversation starter, for example. Plus, you’ll be supporting art in your community by inspiring others to see art and helping them experience a better memory in the process.

 

14. You Can Make A Memory Palace
From Each Art Gallery You Visit

 

Art galleries don’t always make the best Memory Palaces, but you can still use them for the exercise.

Plus, as I mentioned, each piece of art automatically provides its own station.

As with historical sites you encounter while on vacation, I recommend that you make your art gallery Memory Palaces as simple as possible. Use the entrance, one or two simple rooms and the exit only.

You don’t want to overwhelm yourself with multiple floors, stairways and those weird nooks and crannies. Unless they’re crucial to your success, skip the complicated parts of art galleries and focus on the parts that are dead simple to remember.

 

15. You Can Take A Guided Tour
And Develop Your Concentration

 

All of us struggle with not having enough FOCUS. So if the art gallery you visit offers a guided tour – take it.

One of the best ways to extend your concentration is to focus on lectures filled with data. I like to repeat the information I’m hearing in my own voice to help extend my focus.

It’s perfectly fine if your attention wanders. Just gently bring it back and enjoy how with practice you can extend the amount of time you hold focus during the tours you take.

For another kind of memory exercise, you can record the audio presentation and later use the How To Memorize A Textbook training to get the key points rapidly into long-term memory.

You might even want to give tours or your own by taking friends to see the art gallery later. You can practice your memory in a substantial way by telling others what you’ve learned and sharing your conflicting opinions.

Listening to their responses is another great way of practicing focus and developing your memory. You cannot lose by taking and giving art gallery tours.

 

16. You Might Even Meet Artists

 

During a recent art gallery visit in Helsinki, I met an interesting landscape artist. She gave me a personal tour of her works in the gallery, explaining her thoughts about color and telling me where exactly she was when creating the art.

Not only did this make the visit to the gallery more memorable to me, but I had the chance to ask her about her own memory. She said that she can paint from memory, but prefers to compose in the environment so that she can respond to the present moment.

Fascinating ideas like these make living a life devoted to memory even more interesting.

 

17. You Can Experience Fear
In Art Galleries And Still Be Safe

 

At the Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo, I almost crapped my pants when I saw Zhou Tao’s “”Chicken speak to duck, pig speak to dog.”

It’s a video installation with a weird dude yelling and squealing while up in a tree.

I had a hard time figuring out what it was all about until I read the title and description, but the combination of emotion, enigma and solving the riddle by reading the information consolidated the experience in memory.

Even better, I’m practicing what I preach right now by writing about the experience as my last job before going to bed, all of which will help consolidate the memory of this experience.

 

For Memory’s Sake, Visit An Art Gallery Soon

 

There are loads more reasons why going to art galleries can improve your memory. You see so much art in so many different mediums that it gives you an incredible amount of exposure to vibrant information that you’ll want to remember.

Are some of the pieces you’ll see meaningless fluff?

Perhaps.

But it’s all part of experiencing the world of art and expanding as a visual person.

And the more visual you become, the easier it is to use memory techniques.

Give yourself the gift of visual exposure and plan to visit an art gallery today.

Seriously. In most cities, it doesn’t have to cost a dime. Usually, art galleries open their doors once a week for free.

Plus, your city might have local galleries featuring independent artists. Restaurants often feature works by local artists. You can even arrange viewings of private collections in the homes of collectors with a simple Google search.

Trust me. It’s worth it and will make your life more memorable.

The post 17 Reasons Going To Art Galleries Will Improve Your Memory appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.