This guest post on effective brain training exercises for mental illness sufferers comes from Alex Moore. 

Take it away, Alex!

Would you like some brain training exercises to keep you sharp and on top of your game all the time?

I hope the answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

Here’s why:

Conditions such as mental illness and aging contribute to mental decay.

All the more so if you’re already suffering from mental illness, not to mention the medicinal side effects of psychiatric medicine. These medicines, even when useful, can cause your memory a lot of harm.

Here’s the good news:

Losing control over your cognitive functions can be hard, but it doesn’t need to happen. There is a way to avoid cognitive decline, and all it involves is training your mind.

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about brain training exercises to help keep your memory healthy.

 

All About Brain Training

 

Although many people believe that brain training is a modern invention, it actually has a rich history. To take one example, check out the brain training exercises admired by the Edwardians nearly 100 years ago.

In fact, mnemonic systems were all the rage in 19th century Great Britain. Famous author Mark Twain even had one called “The Memory Builder”.

Then there’s Pelmanism.

Like the brain exercise training favored by the Edwardians, Pelmanism is a product of Great Britain, and became very popular during the first half of the 20th century.

Get this:

More than 500,000 people reportedly used it, and one of them was the Prime Minister of the country himself!

Why was it so popular?

First, the system revolutionized brain training because it targeted the same mental functions we focus on optimizing to this day:

• Attention
• Concentration
• Creativity

The Pelman Scientific Mind Training Program focused on each of these to help people exercise their minds. Participants were mailed monthly booklets with games and exercises designed specifically to stimulate one or more of these functions.

All of which goes to show that brain training isn’t new. And of course, Anthony is always coming up with different brain exercises you can explore. Check these out:

Even better:

We have even more scientific evidence than ever to guide us these days. Modern neuroscience has managed to prove beyond any shred of doubt that our brains are in fact malleable like plastic.

In fact, we all have to ability to modify the structure and functions of our brains.

Of course, a lot depends on the internal and external factors of our lives, such as other bodily processes or environmental changes. But overall, every single person can intervene and create a better mental life.

Sadly, though, cognitive decline is becoming increasingly common past the age of 30. One reason is that people don’t understand the difference between memory loss and forgetfulness.

Nevertheless, slowing down the aging of our brain through training is a prospect that fills us with hope. And research shows that it’s completely achievable.

However, if having a sharper memory is something you aim for, you need to know right now that it takes work.

In order to remain in a constant state of connectedness regardless of whether you’re 30, 50 or 80 years old, you need to push your mind to learn something new each day. There is nothing more stimulating for your synapses than being put at work.

In turn, this leads to tangible improvement in more than one aspect.

For example, according to Dr. Jee Hyun Kim of the Florey Institute, focus diminishes with age.

Due to this deterioration of focus, stimulating your attention regularly can be crucial. By activating the frontal cortex and the hippocampus, you are not working only on this function, but on your memory and thought as well.

 

How Brain Training Can Increase Focus And Attention

There are many ways to achieve better focus and attention. One possibility lies in a simple, yet intellectually stimulating mobile app.

Similarly, reading new books, especially with a re-reading strategy, or solving math and logic problems puts all the areas of your brain to work and boosts cognition in the process.

Then there’s meditation. You can do a walking meditation or sit just to sit Buddha-style for improved memory and concentration.

And recent studies that will be discussed shortly suggest that it might even help treat mental illness.

 

Treating Mental Illness With Brain Training Exercises

Let me give you some context:

I have spent the last couple of years researching alternative treatments for mental conditions that affect memory and cognition.

Why did I choose this path?

Well, three years ago, someone I care about deeply was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I have spent all my days since trying to educate myself on the topic as much as possible.

In my journey, I have found that many specialists believe that brain training can help prevent degenerative neural diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer’s.

And that’s not all. In fact, such practices can help with instances of mental illness as well. This comes as great news for the vast community of patients struggling with such afflictions.

Recent medical science-related endeavors back up this seemingly bold claim. A study conducted at McLean hospital in 2017 has uncovered the potentially beneficial results of brain training in the treatment of mental illness, namely bipolar disorder in particular.

The lead scientist was Eve Lewandowski, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and developer of McLean’s bipolar disorder and schizophrenia programs.

According toLewandowski, BPD affects the memory, processing speed and executive function of most of the patients who suffer from it. This impacts their daily existence and overall quality of life quite negatively.

Therefore, working on improving cognitive dysfunctions is crucial for symptom relief in this case. And what better way to achieve that than through brain training? Lewandowski’s research found that the participants who used techniques pertaining to this area exhibited visible betterment that was maintained for at least six months afterward, if not more.

She got the idea after noticing how effective this approach was in keeping the symptoms of even more serious conditions such as schizophrenia under wraps.

People going through the four stages of schizophrenia have exhibited visible improvement in their symptoms after cognitive therapy.

In fact, previous trials conducted under the supervision of professor Barbara Sahakian of the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge have shown that something as simple as playing brain-stimulating mobile games improves cognition among schizophrenia patients. And it helps in areas where drugs have previously failed, which is even more important to keep in mind.

Just imagine how beneficial the effects could be if this would be tried in the long run. Lewandowski and her colleagues support the importance of acknowledging brain training as a viable treatment for mental illness. Modern psychiatry should recognize its merits and integrate it into the roster of available therapies.

But until that happens, you can also try doing at home. To tap into the healing properties of this approach, you don’t need to download a mobile app or buy fancy books and puzzles to keep your mind sharp. There are plenty of mental techniques that you can try at home and see how they work out for you. Here are the best three.

 

The Best Brain Exercise Techniques

 

1. Memory Palace

If you’re looking to train your memory specifically, Anthony Metivier’s approach to the ‘Memory Palace’ technique is one of the best to get the job done.

Famous historical and fictional figures alike, such as Hannibal Lecter from the renowned Silence of the Lambs book and film series are perfect examples of how this works.

Association is the key to creating your own memory palace to walk around in whenever you need to retrieve certain pieces of information.

When these have been assimilated long ago, you need to correlate each of them with a specific part of a location. A good starting point is your own house because it is familiar territory. For best results, draw out the floorplan of your first Memory Palace by hand. Like this:

But before you start drawing, walk around your house first.

Then,  once your’e done, assign various memories to various rooms.

To take it one step further, do the same thing but using objects within the same space. Fill your memory palace with everything you think is worth remembering, but make sure that you build a strong mental route in the process.

When the time to remember he information comes, simply retrace your steps along that path. It will take some getting used to, and you will surely fumble at first. Nobody is born an expert, and when you’re dealing with cognition-impairing mental illness, it might be even harder. But practice makes perfect, and it keeps your mind sharp too.

Of course, things might not be as simple or straightforward. Sometimes, direct associations simply aren’t possible. This is where your imagination and the ability to create allegories comes in.

For example, let’s imagine you want to remember something that has to do with a dandelion, a hose, and a Calico cat.

You are standing in your living room and there is a dandelion on the table. You go up the stairs, towards your bedroom. A hose is hanging on the door.

You enter, and the most adorable Calico cat is sleeping on your bed, purring. You have now memorized this sequence by simply making associations between its elements and actual, palpable places in your house.

2. Mind Mapping

The concept of mind mapping is a slightly similar one, but it is far more schematic and two-dimensional. In fact, it consists of a visual outline that starts with one core concept and then branches out into information that relates to it.

Some people prefer to do this on paper because they find it stimulates their assimilation of the notions even better.

Such a diagram can represent anything, from words and concepts to more specialized information such as tasks that need accomplishing.

And if you’re not a fan of writing it all out, you’ll be happy to find out that it can be used in combination with the Memory Palace technique. The two have a very strong meeting point between them.

In fact, you can listen to Phil Chambers discuss using mind maps and Memory Palaces together.

[smart_track_player url=”https://traffic.libsyn.com/magneticmemorymethod/How_To_Combine_Mindmapping_And_Memory_Palaces_With_Phil_Chambers.mp3″ social_linkedin=”true” ]

Chambers, a world mind mapping expert, mind maps serve even more complex purposes. A mind map follows all the principles of memory, but it also helps you think. But memory palaces are better for actually remembering information, while mind maps are more suitable for processing and understanding it.

The two are sometimes useless when not together. For this reason, finding a middle ground that includes mind maps into your memory palace can be a great way to stay sharp and on top of your game. Furthermore, together they stimulate more essential areas of the brain, thus preventing premature decay.

3. Dominic System

The Dominic mnemonic system is one of the most famous brain training techniques in the world. It was designed by famous British mnemonist Dominic O’Brien, who also happens to be an eight-time World Memory champion. Most brain athletes use it nowadays to memorize long strings of digits for competitions. So, why is it so effective?

Just like the Major system associates numbers with sounds, the Dominic system notoriously does a similar thing by assigning them the initials of a person’s name. It’s a highly effective person-action system that can be combined with the memory palace technique, thus creating the Hotel Dominic, as many experts lovingly call it.

But O’Brien’s contribution to the world of brain training doesn’t stop here. He also famously established that the strategical recalling of information following a five-step pattern is the best way to cement said information in your brain. This should happen in the following order:

• The first review takes place immediately;
• The second review follows it 24 hours later;
• The third review then happens one week later;
• One month later comes the fourth review;
• And finally, the fifth review occurs a total of three months later.

Thus, in the span of roughly four to five months, you will be able to remember anything.

By sticking to this routine, you will be able to fight the cognitive decay that many mental illnesses bring, too. When your schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are playing tricks on your mind, relying on a strict pattern to memorize relevant information can be a true lifesaver.

 

Final Thoughts

 

To sum up, it must be noted that medical science is just now starting to look more into the beneficial effects of brain training. Cognitive dysfunction can be caused by many things. These range from something as naturally occurring as old age to more complex issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Fortunately, practicing one or more of the three techniques discussed above can be beneficial. It is something that can help you refocus and even excel when it comes to memory and thought patterns. As a short recap, these are:

• The Memory Palace.

This famous approach is based on making associations between physical locations and various pieces of information. The best way to build the memory palace is by correlating them with specific spots around your home. The familiarity of the territory is prolific for this purpose.

• Mind mapping. It consists of a series of diagrams that represent two-dimensional connections between concepts. Creating mental maps works best when used in combination with the memory palace. This activates more areas of the brain than the two would alone, thus preventing decay and enhancing performance.

• The Dominic system. Focused on numbers, the Dominic system heavily relies on the connection between these and letters. These usually are the initials of someone’s name. When used together with the memory palace technique, it is known as the Hotel Dominic.

As it has been established, the three techniques are equally efficient standalone as they are when combined. In order to choose what suits your needs, you will need to try them. Presentations and explanations can only do so much.

Nevertheless, having this knowledge is essential for the future. If you or someone you love, as it happened in my case, are slipping down the slope of mental illness, take action now. Explore the possibilities given by brain training and build a better tomorrow.

About Alex Moore

Alex is a Psychology undergraduate who strives to discover the intricacies of the minds of the mentally ill, with the ultimate goal of helping them and those around them. When he’s not writing about the efficiency of memory improvement techniques, you’ll find him contributing to www.schizlife.com.

