It Pays to Remember Facts about People

.                        It is the common wonder of all men, how among so many millions of faces there should be none alike- Sir Thomas Browne

                    Yes, fortunately, there are no two faces exactly alike. If all faces did look alike, we couldn’t remember them, or the names, memory system or not. I have been challenged many times to remember the first names of a set of identical twins. So far, I have always been able to spot one difference, however minute, in their faces. It is to this difference that I would associate their names. So, as the French say, “Vive la difference”

                  If you have studied the previous chapters on how to remember names and faces; and if you have tried the methods, you should be greatly improved by now. A1-though in most cases it is the second, or family names, that most of us want to remember , some of you may be interested in remembering first, or given names, as well . This too, can be done with a conscious association. You can use a substitute word for the first name, as well. This too, can be done with a conscious association. You can use a substitute word for the first name, and get that into you know very well having the same first name, with the person you wish to remember.

                  Substitute words for first names are easy to find; Harry could be “hairy”; Clark could be “clock”; for William, I always picture a man with a bow arrow as William Tell, while money or “rich” always means Richard, to me Anne could be “ant”; Marion could be “marrying”; for Gloria, you might see the American Flag (old Glory), etc 

                  If you use the substitute word idea for remembering first names, after a while you will have one at your fingertips for any one that you meet.

It pays to Remember Names and Faces

                   Two men approached each other on the street with a look of recognition in their eyes. One said to the other, “Now wait a minute, don’t tell me, I know I know you, but I’m not sure of where we met. Let me see if I can think of your name. I‘ve got it! We met in Miami Beach two years ago’.

             ‘No, I’ve never been to Miami Beach.”

             “Hold it, don’t tell me-oh, yes, it was on the boardwalk of Atlantic City that we met.”

            “Sorry, I’ve never visited Atlantic City.”

            “I’ve got it now! Chicago in 1953!”

           “Nope, I was not in Chicago in 1953.”

           “Well, I know we’ve met, where do I know you from?”

           “Idiot! I’m your brother!!”

          “Oh, I know your face, but I just can’t remember your name!”

         Although I doubt if any of you are as bad as the fellow in the anecdote how often have you been embarrassed because you had to say this? I’m sure it has happened to you many times. If I were to take a poll as to why most people want to take my memory course , I think it would show that at least 80% want to because they can’t seem to be able to remember names and faces.

          Usually, of course, it is the name that has been forgotten, not the face; the reason for this is quite simple. You see, most of us are what we call “eye-minded.” in other words; things that we see register upon our brains with much more emphasis than what we hear. You always see the face, but usually only hear the person’s name. That’s why most of us, time after time, have to say, “I recognize your face, but I can’t remember your name.”

It Pays to Remember dates

“What day is today?”

                    “Gosh, you’ve got me, I don’t know what day it is.”

                    “Well, why don’t you look at that news paper you have  in your pocket-that should tell us.”

                                    “Oh, no, that won’t do us any good; it’s yesterday’s paper!”

                         ALTHOUGH all of us can tell what day today is by looking at yesterday’s   paper-how many of you can tell quickly, or slowly, for that matter, the day of the week that any date this year will fall on?  Not many,  different methods  for calculating  the day of  the week for any given date, not the least of which is counting on your fingers.

                         Some of the systems are  so involved that is seers rauces  simpler to take the time  to find a calendar, and get  you information there. On the  other hand, there are ways of   actually knowing the day of  actually knowing the day of the week for any date  in the twentieth century! This doesn’t seem to me to have any particular practical value; although it may have for some of you. Used as a memory stunt, however, it is    quite impressive.

                         I intend to teach you how to do that in this chapter, but first, for practical use, I have come across a very simple way to find the day of the week for any date of the current year. This idea is so easy, that most of you will wonder why you didn’t think of it yourselves. This is it:-

Some Pegs for Emergencies

                            The memory is always present; ready and anxious to help-if only                   
  we would ask it to do so more often.

                                                                                          -RogerBroille                                                                                                                                                                                                      

                             

                     Many Times when I’ve been challenged to prove that any-one can remember by using something similar to the peg system-I would use a method which taught the skeptic to memorize ten miscellaneous objects forwards and backwards, and in and out of order, in about five minutes. What I did was to put ten small items, in a row, on a table; items like a ring, a watch, a cigarette, a match book, a comb, etc. I then told the person that these ten objects were to represent the numbers from one to ten. 

