New patient: “Doctor,
I don’t know what to do. You’re got to help me; I just can’t remember a thing.
I’ve no memory at all. I hear something one minute, and the next minute, I
forget it Tell me, what should I do?”
Doctor: “Pay in advance!”
I can’t blame the doctor for wanting his fee in advance in
the above anecdote; but I guess that most of us who forget to pay bills do so because we don’t want to remember
them. According to Austin Alleyway, “A habit of debt is very injurious to the
memory,” Unfortunately, we are usually soon
reminded of debts.
If you’ve grasped the idea behind the Link and the Peg
systems of memory, you have learned two of the three things that your trained
memory will be based upon. The third is the system of substitute words or
substitute thoughts, which I will discuss in later chapters. You can start
applying what you’ve learned immediately, if you want to. Not particularly for
remembering debts, which I’m sure you’d rather forget, but perhaps for
memorizing the errands that you have to do for each day. If you usually write
out your shopping list, why not try to memorize it with the help of the Link
system. Simply link the first item to the second item the second to the third, and so on, down
the list. You can memorize an entirely different list the next time you go
shopping without fear of confusion. The beautiful thing about the Link method
is that you can forget a list whenever you wish. Actually, when you memorize
the second shopping list, the first one fades away. You can, of course, retain
as many lists or links as you desire.
The mind is a most fantastic machine; it can be compared to
a filing cabinet. If you have memorized a list of items with the Link system,
which you want to retain you can . If you want to forget the list-you can .It
is merely a question of desire. The list that you want to remember is one which you probably intend to use, or
you would have no etch to retain it. The
use of the list itself will tend to etch
it into your memory. If it happens to be a list that you do not intend to
utilize right away, but which you feel you want to retain for future use-you
can do that, too. You would have to go over the list in your mind the day after
you memorized it. Then go over it again a few days later. After doing this a
few times, you have filed the list away, and it will be ready when you need it.
We all realize, of course, that it is sometimes necessary to
forget! Benjamin Disraeli, when asked about the favor shown him by royalty,
said, “—I observe a simple rule of forget.” This , however, is a question of
diplomacy, not memory; and I know that you’re reading this book not to be
taught how to forget, but how to remember. I will show you soon how to use the
Link system to remember speeches ,articles, anecdotes, etc.
The main difference between the Link and the Peg methods is
that the Link is used to remember anything is sequence, while the Peg is for
memorizing things in and out of order. You may feel that you have no need for
the Peg system since you don’t have to remember anything out of order.
Believe me when I tell you that you
definitely should learn the Peg system thoroughly. It will be extremely useful for remembering telephone
number style numbers, long digit
numbers, addresses-as a matter of fact, the Peg system will aid you in
remembering anything that has to do with numbers in any way. Besides, it will
enable you to do some fantastic memory stunts for your friends.
Although I intend to go deeper into memorizing
schedules or appointments for the week, day or month, in later
chapters-I can show you how to apply what you have already learned to this
problem, right now. You can use either the peg or Link methods, or one in
conjunction with the other.
Let’s assume that you have the following errands to do on
one particular day: You have to have your car washed (now we know that it must
rain today ); make a deposit at the
bank; mail a letter; see your dentist; pick up the umbrella that you forgot at
a friend’s house (you hadn’t read the
chapter on absent-mindedness, as yet); buy some perfume for your wife; call or
see the television repairman; stop at the hardware store for bulbs. A hammer, a
picture frame, an extension cord and an ironing board cover, go to the
bookstore to buy a copy of this book for a forgetful friend; have your watch
repaired; and finally, bring home one dozen eggs. (My, but you’ve got a busy
day!)
Now, as I’ve said, you can use the Link or peg systems to
enable you to remember to do each of the above errands. Using the Link method: Simply make a
ridiculous picture between car and bank-you might see yourself driving into the
bank in your recently washed car; you’re depositing letters instead of money;
now picture your dentist pulling letters out of your mouth instead of teeth-or,
he’s using a letter instead of a drill. To remember the errand concerning the
umbrella-picture your dentist working
over you while he’s holding an umbrella over his head; make a ridiculous
picture between umbrella and perfume, now, perfume to television; television to
hardware; hardware to book; book to watch; and finally, watch to eggs.