The post 3 Effective Brain Training Exercises for Mental Illness Sufferers appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Zoning out sucks, doesn’t it? You’re sitting there, wishing you can concentrate, wishing you knew how to improve focus … and yet … your mind is just dancing all over the darn place.

Well, if you want to know how to improve focus and concentration so you can finally get those important things in your life done, these ultra-fast tips from Joanna Jast will give you exactly what you need to succeed. Make sure to read the entire post and download the audio she narrated for your convenience. Enjoy this game-changing focus training! 

 

Everything You Need To Know About Focus

 

Guest post and podcast guest host narration by Joanna Jast.

How would you like to skyrocket the effectiveness of your favorite memory techniques? Or, if you’re having trouble getting started, how would you like to develop rock-solid focus that will allow you to learn, memorize and recall anything?

Here’s the deal:

Without good focus, no matter how much time you spend using mnemonics or walking through Memory Palaces, very little will stick.

Why?

Because focus is to memory what a key is to a lock.

Yes, you can always force-open a lock. But it’s easier and smoother and faster with a key, don’t you think?

Most people get this point about focus wrong, but …

Here’s Exactly How To Stop Making
Such A Focus-Killing Mistake

 

Most people get the whole focus improvement idea wrong. They think focus is a matter of motivation – and they keep digging into their ‘whys’, reading inspirational quotes and hiring accountability coaches.

Look:

These efforts all have their time and place.  But they all take time, effort and cost money. Worse, they only work until the next motivational low crashes down on your head.

And then …

You Have To Start Over Again!

 

Yes, motivation fluctuates and it’s not your fault – that’s just the way it is.

But no matter what your motivation for improving your focus is, making some simple changes in your environment and the way you work can dramatically improve your concentration and your ability to memorize information fast.

 

The Fastest Way To Improve Your Focus

 

Meditation is great. Don’t get me wrong. Its benefits are multiple and well proven. It helps improve concentration, mental and physical health. Even better, meditation keeps you young and happy.

There is a downside to meditation though. It takes time to see the benefits. Plus, you need to commit to at least 4, 15-minute sessions per week. Well worth it, but not instantaneous.

You have more pressing questions:

What about that neuroanatomy revision for the exam tomorrow? Or the German phrases you need to memorize for your trip next week?

Meditation is great and you should continue practicing it if you’re already doing it, but for all those moments when you need a quick focus fix, here’s my trick:

 

How To Increase Focus With These
Quick Environmental Hacks

 

I admit, I don’t meditate – I’ve tried many times and abandoned my efforts. Between my inner wriggler, uncomfortable back, tendency to fall asleep immediately when still and relaxed and a number of other effective strategies I use for my ‘mental powers’ – I’ve never been able to experience enough benefits of meditation to keep doing it.

Making changes to my environment, on the other hand, has been the quickest way to make an impact and offered the most bang for my buck.

What can you do with your environment to maximise your ability to focus?

First, check if your workspace is ergonomic. Make sure your desk and chair are at a comfortable height so you don’t strain your back.  Often a simple thing such as a small cushion or a rolled-up towel to support your lower back is enough to fend off that back soreness interrupting your workflow.

Adjust the position of your computer and any other work tools you use. The optimal set-up for your desk space includes your monitor being at arm’s lengths away from your eyes and your wrists and hands on the keyboard straight at or below elbow level. These little tweaks will help your body stay comfortable at work. Check out this Mayo Clinic article for more info on office ergonomics.

 

Cut Your Brain Some Slack!

 

Noise is another vital element of work environment many people don’t appreciate the effects of. Noise is not only a powerful distractor, but also forces your brain to do additional work by ignoring it. If you’ve ever worked in a noisy environment, you know how tiring this can be.

Eliminating or minimizing noise in your environment can reap immediate benefits for your focus and memory.

You don’t need complete silence, but at least try to minimize/eliminate conversations and anything that resembles conversations around you. These are real focus killers, because our brain is wired to tune in to conversations (in case there are some survival benefits to it).

Conversations and fragments of conversations come from many sources, For example:

 

• Colleagues
• Friends
• Family
• Passers-by
• Radio

 

Whether these tidbits of gossip and other verbal diarrhea float in through the window, an open door or thin walls, they will keep your brain busy trying to make sense of the fragments. As a result, your focus and memory powers will be affected.

Music needs special attention, because music evokes emotions, and emotions, positive or negative, affects the learning process. That’s why many people find music helpful in the learning process.

If you have found music that helps you memorize better, good for you. If you’re still looking for the right music, be mindful that evoking emotionally powerful memories can hurt your learning process, too. And if you like to listen to music with lyrics – just mind that conversation effect: don’t add any more work to what your brain is already doing by trying to tune into the lyrics and understand what they mean.

If you don’t have your own office/study room, don’t despair. There are a number of simple devices that can help. The easiest thing is to get a pair of noise cancelling headphones or earmuffs.

White noise may also provide a solution, albeit not a permanent one, as white noise can be tiring in the long run, too. I’m writing this post in our dining room (I don’t have an office at home) while my husband is watching Hunger Games in the living room next door. I’m generally sensitive to noise and get distracted and tried by it, but the fact that the dehumidifier is on and it’s loud really saves the day for me.

Before I finish talking about your environment, let me mention one more powerful trick to improve your focus immediately.

 

How To Manage Technology So That It Doesn’t Manage You

 

Turn technology off.

Yes, technology can be helpful when it comes to learning and work productivity, but if you don’t manage technology, it will manage you.

I’m not telling you to go ‘off the grid’ completely, but you can boost your concentration and ability to memorize by simply turning off all the notifications. Or, as Anthony suggests in Mandarin Chinese Mnemonics And Morning Memory Secrets, don’t even turn any computers on until you’ve got your most important memory goals completed.

 

The Ugly Truth About Popups And Notifications

 

Here’s something that might shock you:

The purpose of those pesky popups and sound alerts? They’re not just about announcing that you’ve got a new email, text message, or your friend posted something on your favourite social media network – they disrupt whatever you’re doing, and they’re very good at it.

Every single time you let an ad or a message pull your focus away from your memory activities, you’re surrendering your time and energy to stuff that doesn’t necessarily help you progress to your goals of creating and living a knowledgeable life.

The solution:

Turn all notifications off.

If you can’t live without notifications (seriously?), set up ‘notification-free zones’ for when you’re learning, memorising and practicing recall. Turn them off for those periods of time and switch them on again only when you’ve reached specifically identified goals or milestones.

These are all simple strategies that take minutes to set up and can bring considerable improvement to your ability to focus.

 

Body First And A Focused Mind Will Follow

 

Now that I’ve told you about fixing your environment, it’s time to talk about fixing your brain, right?

Nope.

I’m sure you’ve heard about all sorts of exercise to improve your brain powers.

But did you know that one of the best strategies for a sharp mind has nothing to do with those ‘mental workouts’?

I can’t emphasize this enough:

Two years ago, I was struggling with focus. My memory was shockingly bad and I was constantly fighting tiredness.

At that time I was doing research for one of my online courses and discovered a book by John Medina called Brain Rules. This is an excellent book, well written and full of useful, evidence-based stuff.

Among many other strategies, Medina emphasises the immense mental benefits of sleep. Anthony covered the benefits that sleep brings to our memory, but it bears repeating that sleep deprivation affects also your ability to concentrate, think, problem-solve and many other tasks. One sleepless night impairs your performance as much as having 0.1% alcohol in your blood (which is above legal driving limits even in the most liberal countries).

So if you want your mind to be sharp, your wit quick and your thinking top-notch, don’t skimp on your zzzz …

And if you happened to sleep badly last night and you can feel the effects of it – take a power nap. Power naps are 15-20 minutes long naps aimed at ‘resetting your brain’. You may need to find your own sweet spot, but generally it is recommended not to exceed 30 minutes, so you don’t enter the deep sleep phase as this can make you feel groggy and sluggish. Set the alarm, sleep in a quiet, dark room or use an eye mask, make sure you warm and comfortable.

 

Why Movement Is More Important Than Meditation

 

On top of keeping you physically well and happy, exercise can also improve your mental performance. And it happens in two ways:

1. By increasing the flow of oxygen into your brain.
2. By boosting the creation, survival and resistance of your brain cells.

In a nutshell, exercise is the cheapest and easiest mental enhancer available.

And I experienced it myself. Those 2 years ago, having read about the benefits of exercise, I decided to get back into regular running. And once I started running, my concentration, memory and thinking powers improved quickly. I was able to finish writing and recording not only the course, but also my recent best-selling book, Laser-Sharp Focus. A No-Fluff Guide to Improved Concentration, Maximised Productivity and Fast-Track to Success.

The takeaway:

If you’re still hesitating if you should go for a walk or work out tonight – just get on with it. Do it for the health and happiness of your precious mind and memory.

 

The Most Obvious Way To
Fight Your Inner Procrastinator
(Most People Ignore This!)

 

Procrastination is a massive killer of productivity. From bills unpaid on time, to Christmas gifts bought at the last minute, to time spent on playing games, or watching stupid programs/videos instead of preparing for tomorrow’s exam or that crucial presentation.

We all procrastinate. But do you know, what your favorite procrastination monster is?

I don’t mean what you do when you procrastinate, but why you procrastinate in the first place?

If you don’t, I recommend next time you procrastinate, explore the underlying issue.

Once you understand that, you can apply a targeted solution..

I’m going to make it easy for you. Here are the 7 most common reasons why people procrastinate:

1. Fear of failure or success
2. Perfectionism (which is usually p.1 in disguise)
3. Feeling overwhelmed by the task
4. Lack of /insufficient interest or motivation to do the task
5. Skill or knowledge gap
6. Disorganisation
7. Internal (thoughts or emotional state)

Explore your underlying reasons for procrastination by asking yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing instead of working on what you should be doing. Keep asking why (usually 5 times is enough) until you get to the bottom of the problem – or until you reach one of the reasons listed above.

Why should you investigate the roots of your procrastination?

Because, the better you understand your problem, the more targeted solution you can put in place to address it. And this is the point many people miss, jumping from one ineffective/partially effective anti-procrastination strategy to another. Don’t waste your time and energy on strategies that are unlikely to address your problem. Diagnose your problem and apply the right strategy.

Forget Motivation And Remember To Do This Instead

 

Remember what I said at the beginning? Motivation is flimsy. Get over it and get on with your life.

But, hang on, Joanna. Your tricks are clever (hopefully that’s what you think :-)), but surely, we need something more substantial to carry us through all those days, weeks and months filled with stuff to do? If not motivation, what should I rely on then?

Well, let me get this motivation bit straight.

If you want to get somewhere where you want to get – not to a random anywhere, you need motivation.

But since you’re listening to Anthony’s podcast, you already have motivation. Motivation to improve your memory, your mental performance and probably – also your life.

Because these are all self-improvement goals. And that’s awesome.

You know what you need, you’ve done some research to identify what may help, you’re listening to Anthony’s podcast, reading, digesting it and maybe even implementing.

That’s a lot, actually.

So in my books, this means you’re motivated.

And even if you haven’t started implementing any of the advice Anthony and his guests have shared with you – it still doesn’t mean you need to ‘motivate yourself’ to get there.

 

No.

 

We’re all driven by some type of motivation, whether extrinsic, like money, praise or avoidance of punishment, or intrinsic – autonomy, mastery or purpose.