                                  Now I taught him to associate the item I called to the object on the table which represented the number called In other words, if I called “typewriter” as #7, and the seventh  item on the table was the ring. Later on, when I asked if he remembered #7, he would count to the seventh object, the ring which would remind him of the typewriter.

                                  This usually convinced the skeptic that he could remember better than he thought he could, but he always wanted to know if he’d have to carry those ten items with  him. Of course, if had have to carry those ten items with have had a list of ten pegs to which to associate any other palely  unassociated items to use for a peg list; and, in this case, would hardly be worth the trouble.

                                However, as I mention elsewhere in the book, it was Simonies  who first used the rooms of his house, and the furniture in the rooms as a peg list. And this idea will also, there  is to mush sameness in pieces of furniture to make a useful list. There is the possibility of becoming confused, and it would take time to know which number each piece represented.

It Pays to Remember Long Digit Numbers

The memory is a treasurer to whom we must give funds, if we are  to draw the assistance we need.  

                                                                                                     –Rowe

                 ONCE, during my performance at the Concord Hotel in upstate New York, a “friend” in the audience asked me to memorize the  number, 414, 233, 442, 475, 059, 125. I did, of course, using my systems. The reason I mention this now is because I had forgotten the little stunt I used as a child. I would boast  to my friends of what a marvelous memory I had, and ask one of the boys (a marvelous course) to call  out a long digit number. He would then Sixth Avenue Subway. We all knew these stops, and it would have been quite obvious if he had said, “4,” then “14” and then “23,” and so on. However, hearing the numbers in groups if three made then unrecognizable to the uninitiated.

                  In those days the Sixth Ave. express stopped at West 4^th Street, then 14^th street, 23^rd street, 34^th street , 42^nd street , 47^th and 50^th streets, 59^th street, 125^th street, etc. I would simply call off these stops ad leave my pals exclaiming over my prodigious memory. This all proves that numbers can be remembered if they are made to represent or mean something to us. I have helped you to do just that by utilizing the peg system. Now, any number, whether it represents subway stops or not, can be made to mean something to you. And, in my personal opinion, that is the only way to memorize and retain a number. Yes I’ve heard of the few rare cases of people who could memorize number instantly. I’ve heard of one person who could remember and retain long numbers as they were flashed before his eyes. (I wish I could do it!) these fortunately, these are the few exceptions that strengthen my belief.

It Pays to Remember Playing Cards

“Yes, my grandfather was a gambler, and he died at a very early age.” 

"Gosh, that’s too bad.   How did it happen?”

“He died of five aces!”

                              SINCE I want you all to stay healthy, the memory feats in this lesson utilize a regular deck of cards; not with five, but with the usual four Aces. Truthfully, although this chapter is devoted entirely to remembering playing  cards, I am stressing the demonstrations you can do with a deck  of cards and your trained memory. The systems, however, can be applied to many card games. Please don’t think that after you’ve mastered these you can always win at cards. Keep  in mind that you can’t beat a man at his own  game. I will leave the applications of the systems up to you; I use them for demonstration purposes Only.

                             The late Damon Runyon used the following in one of his stories: “ ‘Son,’ the old guy says, ‘no matter how far you travel, or how smart you get,  always remember this; Someday, somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and seal is never broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that the Jack of Spades will jump out of this deck and squirt cider in your ear.’

“  ‘But, son,’ the old guy says, ‘do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear full of cider.’ 

                              The memory stunts you will do with cards after studying these methods will seem  almost as amazing to your friends. Aside from that, they are also wonderful memory exercises. I suggest that you read and learn the contents of this chapter whether or not you indulge in card playing.

It Pays to Remember Speeches, Articles, Scripts and Anecdotes

                       The confused and nervous speaker was introduced after dinner. He approached the microphone  and murmured haltingly: 

                        “My f-f-friends, wh-when I arrived here this evening only Good and I know what I  was going to say to you. And now, only God knows!”

