Memory Improvement Exercises Part 1- The Linking System

Imagine being able to look at this number 597398736629, only once without effort, and being able to remember it. Or learning the basics of a foreign language in 10 days. After my last post about following your childhood passion, I've decided to let you know about one of the things I stumbled upon while pursuing my passion of magic. Mnemonic Memory Systems. It's not the same as making up a story and memorizing it. I've had too many people try to compare the linking system to it. Anyway, the linking method is the easiest to learn and a powerful one. So if you'll give me about 20 minutes of your time, I'll teach you something that you'll never forget.

I started out with reading Magician Derren Brown's book Tricks of the Mind, which is a worthwhile read, even if you're not into magic. This was the book to get me started on memory systems.

There are several types of memory techniques. But I'm going to show you the linking systems first. No effort is necessary to learn any of the systems because it's about using your imagination. Very easy to do, may be hard at first if you haven't used it for some time, but once you start using memory systems you'll see that your creativity will come along as well. So let's start.

First a couple of rules:

1. The images have to be unique and unusual.

2. The images should be detailed, full of color, and gigantically out of proportion (when possible).

3. Always take a moment to really see the pictures.

So I'll now give you a list of 20 random words that I'd like you to take a quick look at and see if you can remember them on your own:

1. apple

2. boat

3. table

4. baby

5. television

6. fan

7. car

8. balloon

9. cigar

10. book

11. tree

12. carrot

13. cow

14. house

15. pencil

16. computer

17. watch

18. dog

19. pillow

20. rat

So how did you do? If you not so well, don't worry about it. Let's fix that now. As the name linking system implies, we'll be linking the words to each other. So please follow along with me and really try to picture the images and associate any feelings or emotions that come along with them (i.e. if it's funny or disgusting, take a moment to connect those emotions to the picture). It's even better if you can come up with your own images. I'm giving you a reference that you can use or not. Ready?

apple/boat: See a gigantic green apple as the captain of the boat you're on. The apple's dressed for the part, hat and all.

boat/table: Somehow, there's a huge boat on top of your living room table. You see the table's not going to hold the boat much longer.

table/baby: Your table is infested with millions of babies eating away at the wood. They're worse than termites because they're always screaming and crying.

baby/television: See a tiny baby juggling giant televisions as part of a street performance. It's unbelievable!

television/fan: Instead of watching television, you watch a giant fan where your tv used to be. Feel the cool air blowing on your face. It's actually quite boring.

fan/car: In an attempt to fight global warming, all the cars in the world had to be fitted with a system that runs off fan power! Imagine a busy street crowded with cars that have huge fans on the back of them. Imagine how slow the cars move.

car/balloon: It's balloon race day and all the hot air balloons are shaped as cars. There are millions of them!

balloon/cigar: See all the balloons at a birthday party smoking giant cigars. Everyone at the party is coughing and nauseous.

cigar/book: You've got a book that's all about cigars, it's even shaped as one. The pages are made of tobacco leaves.

book/tree: Instead of leaves, there are millions of books growing on a tree.

tree/carrot: A gigantic carrot eating a tree!

carrot/cow: Through evolution, cows now look exactly like carrots. See millions of them.

cow/house: A giant cow is ravaging the neighborhood and destroys your house by stepping on it.

house/pencil: It's a giant pencil as your house. Imagine opening the door to your pencil house.

pencil/computer: It's a new computer that uses pencils for energy. Big pain in the ass! You have to load a new pencil every 5 minutes!

computer/watch: A computer is strapped to your wrist where your watch used to be. The computer is your new watch. Overkill to tell the time.

watch/dog: A dog wearing a giant watch around his neck instead of tags. The dog is irritated and hates his owners!

dog/pillow: You use your wet, stinky dog as a pillow.

pillow/rat: Rats have infested your pillow! You feel them wiggling and crawling under your head.

Now see how many you can remember. Take your time and allow the images to come to you. If you can't see the image, it means that you did not visualize it properly. The first word was apple.

If you were unable to get all the words, go back and practice your visualization. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it in no time. Once you do, try the list backwards. Rat...

Once you've mastered this system it will be time to move to the next level. Let me know what you think about this system.

Here's a short video also explaining the linking system:

There's a weakness to this system. If you forget one word, the whole chain is broken and you won't be able to remember the other words. There's ways around this, and that's by learning other techniques. So I'd also suggest that you read The Memory Book.