Most of us have a mix of things that make us tick, but often there is a dominant one – one motivational driver that lights your fire.

I suggest you find out what it is. Because, honestly, if you know what lights your fire, you’ll be always able to put the right fuel into your motivational tank and get where you want to get without having to ‘motivate yourself’ again and again.

I recommend you read Daniel Pink’s great book: Drive. The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. If nothing else, watch his TEDTalk, The Puzzle Of Motivation:

It’s awesome to always feel motivated to do what you need to do, but sooner or later you’ll end up feeling like you’d rather play your favorite game, watch silly cat videos, or clear your desk.

The best way to prevent it from happening is to create a system that runs on autopilot.

This is the way I get my writing done – my book(s), guest posts, emails, etc. Even this podcast was written using my system – a system that makes me do what I need to do even when I don’t feel like it.

Systems are reliable, repeatable and run on autopilot.

They require some time and effort investment upfront, but once set up, they run automatically, without fuss and extra cost.

I can talk for hours about building productivity and habit systems, but let me give you a few juicy tips.

 

How To Make Achieving Your Goals A No-Brainer

 

Want to focus on revising German vocabulary for that trip next week?

Make the revision the only or the easiest thing to do. Prepare your workspace the night before, so what you find on your desk first thing in the morning – is exactly what you need for your revision and nothing else. If you revise without your computer – turn it off before you go to bed.

If you use language software, before you go to bed, log out of your email inbox and any other sites you check regularly, close your browser and clear your favorites, but have the application you use for revisions open.

When you open your browser in the morning, you’d have to find all those websites and log back in again – too much fuss, too hard to do first thing in the morning, isn’t it?

But hey, your language software is open – why don’t you just get on with revising?

 

The Sneakiest Way To Increase Focus On The Planet

 

Don’t stop at making it easy to do what you want to do. Go further. Make it hard not to do it.

If you tend to procrastinate by browsing the Net, turn off your connection at the modem/router, and lock the router/modem away, so you’d have to get up and walk there and get it out to turn it back on again. That’s a lot of effort.

Or, if you keep walking away from your desk on various irrelevant errands – chain yourself to the desk. Well, maybe not literally, but find a way to sit at your desk so that getting up and walking away is a nuisance.

I have a system where I sit to write behind a table, stuck in a corner, with a large table in front of me and another chair to the side. To get up and walk away – I need to push away my chair, the other chair and squeeze behind it. Just like with turning your Internet back on again, it takes time and it’s so much fuss, and that’s exactly what I need to reconsider my decision of walking away so I just stay put, extend my attention span and keep writing.

 

Want To Put These Instant Focus-Boosting
Strategies To Work In Your Life?

 

You now know why you want your focus to be laser-sharp. This insight will fast-track your journey to your memory goals and help you become a powerful learner. Whatever the dreams you’re pursuing, laser-sharp focus will make it easier and faster to achieve.

It may seem like focus is a skill that takes a long time to develop and a lot of effort to perfect – and yes, traditional approaches, like meditation and motivational strategies indeed take time and practice before you can reap the rewards.

But with a bunch of smart tricks, you can quickly turn your overwhelmed by distractions and defeated by procrastinations mind into a powerful machine that you can turn on with a flick of a button.

 

Ready to get started?

 

Great! Pick one of the strategies you’ve just learned and implement it this week. Sorting out your environment is always good and easy thing to start with.

Whichever focus-improving technique you choose, take small, determined steps and you’ll quickly realise your focus is sharp and ready, available at your service, whenever you need it.

Joanna Jast is the author the bestselling books Laser-Sharp Focus and Not Another Motivation Book: A Pragmatist’s Guide to Nailing Your Motivation, Keeping It, and Effortlessly Achieving Your Goals. She’s also a blogger and top-performance seeker. She helps people who need to quickly learn and adapt to new environment, accelerate their success with pragmatic, evidence-based strategies.

For more tips on how to get rid of those procrastination problems once and for good, grab my Laser-Sharp Focus Quick Action Guide now. This guide helps you identify the best strategies for your specific situation, depending how much time and energy you can afford to spend on fixing the problem at the given time. I deliberately separate longer term strategies that address the underlying problem(s) from quick fixes that can help you get jobs done on the spot.  Click the title at the beginning of this paragraph now and let your mind powers shine.

The post How To Improve Focus And Concentration: 4 Ultra-Fast Tips appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

How I Memorized German Phrases Every Day For A Year

Guest post by Richard Gilzean

Note: What follows is a deconstruction of the steps I took (and continue to take) to improve my German. But rest assured, these same steps will work for memorizing phrases in any language.

Sound good?

Regardless of whether you’ve been learning a second or third language for a while, or just starting out, this approach to memorizing foreign languages will help you.

In the beginning was the Word SENTENCE.

 

You might be wondering: Why learn German phrases and not just individual words?

Good question. The answer is that we all read, write, listen and speak in sentences, or fragments thereof. The sentence is at the core of any language and learning to master the sentence should be considered. Even the most basic language guide book for travelers teach simple German phrases that follow syntax.

Don’t get me wrong. Words are beautiful in their own right. We all should invest in the time to learn what a word means and how to best use it. And this is achieved by working those words into sentences as you work on your bilingualism.

 

How I Built My “Internal GPS” (And You Can Too)

 

Before launching into memorizing my first German phrase, I designed the Memory Palace system that would store them.  I’ve been interested in the art and craft of memory training and self-improvement for a couple of years.  But I only really started to study it closely after coming across Anthony’s book How to Learn and Memorize German Vocabulary which, in turn, led me to the Magnetic Memory Method website.

Recommended resource: The Magnetic Memory Method Masterplan.

Anthony’s approach to teaching anyone how to learn, memorize and recall vocabulary, names, mathematical formulas and pretty much anything that can be memorized is both well-structured and comprehensive. So I’ll just highlight the essential components as they relate to learning languages and all of you who have been following Anthony’s site will be familiar.

• Have a store of real locations to house your sentences.
• Imagine real concrete / tangible objects or people that are creative, vivid, colorful and zany. Therefore, not just an elephant, but a pink pygmy elephant with Dumbo-like ears and with a runny trunk.
• Schedule time for practice so the sentence can work its way into your long-term memory.

You’ll need to draw from your own personal memory bank a real location in which to store your sentences. It can be a place you know well, like the house you live in, or the place where you grew up that holds its own strong memories. It can be a route you follow regularly, such as a park or your daily commute from home to work.

With a little practice you can come up with more than enough Memory Palaces. While there are some general guidelines about how to make your Memory Palace effective, there is a lot of divergent opinion on how to make best use of your own Memory Palaces because no two thought processes are alike.

Because I knew I would need a large location to hold my expanding sentences, I chose a route that ran from the front door of my house, along the street, through a local park and over to my son’s local primary school – some 400 meters in total.

 

From AA to ZZ: Where I Keep My Memorized German Phrases

 

But before you set off on your journey, you’ll need to figure out your memory anchors. Think of the process like mental orienteering where you go for a jog in your mind along a set trail and arrive at control points along the way.

To help, I created an excel spreadsheet with an index of initials for names of famous people, friends and cartoon characters, running all the way from AA to ZZ. This process took a little time to work through and I made some compromises along the way. In particular, I left out the letters Q – X – Y (just too hard to come up with names).

I ended up with a list of 600 names running from Andre Agassi to the bearded rockers from the band ZZ Top. Six hundred names means, in theory, I am able to memorize at least 600 foreign language sentences.

Running alongside my list of names I also have a separate list of 100 what I refer to as my memory tag words. These words use the well-established mnemonic Major Method which is a technique used to aid in memorizing numbers and has been used in memorize shopping lists, the sequence of a shuffled pack of card and memory competitions. The Major Method works by converting numbers into consonant sounds, then into words by adding vowels.

 

How To Choose Which Phrases To Memorize

 

Armed with my list of 600 names and 100 Major System tag words, I now have the memory anchors in place to hold my German sentences.  I also have the memory route from my house to my son’s primary school. There is a smorgasbord of foreign language sites out there to choose from, but the question is, which phrases should I memorize in order to get the best results for building fluency in German.

I subscribe to the German Flashcards section of a website run by Learn With Oliver for collecting many German phrases. It contains an easy to navigate database of material to assist you in learning several of the most common languages.

The site produces a daily e-letter with a word and phrase of the day, an audio recording of the text plus a whole bunch of other useful resource material. From this site I have taken almost all of my German phrases.

Once I have material to work with, my  approach is to review the phrases I want to memorize and make sure that I am comfortable with the grammar and etymology. I then copy the sentences and the English translation into a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is made up of the following columns:

• Initials running from AA to ZZ
• The English sentence
• The German sentence
• My mnemonic interpretation (this is explained below)
• The full names of my AA – ZZ group
• My 100 tag words

Here’s an example:

Here’s how I’ve adapted my practice from memorizing single words to whole German phrases.

As you can see, I’ve front-loaded three of the components into the sentence. They include the initials of a well-known/memorable name (Michelle Obama), the English translation (no problem) and the tag word (hail).

By splicing these three components into the sentence I’ve built an imaginative cross reference for whenever I need to recall the German phrase “Keine Ursache!” the rest of this mnemonic interpretation follows some established mnemonic guidelines.

German sayings like this are powerful to have in memory – just make sure to also include funny German phrases as you learn the language.

Personally, however, I suggest avoid learning German insults – you might wind up blurting them out at inopportune moments! If you’re stuck on finding any material to learn and memorize at all, one tip for finding good German phrases is to search Google for “German phrases PDF.”

Carrying on: For the word “keine” I thought of Keyser Soze, who some of you may recall as the evil dude Kevin Spacey played in the film “The Usual Suspects”.

For the word “Ursache” I broke it down into two images, one for “UR” and one for “SACHE” and came up with Keith URban (well-known country singer) + SACK.

I then imagined Keyser (rhyming with kaiser and which just happens to be a German vocabulary word) shoving URban into a SACK. Don’t forget to take the time to imagine this scenario with crazy, vivid, memorable images. Gimpy-legged Keyser shoving guitar-wielding URban into a big smelly potato SACK works for me.

 

If You Can Imagine A Castle, You Can
Use Memory Techniques To Boost Your German Fluency

 

Let’s take these ideas and incorporate them into a more challenging sentence. Is it worth visiting this castle? = Lohnt es sich diese Burg zu besuchen? Jacques Tati is king of a CASTLE in a MoVie starring Lindsay LOHAN playing the role of ESther who is throwing up SICK over DIESEL (a musician I know) after eating a BURGer served by ZUlu armed with a BAZOOKa.

In this case I’m using some mnemonic shorthand. Again, I’ve loaded three of the components at the front of the sentence Jacque Tati / Castle / Movie. Jacque Tati (famous French film actor and director) is my famous name and CASTLE is a single image I want to use represent the entire sentence. It’s a concrete image that is easy to visualize. (Is there anyone who can’t imagine a castle?)

The third component is the word “MOVIE” which is number 38 in my 100 memory tags. For the rest of the exercise you should be able to make the connection between my sentence and the similar sounding words in the German phrase.

 

How To Make The Most From Mnemonic Shorthand

 

Regardless of whatever foreign language you want to master, you’ll soon figure out the high frequency words and syllables and will want settle on some shorthand images to help you form your mnemonic sentences.

