In Episode Six of The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, you’ll learn the number one way to discover the words you’ll need in order to engage in specifically targeted conversations in your dream language when using mnemonics to assist your language learning experience.

Use coupon code “podcast” for a special introductory discount on your one time investment in this revolutionary system for memorizing foreign language vocabulary.

+Anthony Metivier is the founder of the Magnetic Memory Method, a systematic, 21st Century approach to memorizing foreign language vocabulary in a way that is easy, elegant, effective and fun.

The post MMMP 006: How To Master Your Highly Targeted Memorization Goals appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Would You Like A Memory Exercise That Will Give You Outstanding Mental Fitness In Just Minutes A Day ? 

 

I’m talking about an exercise that gets you using one of the world’s richest memory techniques. It involves nothing more than something called the Major Method (see below) and 52 small objects you can take with you anywhere you go.

If that’s something that interests you, then here’s a great question about the Magnetic Memory Method approach to memorizing a deck of cards. My answer follows.

Thank you for taking my email.

I reviewed your methods in your book on memorizing a deck of cards and am having a little trouble digesting the method or details.

I admit I’ve gone over your method rather quickly and probably have not given it a fair test – meaning I’ve skipped to the end before completing each step.

I was wondering if you had or could break your steps down further (if that makes sense) – so that I can actually practice each step slowly over time (or do I just need a coach?)  I’d really love to learn this ‘trick’.

I am really interested in your methods.  I am a family physician and generally, as the joke goes, we are taught by someone who sprays information like a fire hose! So if I could use some of your ‘tricks’ that would  be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

 

 

9 Ways To Makes The Most Powerful Sounds On The Planet (Without Learning To Play Heavy Metal)

 

To memorize cards using the Magnetic Memory Method, we first need to learn the Major Method. It’s simple and as I talk about in the episode you can listen to above, Mark Channon has some great ways to memorize the follow list (give the episode a list for some of them):

 

0 = soft c, s or z

1 = t or d

2 = n

3 = m

4 = r

5 = l

6 = ch, j, sh

7 = k

8 = f or v

9 = b or p

For an alternative explanation and tips on making these associations stick in your mind fast, watch at least the first video from my Get Good At Remembering Numbers playlist:

 

The Shocking Truth About Memorizing Playing Cards

 

Without having the Major Method learned and committed to memory, the rest of the Magnetic Memory card memorization method simply won’t work.

You could try rote memorization or Juan Tamirez’s singsong method, but that takes forever and a day. And as much as I love the ideas Woody Aragón puts forth in Memorandum, I think the Major System approach will be faster for most people (though you can certainly give other approaches a try).

After you’ve memorized the sound-number associations, focus on just one Suite. For example, start with the Spades.

You can review my book on the matter for further details, but by now you know that this particular approach to card memorization requires that you assign each suite with a value after having memorized the sound-number associations.

In this case, Spades are 10, Diamonds are 30, Clubs are 50 and Hearts are 80.

Since we don’t actually count these numbers, each Suite begins one number up (Ace of Spades is 11, Ace of Diamonds is 31, Ace of Clubs is 51, Ace of Hearts is 81).

 

Rabid Zombie Bambi?!?

 

The answer is simple. We’re going to use the sound-number association  method to create memorable images.

Let’s say that you’re starting with the Spades.

You need an image for the Ace of Spades.

Ace of Spades is represented by 11, so that means you can make an image from “ta ta” or “ta da” or “da ta.”

In my memory system, I always use “toad.”

But not just any toad!

It’s very specifically this toad:

Why?

Because…

 

Specificity In Your Associations Makes Them Magnetic

 

But you need to come up with whatever works for you because your personal life will always serve up the most memorable. It could be Data from Star Trek, a dozing doe like Bambi, or better yet, a rabid, zombi doe attacking Data.

The point is to see the image you create as specific and concrete.

But if you use a verb like “doze” for 11, you’ll be working with an abstract concept.

