0:00:22.119,0:00:27.960
[music]

0:02:10.940,0:02:14.860
V.O.: Balance. Balance. Balance. Balance.[br]Balance.

0:02:24.440,0:02:26.480
[music]

0:02:29.000,0:02:36.080
V.O.: Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five.[br]Four. Three.

0:02:36.080,0:02:37.720
Two. One.

0:02:38.600,0:02:41.480
Yay!

0:02:47.600,0:02:49.840
C.H.: Let me pull out my mic real quick.

0:02:52.900,0:02:57.480
Wow, that was awesome. OK. So, we don't know

0:02:57.489,0:03:00.790
that much about memory, but what we do know

0:03:00.790,0:03:02.379
is that if I were to start reading off

0:03:02.379,0:03:04.799
a list of random words, you would only be

0:03:04.799,0:03:08.299
able to memorize about four of those things.[br]And

0:03:08.299,0:03:11.109
then, if we wait twenty to thirty seconds,[br]and

0:03:11.109,0:03:14.249
talk about anything else, you're only gonna[br]remember about

0:03:14.249,0:03:17.090
two, or one, or none.

0:03:17.090,0:03:18.689
We kind of know that, right. Almost every[br]person

0:03:18.689,0:03:20.909
I've met has told me, I have a really

0:03:20.909,0:03:24.029
bad memory. So that's understood. But at the[br]same

0:03:24.029,0:03:26.840
time, if I walk up to anybody in this

0:03:26.840,0:03:29.760
room and I ask how to get to the

0:03:29.760,0:03:33.290
restroom, you could probably tell me. And[br]you could

0:03:33.290,0:03:35.790
probably tell me with, like, really good detail.

0:03:35.790,0:03:37.680
Like, walk out of that door. There's gonna[br]be

0:03:37.680,0:03:39.400
the thing with the coffee and the tea on

0:03:39.400,0:03:42.569
it. Just passed that is the registration desk.[br]Take

0:03:42.569,0:03:45.069
a right. We're gonna pass the escalators.[br]And we're

0:03:45.069,0:03:46.870
gonna have two sets of elevators. The one[br]on

0:03:46.870,0:03:48.650
the left that only goes up to the seventeenth

0:03:48.650,0:03:50.049
floor, right. The one on the right starts[br]at

0:03:50.049,0:03:52.680
the eighteenth floor. Keep going. We're gonna[br]see the

0:03:52.680,0:03:56.019
women's restroom first and then the men's[br]restroom.

0:03:56.019,0:03:58.459
We could all do that. So, on one hand,

0:03:58.459,0:04:00.879
we have a memory that completely sucks, but[br]at

0:04:00.879,0:04:03.230
the same time we're able to, like, magically[br]memorize

0:04:03.230,0:04:05.719
the blueprint of this building. And we don't[br]even

0:04:05.719,0:04:10.760
try to do it. So has does that work?

0:04:10.760,0:04:14.299
What memory athletes do when they memorize[br]gigantic lists

0:04:14.299,0:04:16.980
of words is, instead of using that short term

0:04:16.980,0:04:19.399
memory that we call it, or present memory,[br]they

0:04:19.399,0:04:21.290
use their spatial memory. The same memory[br]that we

0:04:21.290,0:04:23.360
use to memorize location. Which is what I[br]tried

0:04:23.360,0:04:26.030
to do today. So we'll see how we did

0:04:26.030,0:04:28.610
with ten random words, which is more than[br]double

0:04:28.610,0:04:30.280
the amount of words that we're supposed to[br]be

0:04:30.280,0:04:31.900
able to memorize.

0:04:31.900,0:04:35.280
So the first word was me staring at my

0:04:35.280,0:04:38.060
watch, right. Anticipation. Does anyone remember[br]what happened next?

0:04:38.060,0:04:43.020
Clown. Perfect. And then what? Yes. Clown[br]and opera.

0:04:43.020,0:04:44.900
And we did a little trick there where we

0:04:44.900,0:04:46.550
combined the two, right. I was wearing the[br]clown

0:04:46.550,0:04:48.979
thing and I was singing. Does anyone remember[br]what

0:04:48.979,0:04:50.520
happened next when I came over to this side

0:04:50.520,0:04:52.110
of - yeah, I don't even need to remind

0:04:52.110,0:04:53.460
you. Perfect. Car.

0:04:53.460,0:04:57.110
And then what happened over here? Discovered[br]an orange.

