My Secret Memory Technique, Part 2

Yesterday, I shared my Secret Memory Technique called “peg words”. I use this technique to remember lots of different lists of items.

One of those is the list of items I need to bring with me when I leave the house every morning to go to work. I don’t want to forget my;

1. squirt gun
2. wallet
3. cell phone
4. keyring
5. sunglasses
6. pocketknife and Leatherman tool
7. flashlight
8. ipod
9. access badge for the building I work in
10. my lunch and thermos of tea

Using the method I described yesterday, I’m able to remember that list every day, without fail. I can recall the list any time I want, and verify that I have all that stuff in 20-30 seconds. The only time I forget something is when I don’t run through my list before I sprint out the door!

"Well that’s great for you Wulfgar, but what about when I REALLY need it, like remembering a grocery list that my wife told me over the phone?" Easy! Just use the same method.

Let’s say you were asked to bring home milk, eggs, bread, soda pop, and bananas. There are 5 things on your list, so use the first 5 items on your peg list.

• "One gun". Imagine slowly and menacingly reaching into your pocket to pull out a gun, and…you pull out a banana!
• "Two shoe". You know what the floor of a movie theatre feels like? It’s sticky, from all the pop spilled on it. Your shoes stick to the floor because of the soda pop!
• "Three tree". Look at that tree with all the chickens nesting in it! Chickens don’t live in trees! Wait, I need eggs…
• "Four door". When we open the door to the fridge, what do most of us grab? The milk. See yourself opening the door, and grabbing the milk.
• "Five hive". Hives house bees, and bees make honey, and honey goes on toast, and to make toast you need bread!

And there you have it; you can think of these examples as fast as they’re being told to you on the phone. That’s why you memorize the original 10 peg word list. As you’re chatting with the person giving you the list, keep focusing on each word association until the next one is given to you.

Now you can remember your grocery list. Or your errand list. Or your homework assignments list. Or anything you want! The point is to make it YOUR list, and associate words that mean something to you.

Make them memorable by thinking of funny, or dramatic, or disturbing images, and you’ll remember them as long as you need. All you have to do is replay your peg words, and the mental pictures will come back to you!

p.s. I would LOVE to hear stories about how you are using this technique! Please leave me comments and tell me all about it! You can leave comments by clicking on the {comment} link below this post.

photo by Sashala