For example, I’ve settled on the following shorthand for these common German words:

es = it. For this word I use an image of a family member whose name is Esther.

ich = I.  Here I just imagine “ItCHy”, the mouse from The Simpson’s cartoons.

der = multiple meanings including:

1. the (masculine definite article)
2. (definite article for genitive and dative singular feminine and genitive plural)
3. who
4. which
5. that one, this one

I found some mnemonic shorthand harder to imagine than others. In what is probably an understatement, the German language has many words with the prefix ‘ge’. After much trial and error, I settled on an image of GoethE as my go-to guy for the ‘ge’ words.

But if GoethE doesn’t make sense to your imagination and you encounter an issue Anthony talked about in his Remember Names At Events podcast,

you might think that Agent Maxwell Smart from the GEt Smart television series works better for you. Or perhaps someone more contemporary comes to mind.

The important thing is that you learn to link figures with information so that you can recall it at will. This skill comes in handy in many ways, particularly when trying to memorize German genders. For example, in all instances of “der” I use an 80’s television character DERrick from the popular German detective series.

 

How To Get Ikea To Optimize Your Memory Palace

 

Now, you may be thinking: Do I really need to be able to recall all of my mnemonic sentences? Answer: No. I’ve found that once a schedule of recall practice is established you’ll be able to rely on the processing power of your mind to summon the sentence.

The next problem I had to solve concerned mental real estate. I now had in place my daily practice of learning and memorizing new German phrases and placing them along my chosen route. But I eventually realized I was running out of stations along my route and I wanted to get more benefit out of the site of this Memory Palace.

My solution was to use a system of alphabetical modular shelving – think Ikea wall units – in which to place my mnemonic imagery.

So when it came time to assign German phrases to my prepared list of EA to EZ letters, instead of using up 23 separate places (remember letters Q, X and Y are out) along the route, I imagined a rather large E-shaped white Ikea wall unit with 23 compartments at the next station along the path.

And in each compartment I would place my mnemonic interpretation of whatever German sentence I was learning that day. Kind of like the dioramas I used to help my son make for his school projects.

Forging The Memory Chain Using Recall And Difference

The main advantage I’ve found with using what I call my double-bind memory link strategy (i.e. initials plus memory tag words) is that if I happen to forget one when practicing my recall I can usually rely on the other one to help me out. Take up this practice and you’ll see quick results too.

Memory Palaces do not have to be photographic / perfect representations – they just need to be consistent with how you recall them in your mind. Once I’ve memorized a batch of 23 sentences to the point where I can mentally recall the sentences forwards, backwards and in some random order, I use a simple spaced repetition system that involves setting a date in my Google calendar with a title like – “LA – LZ 1 week”.

I then mentally run through my recall, check my responses on the spreadsheet and, if I get them correct, will reset the next recall for two weeks, followed by 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months. If I’m not happy with my recall practice I’ll review the mnemonic sentence I’ve constructed and practice again a few days later.

I recommend you rehearse your phrases out loud because you need to hear the sounds your voice makes. Make a practice of writing them out by hand as a way of reinforcing the learning. For extra bonus points you might like to record the sentences and listen to them when you’re out and about.

That pretty well sums up what I’ve achieved in a short period of time. This method takes the key features found on Magnetic Memory Method site and tweaks them to get the best value out of your Memory Palace. Try creating warehouses in your own Memory Palaces using the alphabetical system outlined. My German phrases continues to swell and grow. So far I’ve gone from Andre Agassi to Van Halen. That’s about 500 sentences.

Sprechen, Lesen, Schreiben und Hōren
(Speak, Read, Write & Listen)

As I mentioned at the start of this post we all write, listen, read and speak in sentences and German phrases. Learning to speak and understand any foreign language with fluency requires application to all four components in equal measure. The method of memorizing sentences I’ve described ticks all four boxes.

Of course, you’ll need to get out there and road test your German phrases (or those in the language you’re studying) in real world situations to become comfortable with your newly acquired knowledge. All good language learners say so, including polyglot Luca Lampariello when he describes language as a kind of net.

If you’ve found this training on memorizing German phrases helpful, or you’d like some clarification on the points, please contact me at richard@richardgilzean.com.

Viel Gluck!

Richard Gilzean is a writer and blogger specialising in creating content for small business owners, entrepreneurs and corporate clients. He has thirty years of writing, research and training experience in corporate and government sectors. Whether you want to create great content to boost traffic to your website or you’re looking for a professional writer who can tell your story in your voice, Richard can help. Check out his freelance writing website here.

The post German Phrases: The Ultimate How To Memorize German Sentences Guide appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Have you ever gone through a phase that forced you into starting over from scratch?

Don’t worry. It happens to everyone.

Luckily, we can learn from those who have gone before us. In this guest post from Jeffrey Pickett, you’ll learn how to minimize the suffering that comes from rebooting your life and how to get back on your feet in the best possible manner.

 

Three Reasons Why Starting Over Is So Painful

 

Starting over can be painful. You’d love to blame others, but after close analysis, you realize it all points back to the person looking at you in the mirror.

Our careers, like cars, were meant to go forward most if not all of the time. No one likes to go in reverse. It takes more attention, more focus and more detail. Starting over means you need to back up before you can go forward.

Finally, starting over sucks because self-doubts creep in the back door, playing with your mind. The sky is no longer blue, the chirping birds are dead, and someone pulled the chain, diminishing the once bright sunlight.

Take heart, my friends, because it just so happens I am the self-proclaimed big deal in the world of starting over. Allow me to prove it to you…

 

Why You Should Forgive But Don’t Forget

 

In a previous relationship, well perhaps several, the occasion to try and make things work occurred a few times too many. The bottom eventually fell out and I beat myself up for letting things go on as long as I did.

That guy on the street with the “The End is Near” sign was right all along. I just wouldn’t listen.

When you make mistakes, learn from the event, forgive yourself and move on. Looking in the rearview mirror only serves to cause pain. Learn the lesson and move forward.

Forgive while you’re at it. Holding anger or resentment towards another only sets you up for failure. Let go of the attachment to anger.

 

Wouldn’t It Be Cool If You Could Be Superman?

 

I think I’d ditch the cape myself, but having superpowers and flying around would be awesome, right?

Well, back in reality-world, that doesn’t work. You can only be yourself.

That’s not totally correct.

Humans have this unique ability to recognize who they are and change. We can go back to school, join a gym or even seek therapy if necessary.

With effort, we can become a better version of ourselves.

An important facet to starting over means you have to be willing to change any aspect of your life that no longer works. Ultimately, you can only change yourself; you have no power to change anyone else.

That common definition of insanity (dare I repeat it?) is accurate – to avoid more mistakes, change that which is in you versus what you have no control over.

 

What To Do When The World Turns Upside Down

 

Whenever your world upside down, forcing you to start over, a vital lesson should be at the forefront of your brain.

The way we see things may not be the best perspective.

You can’t mold the world to your point of view, but you can shift your perspective.

Recently I went hiking with my wife. Just when the trail appeared to dead-end, I’d take one more step, and my perspective changed.

The opening was there all along; I just needed a few more steps.

 

How To Get More Done With Less Effort

 

I love running. I used to train five to six days a week, running up to 15 miles on some days. But I could never improve my race times.

One day, a friend of mine introduced me to running sprints instead of running long distances. I did as he suggested and my race times came down even though I ran shorter training distances.

Another example involves my garage that needed some fix-up. A friend offered to help, someone with a lot more experience than I. But my pride got the best of me. I thought I’d do it myself.

You can guess what happened.

I ripped up most of my work, I cut my thumb open, and my kids learned a new curse word from my repeated frustrations. If only I would have invited the help and pushed away my pride…

See the difference? I just needed to change my approach.

 

I Lied – You CAN Be Superman!

 

You just have to do one thing before you begin starting over.

You have to learn a new skill. Maybe you need a better memorization technique…

A potential reason you are in need of starting over is that as hard as it may sound, you may lack the resources to get the job done. Before starting over, research your topic of interest or situation, gain the extra knowledge and get back into the fight.

 

 

The Real Reason It’s Better to Give And Not Deceive

 

The world operates differently these days. You used to be able to ask for favors. But now it’s all about, “What Have You Done For Me Lately?”

That’s not all bad.

Instead of looking out for good ol’ #1, start over with an effort to provide value. Do things for others. Show the world you want to add versus subtract. Don’t provide something with the apparent reason you just want something in return.

Give with the intention of helping. If you’re lucky (and genuine), then the gifts will come back. Give your work away.

Giving is good for the soul. It’s good for your health, too.

Speaking of giving, I have a self-titled website where I give as much of my experiences as I can write down. I’m focusing on health these days, so if you’d like to improve your health and lose some weight in the process, check out my free guide.

Well, now you know of my experiences in starting over. I’d love to hear yours. I’ll bet they are the type of stories Jimmy Fallon/Kimmel would feature! Share what happened and what you did to get over it and I’ll see you in the comments.

Further Reading

How To Live An Interesting Life

The post Insights to Remember Before Starting Over appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Check out this guest post by Camilla Hallstrom of 99 Smart Ideas. She teaches you how to use powerful psychological tools to make finally crossing that language off your bucket list simple and fun. Take it away, Camilla!

Have you ever started learning a language only to find yourself still no better than a beginner years later?

If so, you’re certainly not alone.

Learning a language is often considered extremely daunting and takes a long time.

After all, you’ll have to cram all this information into your brain. For example, you’ll have to memorize new vocabulary, including regional variations, slang, cultural concepts, grammar rules, and numbers. If you’re not some sort of a memory prodigy, you’re in it for the long term – and who has time and energy for that?

But here’s the thing:

The conventional wisdom that learning a language is a long and arduous path is…

 

Just Plain Silly

 

As a native speaker of two languages, Swedish and Finnish, and fluent speaker of three more languages, English, French, and German, I can communicate in two other languages, Norwegian and Danish, and I’m a beginner in an eighth language, Italian.

Am I a language prodigy? No way.

Do I have superhuman memory skills? Not really.

Is it in my genes? Nope. No one in my family speaks as many languages with the same fluency.

The key to every language that I’ve learned is that I have learned how to motivate myself to keep on learning and memorizing.

Being motivated to learn a language might sound intuitive, but still, this is one of the most basic things language learners struggle with.

Motivation also applies to learning in general and learning memorization methods that can be applied to other things.

For example, you know from Anthony’s Magnetic Memory Method that there are structured frameworks that can be applied to language memorization.

And if you’ve used the Magnetic Memory Method, you know it works.

Yet, it’s easy to fall back on the same old excuses – you don’t have time to create those Memory Palaces right now, you don’t have time to learn the techniques, etcetera.

So how do you continue to motivate yourself to keep on learning? How do you master those Memory Palaces and learn a new language?

Read on to learn exactly how you do this – once you’ve mastered motivation, there are no limitations to your learning.

(Note: I’ve put together an eBook at the end of this post that will give you 19 actionable ways get motivated and achieve your goal.)

 

What Does Motivation Do to Your Memory?

 

Years ago, back in high school, I wasn’t very diligent. German was one of my least favorite subjects. Yet, I had to undertake a rigorous and important exam at the end of my senior year. Everything that I had ever learned in my German classes throughout school was going to be tested.

