Today’s Question:
Hello Matt,
Thank you for your welcoming email. I am looking forward to reading your “almost” daily emails.
One thing I would like to find out, and that you could address in the email, is what are the best psycho-cybernetics exercises to increase memory retention, and what can of expectations one could have about developing a better memory.
As I am reading the Psycho-Cybernetics, I have great expectation that I will see positive results as Maxwell Maltz was the genesis of it all.
Sincerely,
Jerome R.
Jerome,
Great question. There are no specific memory techniques that are directly spelled out in Psycho-Cybernetics, but they are in there, written between the lines… once you realize the power of mental imagery.
I say this because your memory and imagination are linked, and this is one of many reasons Dr. Maltz wrote, “If you can remember, worry or tie your shoe…”
Worry is the negative use of the imagination. When you worry you picture something in the future that is negative and this mental picture is accompanied by feelings of anxiety, dread, hopelessness and so on.
As for tying your shoe, if you can remember doing so, you are also picturing it.
What’s this have to do with memory?
Well, when you want to remember something, if you form a mental picture of it, you retain the information far, far faster than if you attempt to remember by rote.
For example, to remember someone’s name, you don’t need to repeat it several times in a conversation, as is commonly taught. If someone tells you his name is Jeff, you make an association with a word that rhymes with it, such as chef, then you imagine that Jeff is wearing a large white chef’s hat. If someone’s name is Sherry, you can imagine that she is eating a bowl of cherries.
As for numbers, you turn all of the numbers you want to remember into famous people and you build an imaginary story around them.
The first ten digits of pi, as an example, are 3.14 15 92 65 35.
Each of these numbers corresponds to a letter in the alphabet, i.e. A=1, B=2, C=3.
So 14 is Adam Dunn, 15 is Albert Einstein, 92 is a bit trickier as you turn 9’s into the letter N (it contains two of them), so Napoleon Bonaparte will do; 65 is Frederic Engels and 35 is Chris Evert.
Now you form a story of Adam Dunn teaching Albert Einstein how to hit a home run; followed by Einstein stabbing Napoleon, followed by Napoleon falling onto Frederic Engels then Chris Evert hitting a tennis ball off his head.
The key, once again is using your imagination… albeit in an exaggerated manner and represents one of the unwritten reasons that getting good at visualization is a great idea. Not only will you remember your goals you’ve set better, but everything else that is important to you as well.
Thank you for the question.
Matt Furey
P.S. I cover this sort of thing and much, much more in my Theatre of the Mind Masters Coaching program.