                         I GUESS that one of the most embarrassing thing that can happen to a person is to forget a speech while in front of his audience. Next to forgetting the speech is the embarrassment of faltering long as if you’re not sure of what you have to say. Actually, it seems to me that anyone who is asked to give a talk on any particular subject must know that subject pretty well; otherwise why would he be asked to talk about it? No; speakers who  falter or hesitate forgotten the next word-or because they are fearful that they will forget the next word.

                       There, in my opinion, lies the problem. If a speech is memorized word for word, and then a word, here and there, is forgotten; it surely will not be delivered as it should be. Why should  you have to grope for one particular word? If you can’t think of it; why, use any other word that serves the same purpose. Isn’t that much better than hemming and hawing until you remember the exact phrasing just the way you memorized it?

                       The people who realized this felt that the next best thing would be to simply read the speech. This solves the problem of forgetting words, until you lose your place on the paper, and forget what you’re  talking about altogether. Besides, it seems to me that there is a subtle annoyance evident in an audience that is listening to someone reading a speech word for word. I know I feel that way; he might just as well have given me a printed copy of the speech to read at my own leisure.

                         So, the next step seems to be not to prepare at all. (Well, not quite.)  Even if you are well versed in your subject, you may forget some of the fact you want to speak about. As in the case of the case of the itinerant preacher who always complained that he  made his best speeches on the way home. All the he had forgotten to tell his listeners came to mind then, and his horse usually got the best part of the speech.

                        I believe that the best way to prepare a speech is to lay it out thought for thought. Many of our better speakers do just that. They simply make a list if each idea or though that they want to talk about, and use this list in  lieu of notes. In this way, you can’t forget words, since you haven’t memorized any. You can hardly lose your place; one glance at your list will show you the next thought to put into words.

                    But for those of you who would rather not rely on pieces of paper—the Link method can help you easily. If you wish to memorize your speech thought for thought, from the beginning to the end, you would be forming a sequence. That’s why you would use the  Link method of memory to memorize it.

                       I would suggest that you go about it something like  this:- First, write out or read the entire speech. When you’re satisfied with it, read it over once or twice more to get the “gist” of it.      Now, get yourself  a piece of paper and start to list your KEY WORDS.

                       Read the first thought of the speech. This might be contained in one, two or more sentences; it doesn’t matter, Now select one word or phrase from these sentences which you think will bring  the entire thought to mind!  that is not at all difficult.  In every sentence or paragraph there must be one word or phrase which will remind you of the entire thought. That one word or phrase is your Key Word.

                        After you have found the Key Word for the first thought, find one for the next thought, and so on. When you’re through with whole speech, you’ll have a list of Keys to remind you of each thing you want to say. Actually, if you were to keep this list in front of you as you made the speech, it would serve the purpose. But, if you’ve mastered the Link system, you know that it is just as easy to make a link of these Key Words, and then throw away the paper.

                            You might, for example, be giving a talk on your local school problems at a parent-teacher Association meeting . Your list of Key Words might look something like this:- crowds, teachers, fire, furniture, subjects, playground, etc. In other words, you wish to start your speech with a reference to the crowded conditions in the class rooms.  Then you want to talk about the teachers; perhaps about methods and salaries, etc. Now, you express your thoughts on discussion on the state of the school’s furniture; the desks, chairs, blackboards, equipment, and so on. Now, you would talk about your ideas on the subjects taught, and finally, the recreation (playground) facilities of the speech!

At first, you may have to list, perhaps, two or three Key Words for some  thoughts. List as many of them as you need, to remember the entire speech. As you use this idea, the amount of Keys necessary will be less and less. And,  most important, the confidence you gain by knowing that you remember your talk will show when you deliver it. Just keep in mind that you must take care of the thoughts; the words will take care of themselves!

                                  If, for some reason or other, you wish to memorize a speech word for word, use the same method. You’ll just have to go over it more often. Remember that all these systems are aids to your true memory. “if you remember the main, the incidentals will fall into place.” You actually never forget anything you’ve remembered, you just have to be reminded of it; the system in this book will do that for you. So, if you remember the main thoughts of your speech, the incidentals, the ifs, and and buts, will fall into place.

                              The same ideas are used to memorize any article you read, if you desire. First read the article, of course, to get the gist of it. Then pick out the Key Words for each thought; then make a link to remember them, and you’ve got it. With a bit of practice, you’ll actually be able to do this as you read.

