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How To Use Mental Hooks To Sharpen Your Memory

Memory hooks is a proven technique to develop a sharp memory. Let's start with 5 memory hooks. Keyword Number One: ALARM CLOCK Now visualize an alarm clock. This alarm clock is very large. Both hands point to the figure 2. I tell you this not only because I want the picture to be clear, but because you are to associate it with the number one. Alarm clock is our first key word. To strengthen the association, remember, for example, that the alarm clock is the first thing you see in the morning, and it cost you one dollar. It rings once before you reach out and turn it off. ONE is ALARM CLOCK. Take all the time you need to form these mental images. They are the basis of a memory system you will use for the rest of your life and are as vital to it as the alphabet is to your reading. If the picture vanishes or is blurred and indistinct, wait until it appears as vivid as a real picture in an advertisement. Keyword Number Two: TROUSERS Go through the same process in visualizing trousers as you did with alarm clock, this time, of course, associating trousers with the figure 2. These too-legged trousers cost you two dollars. Two pair of trousers came with your suit. TWO is TROUSERS. Keyword Number Three: CHAIR See the chair in your mind, and at the same time tie it up with the figure 3. Think of the chair as having three parts—the back, the seat, and the legs. It's a three-legged chair. There is a big price tag, reading $3, tied to this chair. Close your eyes now and see the chair with its three parts. THREE is CHAIR. Keyword Number Four: TABLE Visualize a four-legged, four-sided table. It is set for four people. Four dollars is what you paid for the table for four. FOUR is TABLE. Keyword Number Five: NEWSPAPER This newspaper is a Five-Star Final. It costs five cents, and you read it for five minutes. It is a 5 o'clock edition which you bought after knocking off work at 5 o'clock. FIVE is NEWSPAPER. These are the first five key words, and for the time being we will devote our attention to learning them thoroughly. After a few pages of practice and drill in these we will go on to higher numbers. But even before you reach these higher numbers you will find these first five helping you remember countless items you used to forget. By this time, you are probably asking a very natural question: Why do we use just these particular key words, instead of just any five that come to mind? The answer is simply that these key words are the result of long experimentation in memory training. They have proved easy to remember, and moreover they lend themselves to a natural sequence. What is this sequence? ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE First thing in the morning, your alarm clock goes off. Second, you put on your trousers. Third, you sit down in a chair. Fourth, you draw it up to the table, Fifth you read your newspaper. The average man performs these five simple acts day in, day out, throughout his lifetime. Just because these acts are so common and so easy to remember, they form the first five key words of our Mental Filing System. Knowing these words and seeing these images in their natural sequences is a great help, but you must also be able to shuffle them around. Get your pencil now, and test yourself with the following drill. Keep at it until you get each word correct without hesitating. Remember: always see the image. Fill in each space with the proper key word: 4 __________ 5 __________ 1 __________ 3 __________ 2 __________ Did you find, in doing this test, that some one image did not come as quickly as the others? Here is a tip. Try to exaggerate the image. Try to see it bigger, brighter, and more detailed. The noted journalist, Elbert Hubbard, said the first rule of writing was "Paint the picture large." He knew that exaggeration helps the imagination and makes details stand out commandingly in the reader's mind. You will find this rule of immense value in forming your mental images. So every time you find yourself stumbling over a particular key word, stop, concentrate again on the image, and see it larger and in more brilliant colors. Don't go ahead until this weaker picture grows just as strong as the others. This should take only a minute of concentration. When you are ready, try this exercise: Write the proper numbers against the key words: CHAIR is No __________ ALARM CLOCK is No__________ NEWSPAPER is No __________ TABLE is No __________ TROUSERS is No __________ Though you may not have realized it, you have already learned the fundamental principle of our memory system. You are now ready to put it to work. The first five key words are ready in your mind to help you remember something else entirely. Let us start with something fairly simple—say, the five biggest cities in the