I didn’t have very much time to revise. Also, I had to take three other exams at the same time. I pretty much gave up at the starting line.

Instead of trying to frenetically revise grammar books and dictionaries a month before my test, I decided to do something unconventional.

Quite simply, I watched my favorite movies, read my favorite books, and watched the news – all in German. I did this for a month and I enjoyed doing it.

At the end of that month, the result for my exam took me by surprise – I scored nationally in the top 20% and was one of the best in my class.

This success happened despite the fact that I had been one of the poorest performing students just a few months earlier. How come?

 

Don’t Overlook This Little Known Secret:
It Supports All Successful Language Learning

 

The fact that I enjoyed the way in which I was revising for my test meant that I was motivated to do the tasks I did.

And as it turns out, motivation can affect cognition. In fact, many of those who achieve success in learning a language are highly motivated.

Of course other things play in as well.

When learning a language, your success is – beside motivation – determined by your aptitude skills:

Working memory. Your working memory is what enables you to both temporarily store and process information. Working memory is crucial for our language learning because it enables us to understand and communicate in our target language.

Associative memory. Your associative memory helps you remember associations between unrelated items, such as the name of someone you just met and it helps you connect old and new information. For example, when learning a language, your associative memory can help you build links between words in your native language and your target language.

How strong your mechanisms are for implicit learning. Implicit learning is what you learn without realizing that you’re learning. For language learning, implicit learning means that you unintentionally learn complex and subtle regularities in a language. Implicit learning is common for children, but for adults it can be more challenging.

However, you’d think that my classmates were also motivated. Some of them had been much more successful language learners throughout school – why, then, did I perform better?

What was it that set me apart from other students – those who were diligently reading the textbooks set out in our curriculum?

To answer this, we need first to understand how motivation works.

 

Here’s Exactly What Motivation Is And How It Works

 

There are different forms of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is our internal motivation. For example, hobbies are often driven by intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation builds on:

• The natural motivation to direct our lives.
• Being able to continuously improve something.
• Being part of something that is bigger than us.

Beside these motivational factors, intrinsic motivation can build on different factors, such as having a clear goal.

Clear goals should be defined goals that:

Have personal meaning to you. Intrinsic motivation builds on our internal motivation. Subsequently, your goal should build on something that’s important to you and not caused by external motivators.

Are attainable. Self-esteem is tightly linked with motivation. If you don’t believe that you have the capacity to do something, it’s hard to muster the motivation for it. Subsequently, if you don’t gain momentum, you lose self-esteem for that particular task or goal and as a result, you lose interest in your goal. You need to find the sweet-spot between attainable goals and too easy or unachievable goals.

Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is external. It refers to incentives that come from outside of the individual. Such incentives could be a good grade or monetary compensation.

 

What Motivates You To Learn A Language?

 

Intrinsic motivation is key both to mnemonic processes and specifically, language learning. Consequently, intrinsic motivation has a huge impact on how you use the Magnetic Memory Method or any set of memory techniques. Extrinsic motivation, again, has shown not to be as effective as intrinsic motivation when it comes to learning a language.

Some people are naturally intrinsically motivated to learn a language. For example, intrinsic motivators for learning a language are:

• Learning a language for a trip to a country.
• Learning a language to communicate with friends and family.
• Learning a language to be able to read a certain book in its original language, watch a certain movie, and so forth.
• Learning a language when moving to a country.
• Learning a language as a hobby.
• Learning a language to better understand a culture.
• Learning a language because it appeals to you, e.g., because it sounds beautiful.

Now that we know what motivation is, we can return to why I performed better than my classmates in my exam despite not having performed as well in the past.

I was intrinsically motivated to watch movies and read books as these things are things that I would have done even if I hadn’t had to prepare for my exam. I was preparing for the exam because of an extrinsic reason, but I was able to turn it into something that I liked doing. This gave me intrinsic motivation.

My classmates, on the other hand, were – at least for the most part – extrinsically motivated. They took the tests to get good grades. This, again, isn’t as effective as intrinsic motivation.

 

What Can You Do When Your Motivation Fizzles?

 

It’s worth noticing that motivation is not static.

It changes according to circumstances, like your mood and your goals.

For example, if you have a particular task – like I had in my example – you might experience a sudden burst of motivation. The risk is that you lose that motivation once you’ve completed your task.

This, again, can lead to a serious problem – procrastination.

 

What Is Procrastination Anyway And …

What Makes It So Bad?

 

Motivation fluctuates. As we’ve discussed, intrinsic motivation has a big impact on your mnemonic processes. The risk is that once you become unmotivated, you don’t take the actions you should.

However, while there are times when you’re not motivated to do something, there are ways in which you can ensure that you continue to work towards your goal. In this case, it’s learning a language and therefore, continuing to create Memory Palaces.

So how do you keep up working on memorizing your target language even when you don’t feel like doing so?

First, it’s key to understand why you procrastinate when you lose your motivation.

You procrastinate because your decisions are processed in two different parts of your brain.

Take the limbic system. It’s a primitive part of the brain. It assesses the instant rewards of any decision. It’s also the part of your brain that makes you procrastinate.

For example, you might decide not to build a Memory Palace, which has long-term rewards, and instead log in on Facebook, which has instant, but useless rewards. By swapping Facebook for memory methods, you immediately do what you want to and not what you should for long-term gain, which is learning a language.

The prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, evaluates long-term gain and processes decisions accordingly. To keep from procrastinating, you should always consider what consequences your action holds for you in the long run.

Of course, isolating these consequences is much easier said than done. However, there are ways in which you can optimize that you’ll make a decision based on these consequences.

 

Never Settle For Multitasking

 

For example, you should focus on few goals at the same time, and never settle for multitasking. This way, it’s easier to keep your goal on the top of your mind at all times and consequently, make decisions based on it.

You should also make a plan for how you will achieve your goal. This way, you always keep up with what your next step is. Also, when you’re tired or hungry, your decisions are processed in your limbic system. Sleeping enough hours and eating regularly helps you identify what consequences your actions have in the long run.

Now that you know why you lose motivation and procrastinate, we’ll look at what remedies there are for this in relation to language learning and memorization.

 

How Habits Help You Achieve Your Goals …

Even When You Lack Motivation

 

#1. Seinfeld’s productivity secret as a habit-building method

First, by establishing habits, you ensure that you continue to build your memory palaces and learn your target language.

Habits are behavior patterns that are constantly repeated and ultimately become almost inevitable.

For example, you brush your teeth and shower almost by automation.

Even if you feel like not brushing your teeth, you do it – it’s more difficult not to do it than to do it. In this case, you don’t even make a decision, and therefore, you don’t need to worry about the limbic part of your brain interfering with your action. Consequently, you don’t have to determine the long-term reward of your action, which means that it’s hard to procrastinate on your task.

Habits can naturally be applied to your memory goals.

By building Memory Palaces and using them as part of your language learning activities every day and making the process a habit, you keep up the practice.

To hold yourself accountable and make the habit-keeping process easier, I suggest that you make use of Seinfeld’s productivity secret.

Seinfeld’s productivity secret is a habit-building system.

It’s quite simple: get a wall calendar and a red marker. Now, decide the habit you want to build – right now, that habit is building and using Memory Palaces. For each day that you complete the task (more like a game, really), mark that day with a big, red X.

Soon, you’ll have a chain that grows longer and longer. Your task is not to break the chain. That’s the only task – keep the chain growing.

After a while, you have a habit that sticks.

#2. Tiny habits as a habit-building method

Another habit-building technique is building tiny habits. According to Mark Channon, tiny habits are easy, digestible habits that take you closer to your goal – small steps you take to approach your goal.

For example, if brushing your teeth isn’t already a habit, the smallest step you could take is to place your toothbrush so that it’s right in front of you when you wake up. The next step would be to brush one tooth, then another, and so forth.

In this case, you want to learn a language. (And if you’re reading this, but for some reason don’t, here are 15 Reasons Why Learning A Foreign Language Is Good For Your Brain.)

Take the smallest step you can and program your mind to repeat it at a set time. Let’s say you want learn vocabulary in your target language every day. Your tiny habit might be to put paper and a pen on the table.

By making the habit small and specific, you significantly lower the threshold to getting started and in the end, your habit becomes automatic.

If you memorize just one word a day using just one Memory Palace and make this a habit you can build upon, your language learning will skyrocket. And once you’ve done just one, it will be hard for you not to do another.

 

To Skyrocket Your Language Learning – Find Your Intrinsic Motivation

 

As already discussed, I used movies and books to learn a language, because I like doing these activities.

Even if I was learning German for an extrinsic reason (getting a good grade in my exam), I was intrinsically motivated to read books and watch movies. Subsequently, I used methods for my language learning that I was intrinsically motivated to do.

In the same sense, when you feel unmotivated to use memory methods and learn a language, you can do activities that you’re intrinsically motivated to do, and that help you reach your goal.

The action itself is already an immediate reward and therefore, you don’t procrastinate on it.

And how do you decide whether the activity in question is worth acting on?

In her celebrated TEDx talk, relationship and career expert Mel Robbins gives a good rule of thumb for these situations.

If you come to think of something and don’t act on it within five seconds – kill the idea.

To take action on an idea or activity, you could make a note of the first step you should take, Google if you can find a certain book, check if the movie you’re looking for is available on Netflix, or check if you can find a language partner online.

As to specific activities you can undertake to learn a language, you could watch a relevant travel program in your target language, read a book on fishing if you’re interested in fishing, keep a journal in your target language if you like writing or play a memory game in that language.

However, to properly use this method, there are a few things to note.

First, you don’t want to overwhelm yourself with a difficult movie that’s impossible to follow in the language you try to learn. This kind of choice will only lead to procrastination.

Instead, you should choose movies and books that:

• Are easy to understand.
• A movie or book you’ve already seen or read in your native language (or any other language you fully comprehend).
• Don’t have subtitles in your native language.
• In best case scenario, you’ll read a book in your target language and then watch a movie based on it to fully understand the plot.

Second, optimize your activity for memorization and language learning.

Actively apply the Magnetic Memory Method and the use of mnemonics to get the most out of your language learning.

For example, you can pick one of the locations in the movie (or book) – the location that is most appealing to you – and reconstruct it in your brain. Now, build a Memory Palace using words from the movie. Maybe there are characters and other details that help you construct your Memory Palace?

I’ll give a specific example to help you out.

In the movie The Intouchables (Les Intouchables), one of the main characters (a street kid), gets to live in a fancy room in a mansion. I could reconstruct that room in my Memory Palace (or use it as a Memory Palace itself) and then name its different objects in French.

I could add other associations, both from the movie and outside of it. In the room, there’s a painting of a man – now, I’ll remember that “painting” is masculine in French (“un tableau”). And voilà – I’d have a new Memory Palace full of French words.

 

How To Pump Up Your Motivation And Learn a Language

 

Now you know exactly how motivation affects your memory and language learning and what you can do to prevent procrastination.

You also know what to do when you lack motivation. The key is to either be intrinsically motivated to learn a language and if not, then build lasting habits or do activities you’re intrinsically motivated to do.

There’s just one thing left…

Implementation.

This is what I want you to do. Go ahead. Get something to write with. I promise, it will help you.