                            Many times while reading for enjoyment, I’ll come across some piece of information that I’d like to remember. I simply make a conscious association of it, while I’m reading. This idea can, if used enough, speed up your reading considerably. I think that most people are slow readers because by the time they’ve reached the third paragraph, they’ve forgotten what was in the first; so they have to jump back.

                             There is no need to associate everything; just the points that you feel are necessary to remember. Perhaps, if you use my systems, you will fall into the first class of readers in American educator, William Lyon Phelps’ two classes. He once said, “I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget.”

                             The same system of linking Key Words can be used for remembering lyrics and scripts. Of course, in this case it is usually necessary to memorize them word for word. You will have to go over them more often, but the Key Word idea will make the job that much easier for you. If you have trouble memorizing your cues in a play, why not associate the last word of the other actor’s line to the first word of your line. Even if your cue tells you  that you must perform an action, instead of speaking  a line, you can still associate it. If the last word of the line prior to your action happens to be, say, “walk”; and the script calls for you to stoop down to pick up a cigarette butt-make a picture in your mind of yourself walking along and continually stooping to pick up cigarette butts. (in this way you will never walk on another actor’s lines.)

                             I’ll mention one other use of the Key Word idea, before leaving it entirely. How many times have you wanted to tell your friends some jokes or anecdotes that you recently heard, only to find that you’ve forgotten them completely? You can hear a whole batch of really funny stories one day, and have them all,  or most of them, slip your mind the next. Well, according to Irvin s. Cobb, “A good storyteller is a person who has a good memory and hopes other people haven’t”.

Your memory for stories and anecdotes will improve immediately if you use the Key Word system. Just take one word from the story, a word from the punch line is usually best, that will bring the entire joke to mind. When you get your key words, you can either  link them to each other to remember all the stories in sequence, or use the peg system to remember them by number.

                        Perhaps you’ve heard the gag that has been making the rounds recently about the Flying saucer that landed in America. Out stepped a creature from outer space-brushed himself off with one of his six arms, looked around with the one large eye in the center of his forehead, and kept his antennae alert for any sounds.

                        After exploring a bit, he finally approached a gas station, walked over to the gasoline pump, saluted, and demanded, “take me to your president”!

                         Well, if you hadn’t heard this before, and wanted to remember it with perhaps ten or twelve other stories-you could use either flying saucer, creature from outer space, or gasoline pump as your key word for this story. Any one of these would surely bring the entire story to mind, if you liked it in first place.

                          Although I’m sure that many of you will find some practical use for it, one of the memory stunts I sometimes use in my shows is the “magazine test.”  This usually causes a bit of comment because it seems to be the most amazing of memory feats. Actually it is basic and simple.

What happens is this:-    The audience is given some copies of a current magazine. (I usually use Tempo Magazine, which is published by the Enterprise Magazine management, inc.)

They are then asked to call  any page number, and I immediately tell them the highlights of that particular page.

                          This is merely another use of the peg system of memory. In some instances the link method is used in conjunction with the peg, as will be explained directly. To memorize the pages of any picture magazine, all you have to do is to associate the peg word that represents the page number to the highlight of that page.

                      For example:- if page #1 has a picture of an airplane on it, you would make a ridiculous association between “tie”(1) and airplane.

                          Page #2 might be an advertisement for shoe polish. Associate “Noah”  to shoe polish.

                          Page #3 has a picture of a horse on it. Associate “ma” to horse.

                          Page #4 might have a picture of a circus scene; just associate ”rye” to circus.

                         Page #5 is an advertisement for a television set. Associate “law” to television set.

                         Page #6 is a book review. Associate “shoe” to book.

                      That’s all there is to it. If you go over the magazine and highlights of every page. If a page has more than one picture on it, sue the Link method to remember them. Assume that page #14 is a fashion page, and it has a picture of a hat, one of gloves and a third of a dress.

                        First associate “tire” (14) to the first picture, which is of a hat. Now, link hat to gloves, and then gloves to dress. When page #14 is called, the peg word will remind you of hat; hat will tell you that the next picture is of gloves, and gloves will remind you of dress.

                           If you have seen my performance, you know that I also tell the audience on what part of the page the picture is located; whether it is on the lower or upper left part of the page, upper or lower right, or center, etc. well, you can do this too, and without any extra effort.