world. In order of size, the five biggest cities are London, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, Moscow. Filing each one on its proper hook, we get: Alarm clock - London Trousers - New York Chair - Tokyo Table - Berlin Newspaper - Moscow Our object is to associate each of these cities vividly with its key word and therefore with its number. Let me explain at once that the following associations are offered merely as suggestions, to help you get started in forming your own mental images. If some other picture occurs to you which you feel is a stronger association, don't hesitate to use it. Every mind is different, and the best association is the one that works best for you. London (alarm clock). Towering over London is the biggest clock in the world, Big Ben. Picture yourself climbing up the tower in order to wind up the clock for the night, setting the hands to one o'clock. The word London is written across the dial of the clock in Old English letters. London—alarm clock. New York (trousers). How are you going to associate New York with trousers? Well, you bought your new trousers in New York. The trousers are made in New York by a New York tailor. (Although in general it is better to try to associate the item to be remembered with the key word rather than the number, in this case you can further strengthen the image by remembering that New York is two words.) New York—trousers. Tokyo (chair). See a Japanese in a toque sitting on the chair. His big toe is stuck in the neck of a bottle of Tokay wine, and he is yelling, "Oh, my toe! It's in the Tokay—oh!" His toe is cut off and lying on the chair, but his toe is OK. Tokyo—chair. Berlin (table). A group of burly Germans are sitting about a large German table, with a swastika painted on it. They are drinking German beer and singing songs written by Irving Berlin. Berlin—table. Moscow (newspaper). Your newspaper, the Five-Star Final, is covered with moss, and a cow is lying on top of it, chewing at the moss and eating up the paper. This is a moss-cow. The headline on the newspaper reads FIVE-YEAR PLAN FOR MOSCOW. Moscow—newspaper. Reread these associations, adding to them any details that make the images more vivid. Then reach for your pencil and fill in the following spaces. Third city is _______________ Second city is _______________ Fifth city is _______________ First city is _______________ Fourth city is _______________ If you hesitated over any of the cities, go back and concentrate on that image until the picture is perfectly clear in your mind. When pictures tend to elude you, it is because they are not sharp and definite enough. The picture of yourself setting the hands of Big Ben and the moss-cow pun on Moscow must have seemed pretty ridiculous when you came across them. But as I have pointed out, exaggeration will help you remember the images. The sillier the better. If you happened to be looking out of your window and saw a man playing a harmonica while he balanced an egg on the tip of his nose, you would never forget the picture. The more ludicrous, gruesome, or farfetched a picture is, the longer it will stay in your mind, and the easier it will be for you to recall it. This fact is most important to advertisers. They often take shrewd advantage of it to capture your attention and interest. Don't you have vivid associations of Sinclair Oil with a picture of a hideous prehistoric monster, of the insecticide Flit, with Dr. Seuss' drawings of fabulous mosquitoes fleeing from the menace of the Flit gun, and of the Chesapeake Railroad with a kitten sleeping cozily in a comfortable sleeping-car berth? All of these pictures are highly improbable and exaggerated, and in this lies their very appeal to your memory. Now test yourself again to see how thoroughly you know the five largest cities. This time, write the number against the name of the city. MOSCOW is number _______________ NEW YORK is number _______________ BERLIN is number _______________ LONDON is number _______________ TOKYO is number _______________ It was decidedly faster this time, wasn't it? More about how to use memory hooks in "How to Develop a Good Memory for Names, Faces, and Facts"

Extracted from: "How to Develop a Good Memory for Names, Faces, and Facts" OptiMINDzation Improve your mental abilities, IQ, and mental focus to achieve unprecedented success in both your professional and personal lives. Improve Memory Skills Naturally Identify the cause of your memory problem and find natural remedies for it. Related Books The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play The Memory Doctor: Fun, simple Techniques to Improve Memory & Boost Your Brain Power Your Memory : How It Works and How to Improve It The Memory Workbook: Breakthrough Techniques to Exercise Your Brain and Improve Your Memory

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