A dozing doe is better, but also kind of boring, though you’d now be heading in the right direction because you’re compounding an object you can sense in your mind using the Magnetic Modes:

 

And a big, bright and colorful image of a rabid Zombie Bambi is not only exceedingly specific …

 

She’s Going To Be VERY Hard To Forget!

 

It bears repeating: the words you construct from the sound-number system should be objects you can picture in your mind – or at least describe in your mind using words.

Here are the rest of my images for the Spades (remember: 1 is ta/da, so each word will start with one of those sounds).

Because most people won’t identify with the concrete examples, I’ll just give you the root Magnetic Imagery for the majority of them before diving into a specific example.

2S (12): Tin can

3S (13): Dam – as in the Hoover Dam

4S (14): Tire

5S (15): Tail

6S (16): Dish

7S (17): Tack

8S (18): TV

9S (19): Tape

Now for the following cards, we move to 20. That means each will start with a “na” sound followed by the sound of the next number in the digit. Therefore:

10S (20): Nose

JS (21): Nut

QS (22): Nun

KS (23): Enemy

The rest of the 20s you simply leave blank until the Diamonds, which are represented by 30 start at 31 with the Ace of Spades.

I know that sounds a bit complex, but it’s actually very elegant once we’ve sorted it all out in our heads.

Again, I cannot stress enough that you come up with your own images.

But can you spot the one major weakness in my Spade number associations?

It’s Enemy.

 

Why Is It A Weakness?

 

Because it’s not specific. I can’t see the concept of an enemy. Can you?

Since writing the first version of this post, I’ve since “compounded” Enemy with the author and painter Wyndham Lewis who edited a journal called The Enemy. Here’s a self-portrait he painted in which he looks very much like an enemy indeed.

Now, this compounding of a specific figure to the concept of “enemy” has certainly helped, but it does require two steps rather than one to encode the card.

To take another example, in order for this system to work as well as it can (and it will if you put in the small amount of effort required), you need to be able to say that the 7 of Spades is a tack within a second of seeing it.

And put it this way: if you put in the effort just one time, you’ll never in your life have to do it again.

 

Here Comes A New Idea For Using More Than One Memory Palace

 

Think of four cars, ideally the first four cars you owned so that you can mentally line them up in the order that you owned them. The historical order will help you remember which order they should come in your 4-part Memory Palace.

If you haven’t owned four cars, then perhaps you can use four cars owned by your parents, your best friends, your neighbors, etc.

Or you can come up with something else.

The important point is that you select four “Memory Palaces” and that each has a 13 station journey.

The stations I have on each car are:

• Driver-side headlamp
• Passenger-side headlamp
• Hood
• Windshield
• Steering wheel
• Driver’s seat
• Passenger’s seat
• Seat behind driver
• Seat behind passenger
• Top of seat
• Back windshield
• Trunk
• Exhaust pipe

That’s enough stations for one quarter of the deck. With all four Memory Palaces together, there are 52 stations, one per card.

Here’s an important tip: the journey from station to station has to be clear in your mind.

The journey should be direct: you should not cross your own path, nor should you trap yourself in any way. That just leads to mental confusion later on when you’re trying to recall the order of the cards.

If you haven’t by this point memorized a set of images for the entire deck (52 in total), then at this point, just use the Spades. Shuffle them up and practice placing them at the 13 stations you’ve identified.

 

Give It Some Practice And Then …
Practice A Little More!

 

Before you know it, you’ll have the entire deck memorized and will be able to memorize new orders within 15 minutes or less. You can push yourself to do it in under 5. The world’s best can do it in under 20 seconds.

Where preparation meets opportunity, there is no ceiling.

 

How To Apply Memorizing Cards To Memorizing Foreign Language Vocabulary, Japanese and Chinese Characters And Other Seemingly Difficult Sets Of Information

 

One of the questions I’m asked the most is how to memorize Japanese Kanji and Chinese Hanzi.

The answer is not simple, but there are possibilities.