I’ve given you examples with the first few errands only,
because I want you to use your own imagination for forming ridiculous mental
links. You simply do the same as if you were linking a list of objects.
Actually it is the same thing-when you come to the watch repairing and the purchase of the dozen eggs, it isn’t necessary to get
the repairing or amount of eggs into the
pictures. Just use watch an egg for your
ridiculous picture: You’re breaking an egg, and a wrist watch falls out: or,
you’re wearing an egg instead of a wrist watch. The one item will bring the
entire errand to mind, of course. These
are just memory aids or reminders; you already
have remembered that you must repair the watch or that it is a dozen eggs
that you need. Thinking of, or being reminded of watch, And egg is all
that is necessary to start you off on
your errand.
When you get to the hardware store, you have to buy five
items. Make a separate link of these five:-you can start by “seeing” a large
bulb as the proprietor of the store; you break him with a hammer; you frame a
hammer and hang it on your wall, and so on, to ironing board cover.
After you have linked all your errands for the day, all you
have to do is complete one, and that will remind you of the next, and so on.
However, you needn’t do all these errands in sequence just because you
needn’t do all these errands in sequence
just because you used the Link method to remember them. That ,might make it a little inconvenient, unless you’ve
arranged your errands accordingly. No,
you can do them in any order you like. Each time you complete an errand, go
over the link in your mind, in order to remind
yourself if there is one that is convenient to take care of at that
moment, considering the time and place. When you think you have
attended to all your duties for the day,
go over the link, and if there is one
you’ve missed, you’ll know it
immediately.
You can utilize the Peg system, of course, for the same
thing. Just associate washing the car with your peg word for #1 (tie). You
might picture yourself wearing a car instead of a tie. Now, associate
Bank to Noah (#2)
Letter to ma (#3)
Dentist to rye(#4)
Umbrella to law (#5)
Perfume to shoe (#6)
Television to cow (#7)
Hardware to ivy (#8)
Book to bee (#9)
Watch to toes (#10)
Eggs to tot (#11)
Use the link to remember the different items you want at the
hardware store. You could even use the Peg for this by making another set of
associations, i.e., bulb to tie; hammer
to Noah, etc. They wouldn’t conflict at all, but it is easier to use the Link.
Now, again, when you’re ready to start the day, think of
your peg for #1 (tie). This will remind
you that you have to get the car washed.
When that’s done, think of your peg for #2(Noah) and that will remind you to go
to the bank, etc. You don’t have to do
these in order, either; simply keep going over the pegs, and if you’ve
forgotten something, it’ll stand out
like an eagle in a canary cage.
There you have it! No more excuses to the wife that you
forgot to wash the car, or that you
forgot to buy the eggs. As I mentioned before, we’ll go further into methods
for remembering schedules and appointments in another chapter; wherein you will
learn to remember appointments for definite times and days. For the time being
what you’ve learned in this chapter will
suffice for simple errands. Before going to bed each night, list your errands
and appointments for the following day. Memorize them as explained, then go
over them in the morning just to make sure. That’s all there is to it.
26. Notch 32. Moon 38. Movie 44. Rower
27. Neck 33. Mummy 39. Mop 45. Roll
28. Knife 34. Mower
40. Rose 46. Roach
29. Knob 35. Mule 41. Rod 47. Rock
30. Mice 36. Match 42. Rain 48. Roof
31. Mat 37. Mug 43. Ram 49. Rope
50.
Lace
If the item to be associated with #26 were cigarettes, you
could see a gigantic cigarette with a “notch” in it. For “mower,” picture a
lawn-mower. For “mug,” picture a beer mug. You can use either a fishing rod or
a curtain rod for #4 1. In associating the word for #42, “rain,” I usually
picture it raining the particular item that I want to recall. For “roll,” you
might use a breakfast roll.
Be sure that you know all the words from one through fifty,
thoroughly, before reading any further. You should know the higher numbered
words as well as the lower ones. A good way to practice this would be to
remember a list of twenty-five objects, in and out of sequence, using the peg
words from 26to50 to do it. Just number
the paper from 26to50 instead of 1to25. After a day or so, if you feel
ambitious, you can try a list of fifty items. If you make sure that you use
strong, ridiculous associations, you shouldn’t have any trouble remembering all
of them.
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