• List the language you are trying to learn and why you’re trying to learn it. Are you already intrinsically motivated to learn that language? Are there parts of the learning process that you’re not so motivated to complete?
• If you need to find intrinsic motivation to learn your target language, you should list 5 things you love doing in your spare time. These should be things that you could do anytime and that are effortless to you.
• Now, determine how you can use these five things to help you get your memory exercises done and consequently, move towards learning your target language.

Let’s say you love watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Don’t worry, I’m not judging you!)

This TV-series is probably dubbed at least in the most commonly spoken languages. You can use that TV-series to your advantage and build memory palaces out of it with your target language (I can also imagine that you could have great fun doing so).

Remember, this method works even if you’re not naturally intrinsically motivated to learn the language, as long as you’re intrinsically motivated to do the specific activity in question.

So that’s it – that’s the secret to how I’ve successfully learned so many languages.

And I know you can do it, too.

Want 19 more tips on how you can achieve any goal through motivation? I’ve put together a free eBook that helps you with just that.

Sound good?

Then grab the eBook here.

The post How Motivation Affects Your Memory When Learning A Language appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, USA Memory Champ Nelson Dellis teaches you how to win the USA Memory Championship.

Take it away, Nelson!

So you’ve read a bunch of books on memory skills. You may have even listened to all the podcasts on this site.

But although many of them have helped your memory tremendously, there might be some of you out there who want to use your techniques to compete in (and possibly win) the USA Memory Championship.

As a 4x USA memory champ (and before you think I’m cocky, also a 3x USA Memory Championship loser), I know the ins and out to winning this competition.

Surprisingly, becoming a memory champion is not necessarily all about memory. There are a lot of other subtle things that go into making it to the end and winning the USA Memory Championship.

And I’m going to explain to you exactly how.

Here we go.

Step 1 – Sign Up


 

This first point is dumb and obvious, but I’ve met a lot of people who talk about the competition as if it’s this Holy Grail that awaits them …

… once they are truly prepared.

To them I say, f*ck it.

Just sign up and compete. There is nothing better than getting the experience of a full competition under your belt than actually competing.

I hate to say this but, no one (well except for the very first winner, Tatiana Cooley) has won this thing on the first try. You could argue that Joshua Foer won on his first go, but technically he was there the year before as a journalist.

Sure, he didn’t compete that first time, but he dug himself deep into the competition for his article. Scott Hagwood, Ram Kolli, Ron White, Chester Santos and myself, we all lost before we won.

Even this year when I took first place, I honestly believe I won based on competition experience. There were some competitors with better-trained memories than me, but less competition knowledge and experience.

So, bottom line, it’s about getting competitive experience. If you want that edge, just sign up and compete. It’s worth gold. Go for it!

 

Step 2 – Make It To The Second Round

 

The USAMC is split into two parts. The morning events:

* Names & Faces
* Speed Numbers
* Speed Cards
* Poetry

The afternoon playoff events:

* Spoken Words
* Tea Party
* Double Deck O’ Cards.

Making it to this afternoon second round has a lot of parts, because you need to score well in each event to make it into the advancing top 8. Not as well as you might think, but decent enough.

The scoring works like this: With each discipline you get a score based on how much you memorize correctly according to the rules.

Then, that score is turned into a championship score, which is a weighted score based on a curve. The best score is 100 pts and then everyone scores comparatively.

Statistically over the years, you need about 200-250 out of 400 pts to make the cut. But standards change over time and it is harder to get a score that high than ever before.

But the nice thing is that even if there are a couple people hitting some awesome scores, there are a lot of people with mediocre scores. Until everyone in the USA is amazing at memorizing (which they’re not … yet), this fact will be your savior.

The mediocre scores are there because it often ends up that there are one or two, at most three front runners who are in another league compared to everyone else in the top 8. The rest are good, and still better than the remainder, but not that impressive comparatively to the top.

So the bottom line is that you need to score consistently mediocre (or better) across the board to make the top 8. You used to be able to pass to the second round by being amazing at just 2 of the events. But agian, that’s getting harder to do. And if you are great at only one event but none of the others, you’re chances are nearly zilch.

In other words, sorry to say, but there is no real shortcut here. You gotta be “good” at all four disciplines: names, numbers, cards, and poetry. But the good news is, you don’t have to be that good.

 

Step 3 – Play Strategically Through The Playoff Rounds

 

Okay, you’ve made into the top-8. Maybe not top ranked, but you’re in there. The nice thing about the afternoon playoffs is that it is all strategy. The chances for anyone to win at this point are all pretty much even. You could be the worst of the 8 (i.e. Ram Kolli in 2013) and still end up beating 1st place (me) and become the champ.

SPOKEN WORDS

They take you backstage to memorize 200 words (or as many as you can of those 200) in 15 minutes. Then, recall takes place back on stage, in order of the list, alternating between competitors.

One slip-up and …

… you’re out.

The round ends when three people have made a mistake. To me, this is the most difficult and nerve-wracking event. What you want to be able to do is memorize just enough not to run out of words before those three competitors get eliminated.

This means that the real trick is in figuring out how many words to memorize. It makes for a delicate balance between what you are capable of and what you think others can achieve.

 

Mind Explosion!

 

There have been years that the word count went up to 88, and others where it only went up to 35.

Everything depends on circumstance. People trip up on the most unpredictable things.

For example, favorite Johnny Briones recited “architecture” instead of “architect” in 2014. Top 5 finalist, Brad Zupp swapped the very two first words “aorta” and “office” in 2012. And many others have just blanked when they new up to 100 or so words. You just don’t know who’s going to trip up, so make sure you know YOUR words.

Typically I go for what I think is a safe minimum, around 100 words. Make sure you can do those 100 words, and do them perfectly. What’s tricky in recall is that you aren’t by yourself reciting. You have to be mentally prepared to say every 7th word or even less if someone gets knocked out before you. This can be a bit tricky and throw you off if you haven’t practiced.

TEA PARTY

Next up, six audience members come on stage and state eight factoids about themselves.

My advice:

Don’t bother listening to the people. Just listen for the name, memorize it, then put your head down, ignore them, and just study the sheet (the same information they speak is given to you in print). They talk way too fast to memorize it on the fly, so just read it instead.

Plus, you get an extra 7-9 minutes to review the packet info after the audience members are done speaking. On top of that, you get three strikes (not single elimination like SPOKEN WORDS).

I find this event the easiest because it’s so lenient. Typically it goes until two people are eliminated, but in recent years, no one has made three mistakes, so all five competitors qualify for the next round. Look for them to add a few more bits of info next year to make it harder.

DOUBLE DECK

So now you’ve made it to the finals! All you have to do is memorize two decks of cards in five minutes.

At this point, it’s most likely there are three competitors left (but it could be up to five). The goal is to memorize more than your opponents.

There was a time when memorizing around a deck and a half was championship winning, but not anymore. Last year four out of the five finalists memorized (or claimed to) both decks in their entirety. So then it comes down to accuracy.

How reliably can you recite those two decks perfectly? You won’t have to say all the cards, since you’ll be alternating between competitors, but as with the words, you need to be flexible and say any card when it comes to you. A few competitors have failed to do this over the years (me included) despite being clear favorites to win the title. It’s tricky, but can be overcome with practice.

 

Step 4 – Fly Under The Radar

 

Here’s an “inner game” tip to take with you for the whole competition:

Don’t talk hype. Just show up to the competition and kick some quiet ass.

For one, you’ll be no one’s focus. You can freely chill out in the back of the room hitting the scores that you practiced with zero attention coming your way.

But if people know about you or you’ve been around a few competitions and done well, you’ll get more attention. More attention means more stress and possibly more cameras in your face.

What I wouldn’t give to do my 2010 competition again. No one knew me, and I came out of the gates shocking everyone, quietly and confidently. The top guys didn’t know anything about me, and it made them nervous while I was in there just cruising.

Obviously there is still a lot of work you’ll have to do if you want to do well in all the events. But there is an endless amount of literature on just how to train your memory for competition. You can start at Art of Memory where you’ll find loads of resources created by other memory competitors.

Put all those things together and with enough luck and skill, you might just find yourself standing up on stage as the 2016 USA Memory Champ.

 

BOOM!

 

 

Further Resources

Extreme Memory Improvement interview with Nelson Dellis

Nelson’s Kickstarter campaign for a children’s picture book called I Forgot Something (But I Can’t Remember What It Was)

Help a good cause by taking the Extreme Memory Challenge and support Alzheimer’s research

Climb for Memory

How To Help Middle School Students Remember More

The post How To Win The USA Memory Championship appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

How To Memorize Even The Most Difficult Words In The World Using World Class Memory Techniques

Hey everybody, this is Daniel Welsch.

And I’m here today as a special guest host for the Magnetic Memory Method podcast.

Anthony invited me to do the podcast today about using memory techniques for Basque and it’s a great pleasure and enormous honor for me to do so, also in Spanish in a general way:

I’ve been following Anthony’s work for about a year and I’ve been corresponding with him for nearly the same length of time and he’s been a great inspiration to me, not only in my memorizing ventures but also in my own work as a teacher and writer here in Madrid, the beautiful capital of Spain.

So when he offered me the chance to do an episode of the Magnetic Memory Method podcast on memory techniques, of course I jumped at it…

So first I’m going to tell you a bit about my language learning journey. And then I’m going to tell you how I became acquainted with Doctor Metivier and his work with memory techniques. And finally, I’m going to take you through one of my Memory Palaces to show you exactly how I memorized some very difficult material from a language that’s like no other language in existence.

Now…  A little bit about me.

Aprende Más Inglés

You probably don’t know me, because most of the work I do is in Spanish.

But I have my own website called Aprende Más Inglés, which you can find at aprendemasingles.com. There I teach English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation—and now, learning memory techniques and how to be a more effective student and person in general.

You might want to know a bit about me. Well, I was born in the US, specifically in Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the middle of the Sonoran Desert a couple of hours from the Mexican border.

Filling In Blanks On Worksheets Has
Never Been One of My Passions

In school I learned Spanish but never took it too seriously. After that I ended up working in a kitchen with some guys from Mexico and found that speaking languages was a lot more fun than learning them in school.

Filling in blanks on worksheets has never been one of my passions.

When I was 21 I moved to Madrid, Spain, which is kind of a long story, and ended up, one way or another, teaching English.

And at the same time I was learning more and more Spanish. I was doing it organically, for the most part. I had some free Spanish classes, which I barely ever went to. And the rest of the time I was walking around, talking to people, reading the newspaper, watching TV, things like that.

At the same time, at work I was teaching English.

And I was kind of startled by how ineffective language learning in Spain was. Of course, back in the US it wasn’t any better, but in Spain learning English is just hugely important for a lot of people. Now that Spain is in the European Union and with the massive amount of international business and tourism that goes on, almost everybody needs to learn English.

It should almost be a strategic objective for all of Spain, to get the general level of English up to the level where they could compete with any country in Europe.

But unfortunately, the system wasn’t very effective at actually creating bilingual Spaniards. And after a few years I started to discover why.

But we’ll get back to that…

Couldn’t Speak, Or Even Worse, Refused To Speak

While I was teaching, I had a website where I was writing about grammar and vocabulary.

