Limitless - Jim Kwik Page 0,79
language, must write or speak extemporaneously, or wish to be an expert.
Memorization creates the repertoire of what we think about. Nobody can think in a vacuum of information. To be an expert in any field requires knowledge that you already have.
We think with the ideas held in working memory, which can only be accessed at high speed from the brain’s stored memory.Understanding is nourished by the information you hold in working memory as you think. Without such knowledge, we have a mind full of mush.
The exercise of the memory develops learning and memory schema that promote improved ability to learn. The more you remember, the more you can learn.2
I want to emphasize this last point. It’s not accurate that your memory works like a container, cup, or hard drive in that once it’s full of data no more can fit. It’s more like a muscle in that the more you train it, the stronger it gets and the more you can store.
In this chapter, we’re going to discuss some tools and techniques designed to train your memory. You will be applying basic principles of the mind and developing your memory in such a way that will make learning (remembering) more natural, easy, and fun. The most fundamental of these, though, is this: always remember MOM, a mnemonic device I created to kick up your memory instantly:
M is for Motivation: The simple fact is that we are considerably more likely to remember things that we are motivated to remember. If someone says to you, “Hey, remember our call tomorrow,” you may or may not remember that you’ve scheduled a call with that person. If instead he says, “Hey, if you remember our call tomorrow, I’ll give you $5,000,” you will definitely remember that you’ve scheduled the call. You are overwhelmingly more likely to remember something when you have a strong motivation to do so. So, if you want to train yourself to have a stronger memory, give yourself a stronger motivation to do so. Reasons reap results, so make remembering personal. If you can convince yourself that there’s value in retaining a memory, there’s a good chance that you will.
O is for Observation: How often do you forget someone’s name as soon as you hear it? The reason is likely that you weren’t entirely paying attention when you heard that name. Maybe you were looking around the room to see who else you knew. Maybe you were still thinking about a conversation you’d just had. For whatever reason, you weren’t entirely present. Most of the time, when we fail to remember something, the issue isn’t retention but rather attention. If you’re serious about boosting your memory, condition yourself to be truly present in any situation where you want to remember something.
M is for Methods: Over the course of this chapter, I’m going to provide you with a set of tools that you’ll be able to use when you want to remember something. Make sure you’re always carrying these around in your mental toolkit, and be sure to employ them to the point where they become second nature.
THE MORE MEMORABLE BAKER
The chances of remembering something increase dramatically if people can attach a reference point to the thing they are trying to remember. A number of years ago, after a study testing peoples’ ability to put names to faces, researcher Gillian Cohen coined the name for what came to be known as the Baker/baker Paradox. In the study, participants were shown photographs of faces, offered the names and various details about the people in the photographs, and then asked to later recall the names. The study showed that people had far more trouble remembering last names than they did occupations, even when the last name and the occupation was the same word. So, for example, it turned out to be significantly easier for a participant to remember that someone was a baker than that their last name was Baker.
Let’s go back to Joshua Foer a moment for an explanation:
When you hear that the man in the photo is a baker, that fact gets embedded in a whole network of ideas about what it means to be a baker: He cooks bread, he wears a big white hat, he smells good when he comes home from work.
The name Baker, on the other hand, is tethered only to a memory of the person’s face. That link is tenuous, and should it dissolve, the name will float off irretrievably into the netherworld of lost memories. But