There are also existing mnemonic approaches, such as those found in Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig. I recommend checking it out, but I’m concerned by two things in the book:

1. The sounds of the Kanji are not covered.
2. There is no location-based mnemonic strategy, such as using one Memory Palace (or ideally more)

What memorizing playing cards can do for you, however, is get you accustomed to memorizing abstractions by using sounds.

So for the Japanese and Chinese character sets, card memorization is great preparatory and ongoing memory exercise. Because you practice associating sounds with numbers and images (and what are numbers other than images?) in a constantly rotating pattern that is never repeated, your ability to manage cognitive overload in learning stretches.

So does your stamina.

Not only that, but there is good reason to believe that priming our mind with small creativity exercises before engaging in large ones increases the quality of our creativity.

Whether or not you’re learning a language or want to give your memory a major boost, give this approach a try.

Remember: when preparation meets opportunity, there is really no end to the heights you can reach.

Further Resources

Interesting article in search of Wang Feng’s card memory system. He’s the guy who can memorized a shuffled deck in less than 20 seconds.

Memory Sport article on Wikipedia.

How to Memorize A Shuffled Deck In Less Than 60 Seconds on Tim’s Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week.

11 Unexpected Answers To Your Questions About Mnemonics.

System for Remembering Cards? 13 Reasons You Should Have One.

The post The Amazing Doctor Who Wanted to Cure His Patients By Memorizing A Deck of Cards appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

Memorizing Thousands Of Words Is Easier Than You Think!

 

Here’s a recent question about memorizing 3000 words.

Ultimately, it sounds like this person wants to make the Magnetic Memory Method more complex than it needs to be.

See what you think:

Here’s what he writes:

Hi,

I bought your book, it was great but I did not understand one thing.

(I am sorry for my english, I am trying to learn it in fact)

I am ok with the idea of building a memory palace (26 houses, and 10 rooms in each house).

BUT, how do I proceed if I want to learn 3000 words ?

It is impossible at least for me to create 3000 rooms! Even a memory champion who designed a memory course has 1000 place for him to play with (50 journeys of 20 places).

Please can you help on this point ?

Do you re-use the same journey ?

Thank you in advance

Here is my reply:

Thanks for your message!

First of all, your English is very good.

 

How To Create Thousands Of Memory Palace Stations Using Imaginary Bookcases

But here’s the deal:

Once you are more practiced with the basics of the Magnetic Memory Method, you can do very interesting things within rooms. Imagine, for example, having a bookcase in a room and placing 5-10 words on each shelf. You can work from top to bottom or bottom to top.

Every room can have a real or imagined bookcase. Depending on your skill level, your rooms can have multiple bookcases. Let’s say that you decide upon having 10 bookcases per room in a 10 room memory palace. If each bookcase has 10 levels and you store just one word per level, then you have a room with 100 words in it, with 1000 words total when you add all the rooms together in just that one Memory Palace.

Get Started Now

You can get started on a memorization project like this today merely by picking a room that you are very familiar with and mentally building and installing a beautiful bookcase. For the sake of this example, let’s say the bookcase has 10 shelves.

Decide in advance if you will memorize from the top to the bottom, or the bottom to the top. I would go from the top to bottom myself, but go with whatever works for you.

The point is to move in a linear progression without skipping shelves. As ever, you don’t want to cross your own path or somehow trap yourself as you move from station to station and word to word

As a beginner, help yourself out by picking ten words that proceed in alphabetical order, i.e. ten words that start with “an,” or share some other similarity. That way, you’ve eliminated a detail you have to remember because you already know how the next word will start.

It’s also good to have a key image connected with a “bridging figure.” With “an,” for example, you could have Annikin Skywalker, or Anne of Green Gables or anything concrete and visual that you associate with “an.”

Now as it happens, I’ve just been working on a portion of my ‘A’ Memory Palace devoted to “an” words in German (or words that change meaning when “an” is added to them).