And in the meantime, my Spanish was getting better and better. I eventually got the highest level diploma in Spanish offered by the Instituto Cervantes, which is an international organization that teaches Spanish like the British Council teaches English.

And the thing about it was that I never felt like learning Spanish was a chore or an effort. I did the minimum possible in school, and later learned working in a kitchen with some guys from Mexico. And my Spanish really took off when I moved to Madrid and discovered that I could use it to meet girls.

Meanwhile, a lot of my students had studied for years and couldn’t speak, or even worse, refused to speak. They were terrified!

I decided that maybe more grammar wasn’t what people needed.

And after a couple of weeks on vacation in Italy, with my girlfriend at the time, I realized that everybody was going about it all wrong.

A Sort Of Exotic Dialect …

What happened in Italy is that I was in contact with a sort of exotic dialect of Italian that doesn’t sound anything like “standard” Italian. As far as I know there are no textbooks for this sort of thing.

They don’t even really have a literature in this dialect—it’s a small-town thing, and if you want to leave the town and do big things in Italy as a whole you need to learn proper Italian.

So I had been there surrounded by this dialect, and I had found that the book I had read to learn some Italian before going had been pretty useless too, since the pronunciation was so different than what I was hearing in small town central Italy.

In any case, by just listening and imitating and having fun with it, I was able to pick up enough of this dialect to have a sort of conversation pretty quickly.

With my knowledge of Spanish, my knowledge of standard Italian, and just listening, I was able to pick it up.

And on the way back to Spain, my flight was delayed, and I was stuck in an airport in Bologna or something similar and decided to write the outline for a book about language learning.

It took me several weeks to get it all on paper, once I was back in Spain, but I wanted to make it a sort of compendium of everything I had discovered about language learning, both as a teacher and a language learner, in my years of experience.

I called it 6 Claves para Aprender Inglés, which would translate to 6 Keys for Learning English, and I published it on Amazon, followed by a few blog posts.

In fact, I had very low expectations, but the book went to #1 in Education on Amazon in Spain, and eventually to #1 over all.

And one thing leading to another like it does, I decided to leave the grammar alone for awhile and start focusing on learning techniques and writing about how to be a more effective language learner.

So…

A Podcast About Memory

That brings me to how I met Anthony. I was in the park down the street, working out with my friend Jef. My friend Jef is a brilliant guy in his own right. And in between our sets of pullups he told me he was going to send me a link to a podcast about memory.

I had heard about memory palaces before, but it sounded sort of complicated. And I had never gotten into it. But I listened to Anthony, and his enthusiasm for the topic was so convincing that I sat down the next day and started memorizing.

I memorized, just as an exercise, the 50 provinces of Spain, from Álava to Zaragoza. It was surprisingly easy.

And I wrote an article about it for my website, which I sent to Anthony.

The next day, being the kind of guy he is (the on top of his email kind of guy, something which I aspire to imitate him in… some day…) he answered me and said we should do a podcast about it.

You can check out the podcast we did together, where we talk about imagination, pink elephants, Jimi Hendrix, and a lot of other things.

They Had All Used Memory Palaces …

I got some feedback from my readers—the doctors, especially, said that they had all used Memory Palaces to pass their exams back in the day. And that it had worked for them just as well as it had worked for me. So as a next step I decided to use the technique for language learning.

Well, in the course of 10 years teaching English I’ve come across a lot of people who say they have problems memorizing.

I’ve never had a big problem learning new words, because (as Anthony says) I think I automatically form associations. It’s just how my brain works. Maybe I learned it in elementary school and by now it’s just automatic.

This became especially clear when I started learning Italian—I could associate with English and Spanish and it was pretty easy, one way or another.

But I thought, I should do the experiment. For all my students who have difficulty memorizing, why not try the memory palace with some vocabulary?

And to make it more difficult, I decided to try with a language that had no associations at all.

No Associations At All

It’s easy to associate something like “estación” in Spanish with “stazione” in Italian and “station” in English because they’re all very similar words.

I wanted to test the method in a new way, on some truly difficult material.

The language I ended up choosing is Basque. If you don’t know about it, Basque is a language that’s spoken in a small area of the north of Spain and the south of France. Basque sounds like this:

The fact is that Basque is apparently unrelated to any of the other European languages. You can take a look on Wikipedia for some of the theories (and use memory techniques and How to Memorize a Textbook to absorb the info), but the one I like best is that the Basque people are the original barbarians who lived on the Iberian Peninsula before anyone else, and who managed to hang on to their mountainsides and their valleys through 2000 years of invasions by a long series of other civilizations.

You really have to admire the Basques, whatever the explanation is, because while virtually all the rest of Western Europe is speaking some dialect of German (English, Dutch, and the other languages of the North) or a dialect of Latin (Spanish, French, Italian, etc) the Basques are still speaking Basque… Or as they call it, Euskera.

They’ve defended their language and identity for, like I said, 2000 years of European history, which I’m sure has been difficult at times.

An Arbitrary Sequence Of A Lot Of Ks And Xs And Ts

And it’s a language with no association to anything else. To me most Basque words just look like an arbitrary sequence of a lot of Ks and Xs and Ts, without any way to make a guess at what they mean.

Nothing like Italian or French or German or Dutch, which you can often get the gist of, either if you see it in writing or if you hear it.

So I asked a Basque friend to make up a list of words, and she gave me 30 words. And I decided on a place to build my Memory Palace: the United Nations building where I give English classes every day here in Madrid.

And I sat down to do the method. I guess you’ve heard Anthony explain the guidelines for using Magnetic Memory Method memory techniques here on the podcast, so I’ll just take you through my Memory Palace, and some of the things I took into account while constructing it.

Using Anthony’s instructions for using memory techniques:

I started in a terminal location. Actually the UN building has 9 stories, but as a teacher I never have to go higher than the second floor. So I started in the Human Resources office on the second floor and went down from there. I put a mental image that reminded me of both the sound and the meaning of the word in each station I created along the way.

I created a mental path through the building all the way out to the streetcorner outside the door, putting mental images all along the path. From Human Resources, I went down the hall, past the other offices I’ve been in, the photocopiers, down the stairs, to the classroom where I teach, and then out again and further downstairs and out the door.

And finally, I practiced. A few times the first day, a few times the second, and a few times a few days after. And after that I generally had it.

The Most Difficult Thing Was The Set-Up

As I had found in previous experiences with the Magnetic Memory Method, the most difficult thing about using these memory techniques was the set-up. Once I had organized my list of words, list of stations, and thought of appropriate images, it was easy. I took Anthony’s advice and actually wrote it down, but it’s also possible to do it in your head, at least for me. Whatever works for you!

Now you may be wondering what sort of images I would use for a language with no associations—well, it turns out that the syllables can be associated with one thing or another. And I was able to mix English and Spanish associations with no problem.

For example: the word Entzun, which means listen. I had one of the Ents (those magical talking tree-people from Lord of the Rings). That was the first syllable. And for the second I had Kim Jong-Un, the young dictator of North Korea, who’s pretty memorable with his chubby cheeks and his military uniform and the fact that he’s supreme leader of a whole country despite being in his early 20s. So he was Un.

So I had him climbing up the tree, the Ent, and holding a hand up to his ear to listen for something in the distance. So I had Ents, I had Un, and I had the fact that he was listening to remind me of the meaning.

Another example using these memory techniques: Eskerrik asko, which means thank you. I separated that into “scary” and “casco” (which in Spanish means helmet) and I had something like a bicycle helmet with fangs and claws flying onto a girl’s head. The girl was down on her knees praying and giving thanks for something, it doesn’t really matter what, and so I was able to remember: scary casco, eskerrik asko, thank you.

A third example with these “Magnetic” memory techniques: garagardoa, which is beer. For this one, I had a doe (like a female deer) gargling a glass of beer. Gargle + doe = beer.

Forget The Association And Just Remember The Word

What I found on my journeys through the Memory Palace is another thing that Anthony suggested: Once you make the association and practice a few times, you can really forget the association and you just remember the word. You walk through the Memory Palace in your mind and the word is just there. It pops into your head.

Also, keep in mind I was following Anthony’s recommendation to make things violent, ridiculous, or offensive—in this case not too offensive, but I had violence in the scary bicycle helmet, and ridiculous in the gargling does, and Kim Jong-un climbing a talking tree—all things you don’t see every day, and things you’d definitely remember if you saw them.

I think that’s one of the strengths of how the Memory Palace works in the end—rather than spending a lot of time creating associations organically (through living in contact with the language) you create an artificial association. And then you can use the memory techniques to repeat as much as you want until you remember the word.

Rather than spending a few weeks or months bumping into a word before you’ve created enough associations, you can do it all in a day or two if you want.

My language learning really took off when I realized I could use languages to meet girls—later I found out that there are really only two ways to get things into long term memory: with repetition and with emotion.

And the Memory Palace works on both of those shortcuts to memory. Thank goodness for memory techniques!

Create Emotion In Your Head

As Anthony is always saying: make your images big, colorful, sexy or violent and you’ll remember them a lot easier. It’s just a way of creating emotion in your head, rather than going out and finding it externally.

Of course, finding native speakers to cause strong emotions in you can also be a lot of fun and extremely educational. But the key is balancing your study on the one hand with your contact with the language on the other.

Learning vocabulary is one thing, acquiring fluency is another. As I have said in my books many times, the only way to learn how to speak a language is to go out and speak that language.

I’ve Spent A Large Portion Of My Adult Life
Butchering One Language Or Another

And that’s the last thing I’d like to leave you with here.

A lot of people have this unnecessary fear of going out and speaking. They think they’re going to make mistakes and be embarrassed and have to go live in a cave somewhere due to the shame of conjugating some verbs badly.

In reality, I’ve spent a large portion of my adult life butchering one language or another, and I’ve really never had a bad experience because of it. Most people are happy that you’re just trying.

And most native speakers aren’t even aware of their own grammar. I learned years ago that it’s perfectly useless to ask anyone other than a Spanish teacher “Why did you use the subjunctive in that sentence, rather than the indicative?”

Generally, they have no idea—they may not even be aware that they even used the subjunctive.

So when you’re speaking to a person in imperfect Spanish or German or Italian or Mandarin, chances are very good that they’re not mentally giving you a score, like it’s some sort of test.

They’re probably only aware that you’re making a valiant attempt, and they’re trying to communicate the best they can with you.

So…

Make All The Mistakes You Can

Where I’m going with this is that it’s important to go out and make all the mistakes you can. In the worst case, people will laugh at you butchering their language. And you can laugh back. And learn something from the experience.

I don’t know anybody who’s learned a language just by studying grammar until they “knew everything” and were then able to go out immediately and start speaking with no errors.

It never happens. You’ll always make mistakes—you probably even make mistakes in your native language, even if you’re using memory techniques.

The key in my mind is having an objective for your conversations besides the conversation itself—and making your success criteria reflect that goal.

Just as an example, if you’re in Korea and you’re going to the market to buy vegetables, your goal can be to buy your vegetables—not to speak perfect Korean the whole time.

That takes the pressure off… You don’t need your level to be perfect, you just need it to get the job done.

Go Out And Use Memory Techniques!

