Establishing Goals, Linking Example, Number Shape System, Number Rhyme System
*A site with a good memory link system example
Lesson Objective: To be able to remember a short list using Link, Number Shape & Rhyme Systems
So you have decided to improve your memory? Some of the first few questions you may be asking yourself is: Do I want to be able to remember numbers & figures more easily? Do I want to be able to remember peoples names & faces? Do I want to win a memory competition?
Whatever your objective is, defining and establishing your goals is the first positive step to improve your memory. Have a go at writing some goals down on a piece of paper now…
Whatever your goals are, the following techniques will have you on your way to achieving them quicker than you imagined.
One of the simplest of memory techniques is the link system. Just say you have a shopping list of 5 items. You’d use the link system to link those items together in an imaginative & memorable story of some sort. This is where the fun begins. For example we have the items:
Tomatoes, Carrots, Eggs, Biscuits and SoupTo remember these items using the link system we could make up something like:
You imagine walking into the supermarket and you see everyone dressed as a TOMATO bouncing around the store. The owner of the market finds you and questions you as if you’re some alien being unfamiliar to their tomato race. He cannot comprehend what you are saying so he sticks a CARROT in your ear. This carrot then starts to grow inside your ear and lifts you up like a balloon and flies you crazily around the market.
Finally you somehow manage to pop the carrot out of your ear while you’re still up in the air, but you suddenly fall down into a huge basket of EGGS. I’m sure you can imagine how that would feel. You pick yourself up from the mess you made with the eggs. You’ve had enough of this market so you decide you want to make a quick exit and head for the door when all of a sudden BANG! a giant BISCUIT covers the exit door and you smash head on into the choc chip part.
You remain unconscious until one of the tomato dudes pour very HOT SOUP all over you and you wake up TASTING, SMELLING & even LOOKING like soup.
As memory works best with association, the Number Shape System can also be used like above & works similar to the Number Rhyme System. All you basically do is have 10 constant words that resemble shapes and associate those shapes with the items. These are your PEG words.
For example, 1(One) could look like a PEN, or BAT, or STICK. 2(Two) could look like a SWAN. 3(Three) could be a BIRD flying sideways. Once you make up your ten peg words try linking them with the above items that were used for the linking example.
The first one could be you imagine drawing faces on a TOMATO using a PEN. Second item you could imagine you’re at a beautiful lake one day feeding CARROTS to a SWAN with an extraordinary, large beak with one sharp tooth inside it! Now try the rest for yourself and see how you go.
The Number Rhyme system works similar but instead of shapes you use a rhyme corresponding to a number. For example, 1(One) could be Sun, Bun or Fun. 2(Two) Shoe, Glue, Poo. 3(Three) Tree, Bee, Knee. Now as you have done above make up another ten constant words to associate with items. Using the above list for example you could picture a giant TOMATO in your BUN and when you bite into it it splatters everywhere. As you wake up one morning you notice your evil brother has GLUED CARROTS to your forehead and you struggle to rip them off. Now try the rest for yourself.
As you might have noticed it is basically all fun and games and the crazier and funnier you make up your story, the easier it is to remember. Also using all your senses, bound with some imagination & creativity, there is basically no limits to what you can do.
Exercise: Try and memorise 10 items with link system, 10 with number shape, and 10 with number rhyme. For a total of 30 items.
Note: Before beginning this exercise, you will find it extremely helpful to keep repeating your peg words to yourself so they become embedded in your head. You need to know them better than your own phone number! It is o.k. as a beginner to keep your peg words written down next to you for quick referral while you make an attempt to memorise a list.