Keep An Eye Out For Memorable Wildlife

One of my ‘A’ Memory Palace starts in a home my mother used to live in down a forest lane. But by now, I’ve got so many items, I’ve wandered out of the house and have made it halfway to town along a 30km road.

For the purposes of this example, I’m going to place an imaginary bookcase right in front of the peacock farm (yes, there really is a peacock farm and you have to slow down when driving past it because it is part of a school zone).

Now, to set myself up for even greater ease and success, I’m going to focus on words that start with “an” followed by “b.” Not every language lets you do this, but German does, so it’s important to capitalize on it. Whatever you’re working on, there will almost always be some memorization advantage you can exploit if you keep your eyes open for opportunities.

On the top shelf of this bookcase, I’m going to place the word “anbaggern.” It means “to flirt.” To memorize this word, I see Annikin Skywalker flirting with a peacock who is shoving a plastic bag into an urn. I see this image big, bright and colorful in my mind and the action of forcing the bag into the urn is very exaggerated. “Anbaggern.” Got it.

One shelf down, I place “anbahnen.” This word has a somewhat similar meaning, in that it indicates initiating something.

This move is tricky, because it’s more conceptual than concrete, but the first thing that comes to mind is Annikin Skywalker feverishly “initiating” the launch of a peacock into outer space, its mouth filled with bon-bons. Again:

Big, Bright, Colorful, Exaggerated Action!

Aller guten Dinge sind drei, say the Germans (all good things are three), so I’ll give you one more example before I go.

One shelf down, I place “anbetteln.” This means to beg. Now I see Annikin Skywalker kneeling before a bed, begging the peacock he first flirted with and then tried to launch into outer space to let him into the bed so he can get some rest after a long day of being a former hero who fell so badly from grace. And he is really begging in a larger-than-life way, tears and everything.

I know I’ve been using a lot of German examples here. If you’re into the language, you might want to check out a discussion I had with a friend. You can hear us chatting in Berlin on 16 Heavy Metal Memory Methods For German and Music.

From there, I would continue on down to the bottom of the shelf and start again on the second one, or move to the next room, etc.

Preparation Is The Most Magical Potion In The World

It’s important, however, to take time before getting started to predetermine and prepare the way in advance.

In this case, I decided in advance to do only ten words, so I only made one book case. But if I were sitting down for a memorization session and wanted to do a hundred, then I would want to have spent time in preparation for this.

There’s nothing worse than being on a roll and then having to pause to build or identify the next station you want to use. Success comes from planning, and as they say in the self-help circles, failing to plan is planning to fail. Because planning is so important, I created a memory training program called The Magnetic Memory Method Masterplan.

One last thing:

Did you read my book on card memorization? In this memory improvement book I talk about the pack of cards on my office desk and how in that pack of cards I keep four cars, each of which has 13 locations (driver’s side headlight, passenger side headlight, hood, windshield, etc).

For more information on memorizing cards check out:

System for Remembering Cards: 13 Reasons You Should Have One

The Secret Of The Tiniest Memory Palace In The World

This pack of cards on my desk is an entirely imaginary “location,” of course, but it’s the tiniest little deck of cards and it is packed full of information.

In other words, you don’t have to use big bookshelves that take up entire rooms. You could have a deck of cards.

Inside this deck, imagine an entire universe filled with space for placing the information you want to memorize. Then imagine having a deck of cards in each and every room, or a deck of cards on each and every shelf in each and every room …

Yes, I think it is very easy to come up with thousands of locations in a Memory Palace collection, if not hundreds of thousands. It just takes practice, and of course preparation and predetermination in combination with the basic principles of imagination and action. Throw in some relaxation before you get started using these memory techniques and you will never find the ceiling to what you can achieve.

Until next time, make sure to teach someone what you have learned about memorization. It’s the best way to deepen your own understanding and to help make the world a better place. The more we remember, the more we can remember, and the more we learn, the more we can learn.

A Further Resource For Boosting Your Memory

How to Keep A Journal And Remember More

Remember Names At Events: Quick Start Guide

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