Limitless - Jim Kwik Page 0,82
ACTIVE FOCUS IN MEMORY
This is a very important concept: Most people approach learning as a passive activity. They encounter information in books, notes, or lectures and if the material is absorbed, great! But if it is not, they feel that there is nothing they can do. This passive outlook is the hit-or-miss approach. It holds that if the information sticks, it’s more a result of luck and repetition than focus and skill. By taking a more active approach to learning, you will have greater results and the satisfaction that comes from involvement and personal awareness. Learning passively is weak; active learning is strong.
Visualization
Your visual memory is very powerful. By seeing the pictures a story paints and not just the words that represent those pictures, you create a stronger means by which to remember. Thinking is done through the use of pictures. Do this now: Think of your bed. What did you visualize? Maybe you saw a queen-size mattress, with a wooden headboard, navy-blue sheets, and giant pillows. You probably did not see the words navy-blue sheets and giant pillows in your mind; you saw pictures of them. This is how your mind thinks. If you doubt this, then ask yourself, do you frequently find yourself dreaming in words? Probably not. Remember a picture is worth a thousand words!
Association
This is the key to memory and all of learning: In order to learn any new piece of information, it must be associated with something you already know.
This is worth repeating. To remember any new piece of information, you must associate it with something you already know. You have done this all your life; you just might not have been aware of it. Here’s a simple test. What comes to your mind when you think of a cherry? Perhaps red, sweet, fruit, pie, round, seeds, etc. These are words and pictures that you have learned to link to a cherry. You associated something you knew to something you did not know. You use association to ride a bike, eat your food, have a conversation, and to learn to do anything. In the same way, by making a story out of the words on your list, you associated them consciously, for easier recall. Your mind is constantly making countless associations every minute, most of them without your conscious awareness. This is how you learn. Do you have a song that reminds you of a special person? That memory is an association. Do you have a smell that reminds you of a time in your childhood? That memory is an association. Why not use this information and make associations consciously to learn more effectively?
Emotion
Adding emotion makes something memorable. Information by itself is forgettable, but information combined with emotion becomes a long-term memory. When we add emotions to something, we make it adventurous, we make it action-filled, we make it humorous, and we’re much more likely to remember it.
Location
We are really good at recalling places because as hunter-gatherers, we didn’t need to remember numbers and words, but we needed to remember where things were. We needed to know where the clean water was, where the fertile soil was, where the food was. If you can associate something with a place, you’re more likely to remember it.
These are some of the keys to having a great memory; the rest of this chapter will be dedicated to showing you specific techniques and applications you can use in different situations. If you did not have much luck with the memory story, don’t worry. This is understandable, you may just need a little practice. Most people have not used their imaginations since they were children. You may want to review the story a few times as it will be a good workout for your creative mind. Do this now.
Notice that you can also go through the story backward; the associations can give you the list in any order. Practice this and see for yourself.
You should be truly amazed. For most people, using rote methods, it takes anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes to memorize this list and with only very temporary results. However, you’ll find that this story, which took you no more than a minute to learn, will be available for you to recall days or even weeks from now without reviewing it once. This is the power of working smart and not hard. This is the power of your imagination. This is the power of your mind. Let’s try it again.
A KWIK MEMORY EXERCISE
Ask a friend to give