...equipment as everybody else.

So, it's something anybody can
do.

It sounds intriguing.

So I'm going to give it
a try.

So, Andi, what mental torture
have you got for me this morning?

Well, I'm going to give you this
list of words,

and I want you to try to
remember them.

These are the words: Wash,
apple, jet, mad, actress,

marmalade, jack, van, clock,
tile, polecat, tail, film, pier,

bucket, chain, bottle, sand,
egg, window, salamander, paper,

microphone, Coke, piano, dog, captain, tennis, kennel, tomato.

Huh, huh.

And you're going to be able to
remember it.

And I'm not.

Well, I think you might because
I'm going to give you a

technique that will help.

I'm going to ask you to picture
two words at a time in

a sequence of locations around
your home.

So I'll give these two...

But then I'll have three things
to remember:

The two words plus the location.

You already know the locations
around your home,

so the sense of location is
going to help you.

Trust me.

It's not going to add to your
problems.

I'll never do it.

Yes, you will.

I'm going to give you at least 
until that egg gets cold to have a look at that list.

So I start off in the garden.

Wash the apple.

Go into the hall where there's a
jet madly flying around.

To the dining room where there's
an actress.

Who's your favorite actress?

Judi Dench.

But she wouldn't be smeared in
marmalade.

She would be.

Why?

So you can remember her.

For the next five minutes, I
frantically try to imagine

all these crazy images and think
where to put them.

The normally quite unexceptional
Winston household will never

feel quite the same again.

Frankly, I'm convinced it won't
work.

Better be time out.

No.
Yep, yep.

I know the first two.
Full of time.

I'll never remember that.

Well, no, you'll do okay.

I better get to work.
See you later.

Now all I've got to do is to go
through my normal working day.

The challenge will be to see how
many of the 30 words I can

remember at the end of it.

So do you think you can
remember any of the words

I gave you earlier today?

I'll give it a go.

We'll start off outside in the
garden.

Wash apple.
Jet mad.

Actress marmalade.

Jack, van.
Polecat tail.

That's right.. Bucket chain.

Uh, uh.

Clock, tile.

Bottle, sand.

Okay.

Try to remember the room you
were in when you thought of those words.

Salamander, paper.

Microphone, Coke.

Piano, dog.

Captain, tennis.

Kennel, tomato.

How many out 30 do you think
you got?

I think I probably got them all
right.

All of them.

Well done.

So it works.

Of course it does.

When we use a simple story to
memorize facts,

we're creating several pathways
to where those memories are

formed in the brain.

It's as if instead of lining up
one set of dominos,

we're setting up several.

The reason we often have
difficulties in retrieving

our memory is because one neural
pathway can easily get broken.

But by having several different
pathways to our memory,

it means that if one doesn't
manage to reach it,

another one will.

That's the advantage of the
story technique.

It creates lots of neural
pathways in our brain,

and all of our brains can work
in this way,

which is why everyone can use
this method.

By using a story to memorize
facts,

we all have the potential to
perform astonishing feats of
memory.