So, go out there and memorize something! At the very least, you’ll have an interesting experience of what’s possible in your imagination… Whenever I use the Magnetic Memory Method and other memory techniques, I feel almost like I’m going on an adventure, inside my head, because I’m just so focused and I’m able to forget the outside world for a while and just live in imagination.

Nothing more to say today. I’d like to thank Anthony for handing the podcast over to me for the day to talk about memory techniques. Stay magnetic! as the doctor would say.

You can find more from me at the site I linked to above if your Spanish is good enough, or you can see all my other projects at danielwelsch.com. I write about Spanish culture, American culture, food, politics, and more, on a variety of websites out there.

And if there’s one thing I’d like to leave you with today it’s this: don’t be afraid to communicate—just say what you think and what you feel you need to say, in any language. Life is short, and as Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

So go out there! Speak languages, and be awesome. Life is short to do anything besides live up to your full potential. So, enjoy it.

This is Daniel Welsch, and I hope you have a great day. Goodbye.

Further Resources

How To Train Your Memory To Memorize Any Word

Memory Strategies Of The World’s Top Language Learners

Gabriel Chats With Language Trainer Daniel Welsch

The post Memory Techniques For Learning A Hard Language Like Basque appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Dear Memorizers,

Richard Gilzean, long time friend of the Magnetic Memory Method and the man behind the delightful blog peeleye, recently shared with me some great writing he has done to chronicle his adventures in using memory techniques and related skills like juggling.

How are memory techniques and juggling related?

Read on to find out.

And a Magnetic thanks to Richard for not only sending this to me and allowing me to post it on the site. I’m proud to make it the first Magnetic Memory Method Guest Post ever and know that you’re going to love reading these reports from a memorizer making great strides with the techniques. Richard is an inspiration to us all.

Hanging Out With My Magnetic Memory

By Richard Gilzean

28 July 2014: Where to start with this recollection on what I have learnt about myself over the past 12 months? The idea came to me this morning on the train as I was commuting in to work. While passing over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and looking out over the harbour, I was listening to the podcast interview between Anthony and Kerstin Hammes. Just after Anthony had explained what a “John Henry” was to Kerstin, she suggested that language learners can benefit from keeping a journal of their efforts in order to better see and appreciate where they have come from in their respective journeys.

What a cool idea, I thought. I’ve been on my own personal development journey for almost a year and it is as good a milestone as any to take stock and recount what has happened. (Although in reality it is a process I have been undertaking with varying degrees of application for many years).

In my case a whole bunch of factors came into play, not one particular flash of inspiration. I had wanted to get back into studying German language, but in a way that was different from my past efforts of going to classes, studying stacks of flash cards and reopening the German text books which had taken over a shelf in my study. There had to be another way.

It was around this time that I came across Anthony’s book How to Learn and Memorize German Vocabulary: … Using a Memory Palace Specifically Designed for the German Language (and adaptable to many other languages too) on Amazon.

29 July 2014

In embarking on this quest for self-improvement, mastery, getting-my-act-together, call it what you will, I found myself quickly inundated with information and opportunities to explore this open-ended field of inquiry. I browsed the websites and purchased a bunch of e-books on memory improvement / training.

Last October I watched the television documentary series Redesign my Brain on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). From within the topics explored, including visualization, mnemonics, magic and memory training, I became interested in the art of juggling. After a few weeks of tossing and catching and dropping I became a reasonable 3 ball juggler. But more importantly I was reminded of the values of concentration, regular practice, focus, relaxation and keeping it simple.

More recently, in one of his newsletters, Anthony disparaged that hoary notion “If something is worth doing it is worth doing well”; rightly noting that it is a load of old cobblers. Juggling tells me that something worth doing is invariably preceded by failure and persistence. Embrace failure people, because failure gets you closer to what you’re good at.

30 July 2014

Slow Hand. Did I want to memorize a couple of packs of playing cards in under two minutes like those described in Joshua Foer’s Moonwalking with Einstein?

Not really.

But I did like the idea of impressing family and friends by being able to shuffle a pack of cards and casually rattle them off one by one. So I followed the tried and true mnemonic system of associating each card in a deck to an image, rehearsed it a couple of times and now I have all 52 cards locked in – plus the joker for good measure. I’m still pretty slow at it after almost a year and so I still need to keep up the rehearsal – keeping my hand in, so to speak.

I find using a deck of cards a great way to remember places that I have visited and spent some time in and which I want to use as Memory Palaces. The other day I went to the local Austrian Club – Community Cultural centre for a birthday lunch with a bunch of friends and their kids. While tucking into my Schnitzel and Weissbier and with an acoustic backdrop of yodeling music on a stereo loop, I made a mental note of the large hall which included a “Herzlich Willkommen” reception, Stammtisch, dance floor with band stage, drinks bar, maps and flags of the Austrian regions, air rifle trophies, several mounted animal heads and a painting of people sitting at a table that looked like it had been knocked out by one of the locals after one too many ales. With my pack of cards I have spent an enjoyable half hour recreating such Memory Palaces, as well as holiday houses, places from my childhood, museums, cafes and the local art gallery.

 31 July 2014

Geography, poetry and the in-laws. One of main goals for wanting to improve my memory has been to increase my overall ability to communicate in German. One of the first exercises I undertook after reading Anthony’s book on how to memorise German was to memorise the 16 Bundesländer together with the names of each capital city. I chose the house of my partner’s long deceased Tante Annie in Munich.

I never met Annie, but I did get to spend a couple of excellent summer holidays there a few years back. Her house has also become my Memory Palace for all of my German vocab words starting with the letter ‘a’. Even though Annie’s old house has now been knocked down and replaced with a bunch of townhouses, I will always have a strong imprint of all the rooms and apple trees in her house and garden.

I have also memorized poems both in English and German. Not a huge repertoire to date, it includes Shelley’s Ozymandias, the German children’s poem Der bitterböse Friederich from the Struwwelpeter book of poems and Heinrich Heine’s Die Lorelei – about a guy in boat with an unhealthy obsession for a girl. Armed with this new knowledge, I have tested my partner’s knowledge of the German states (she didn’t pass) and entertained my mother-in-law with a recital of Die Lorelei (she was very impressed with her son-in-law).

 1 August 2014

The Memory Wars. 6am. I slide out of bed, shuffle downstairs and crack open the smart phone. There, in my inbox, sits my Magnetic Memory Newsletter; as regular as the ravens, kookaburras and lorikeets making a racket outside my window. This morning’s post is not Anthony’s usual considered replies to someone’s magnetic memory question, but a spirited defence of the daily newsletter against the detractors and critics who have ‘issues’ with his approach.

Personally I don’t have a problem with the format of the newsletter. On some mornings I will quickly scan the text, satisfy myself that I’m across the main point and hit delete. But usually the points raised are of interest and I’ll read a bit more closely and save the post for future reference. I recently read an article which argues that we live in an age of warring internet tribes. Whether it’s climate change, immigration, religious belief or the kind of pet you have, people are going to have entrenched positions and whose opinions cannot be changed.

I guess memory training and approaches to learning are not immune to blog wars and forum stalking. It’s not just that we differ, but our sense of self is developed in our disagreements. Conflict is inevitable, but disagreement can still be productive. Which, in my mind at least, is what I took away from this morning’s post.

Personally I’ll stick with Anthony’s daily newsletter. His commitment to the cause confirms for me that he practices what he preaches.

 2 August 2014

By now I have come up with more that enough memory palaces to serve as staging posts for all the things I want to be able to remember and use. I’ve already mentioned Tante Annie’s house, but there is also the house I live in here in Sydney, my parent’s apartment block, my son’s local scout hall, the swimming pool, the places of my youth and journeys around my neighbourhood.

Cafes are handy, as are cinemas and my daily commute from home to office. They are all listed on a spreadsheet and some are used more than others. I have a very large cork board sitting over my office desk (measures about 1m x 1.5m) and around the edge I have pinned a collection of business cards, postcards and photos, 35 in total.

I’ve been training myself to employ this notice board for capturing the key points of podcasts that I listen to every now and again.

5 August 2014

Flash celebrities over at the school. Another website that I subscribe to is German Flashcards run by Antosch-and-Lin.com. The site turns out a daily newsletter containing a word and phrase of the day and is designed for the spaced-repetition brigade. I wrote a blogpost for their site a few months ago about my experiences and struggles with learning foreign languages over the past 24 years.

You’re welcome to have a look at Wrestling the Bear, Part 1 of what plan to be a three part series.  Armed with the daily phrases that I consider to be useful and which add to my vocabulary, I have compiled a hefty list.

But how best to memorize them? My solution has been to create an A-Z spreadsheet of famous names and people I know and assign a phrase to each of them. (I’m not sure where AM – Anthony Metivier fits in – famous or people I know – but you’re in the mix). Each name / phrase is then placed on a route that runs from my front door and heads out towards my son’s local public school, a Memory Palace I am very familiar with.

So far I have gone from Andre Agassi to Conchita Wurst. With the exception of Q – X – Y (too hard), I have most of the spreadsheet filled with names. However, if someone can suggest a name with initials IO I’d be grateful.

6 August 2014

Meet Bob the Builder Roman Soldier. Of all the positive benefits I have achieved over the past couple of months, without doubt the most personally rewarding has been being able to impart my learnings onto my nine-year-old son. Math is not one of his strengths, and my wife and I have invested a lot of time and energy in helping him to stay on top of the topics covered in the class.

Towards this end, and in part inspired by Anthony’s interview with the young girl who memorized all of Shakespeare’s play and sonnets, I have had some wins in using the Magnetic Memory Method to help with times tables, shapes and volumes. My son is now getting the hang of creating his own memorable characters, including Bob the Roman soldier, who walks through his mapped-out classroom and nominating stations for the Roman numerals I V X L C D & M and figuring out how the sequence of Roman numerals operates.

 

The next big hurdle is the decimal system. After cogitating long and hard about how to introduce something that is active, vivid and magnetic, we came up with the idea of using one of his favourite cartoon characters “Ben TEN”. It was while I was rummaging through his bookshelf that I came across one of his picture books: Animalia by the illustrator Graeme Base. After about 15 minutes of working through his amazing illustrations I was able to lock down a quick Z to A memory recital sequence.

I wish I had been shown how to use my mind to memorize all the stuff that they threw at me during my school years. I wish I had been show how to study properly, period. I am determined to make sure that my child will be able to realize his potential and dreams without the stress and pressure that hangs over the education system like a heavy cloud. So I lend my wholehearted support towards the idea that mnemonics – and the Magnetic Memory Method in particular – have a worthwhile and important place in the education toolbox, regardless of whether you are 9 or 59 years old.

So that just about sums up what I have achieved in a relatively short period of time. My German vocab excel spreadsheet continues to grow and I still find the whole process mostly fun, even on those days when it seems like some word is not sticking despite repeated attempts to recall. Just remember that it is not a race and to relax. As for the future, well I have a desire to memorize all sorts of things including music, Japanese, Italian, chess patterns and especially my command of my mother tongue.

 

About the author: Richard has a background in fiction writing, ESL teaching and mnemonics. He has a love of all things German, believes that more men should wear proper hats, and would never be want to be called a ‘polyglot’ because it sounds like a pathological condition. Check out his post on memorizing German phrases for an updated tutorial on his progress with learning, memorizing and recalling German en masse.

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