0:04:57.110,0:05:00.699
That's awesome. You guys are doing really[br]well. After

0:05:00.699,0:05:07.699
that, what happened next? Sprint. Great. So[br]I balanced

0:05:08.400,0:05:10.410
on my hands, and then we sprint back over

0:05:10.410,0:05:12.379
to the other side of the stage, and there

0:05:12.379,0:05:14.840
was a countdown playing on the speakers, right.[br]And

0:05:14.840,0:05:19.020
then we ended up applause. That's excellent.[br]That's the

0:05:19.020,0:05:22.460
entire method. That's what everybody uses[br]to memorize thousands

0:05:22.460,0:05:25.599
and thousands and thousands of digits, or[br]hundreds and

0:05:25.599,0:05:27.720
hundreds and hundreds of random words. Is[br]just by

0:05:27.720,0:05:30.419
visualizing it and using that spatial memory.

0:05:30.419,0:05:31.970
So now we're gonna see how to apply that

0:05:31.970,0:05:34.680
to a few different things. The first thing[br]is

0:05:34.680,0:05:36.590
gonna be names, cause everybody has a hard[br]time

0:05:36.590,0:05:39.300
with names. How many people do you think you've

0:05:39.300,0:05:41.229
met this conference? I think I've met maybe[br]like

0:05:41.229,0:05:42.830
two hundred people. All right. I think there's[br]fifteen

0:05:42.830,0:05:45.789
hundred people. I remember about half of those[br]names,

0:05:45.789,0:05:48.210
and I was actually trying to remember them.[br]So

0:05:48.210,0:05:49.560
it's probably a lot worse for some of you

0:05:49.560,0:05:51.300
who weren't trying.

0:05:51.300,0:05:54.520
When you first meet somebody, what you want[br]to

0:05:54.520,0:05:57.139
do is actually listen to them tell you their

0:05:57.139,0:05:59.120
name. Cause a lot of the times when we're

0:05:59.120,0:06:01.789
meeting somebody, right, we're five seconds[br]into the conversation

0:06:01.789,0:06:03.650
and we completely forgot their name. Well,[br]our memories

0:06:03.650,0:06:05.849
actually aren't that bad. We just weren't[br]paying attention

0:06:05.849,0:06:08.310
when we were introduced to them. So remember[br]their

0:06:08.310,0:06:09.340
name.

0:06:09.340,0:06:11.270
The second thing you want to do is kick

0:06:11.270,0:06:14.030
in that spatial memory. So to do that, this

0:06:14.030,0:06:17.770
is Ryan. Everybody say hi Ryan. All right.[br]So

0:06:17.770,0:06:19.530
you've got the first thing down. You've listened[br]to

0:06:19.530,0:06:21.629
the name. Now you want to look at Ryan

0:06:21.629,0:06:24.099
and find something that stands out to you.

0:06:24.099,0:06:26.650
Now Ryan's got, obviously he's got his own[br]look

0:06:26.650,0:06:28.169
going on, so he, he's given us a lot

0:06:28.169,0:06:30.139
of things to look at but first thing I

0:06:30.139,0:06:31.909
notice for him is his tattoo on his neck.

0:06:31.909,0:06:35.639
So if I want to remember Ryan, I'm gonna

0:06:35.639,0:06:37.970
look at that tattoo, and I'm gonna think of

0:06:37.970,0:06:41.000
a word that rhymes with the word Ryan. Something

0:06:41.000,0:06:43.860
that I can easily visualize, and then attach[br]it

0:06:43.860,0:06:45.270
to that tattoo.

0:06:45.270,0:06:48.740
So Ryan, for me, makes me think of lion.

0:06:48.740,0:06:52.060
So I'm gonna imagine, coming up on Ryan's[br]right-hand

0:06:52.060,0:06:54.039
size, a big lion running. He's got like a

0:06:54.039,0:06:56.300
bright-orange main, he's breathing hard. He[br]jumps up in

0:06:56.300,0:06:57.800
the air and he bites Ryan in the neck

0:06:57.800,0:06:59.879
and just, like, rips off his tattoo, and he's

0:06:59.879,0:07:02.800
flailing it around. There's blood everywhere.[br]The lion's like,

0:07:02.800,0:07:04.949
throwing the tattoo at you and you're super[br]grossed

0:07:04.949,0:07:07.590
out. The most offensive you can make the image,

0:07:07.590,0:07:09.409
the better, because then it's gonna be more[br]memorable.

0:07:09.409,0:07:12.219
So the next time we see Ryan, we'll immediately

0:07:12.219,0:07:15.810
notice his tattoo. We're gonna remember that[br]crazy scene

0:07:15.810,0:07:17.729
of a lion ripping off his tattoo and throwing

0:07:17.729,0:07:19.460
it around the room, and then we'll be able

0:07:19.460,0:07:21.750
to connect that again with Ryan. Make sense?[br]So

0:07:21.750,0:07:23.770
names are pretty easy. And I bet you all

0:07:23.770,0:07:26.080
can start doing that right now.

0:07:26.080,0:07:28.629
Let's move on to the next thing. And that

0:07:28.629,0:07:32.659
is memorizing a shuffled deck of playing cards.[br]This

0:07:32.659,0:07:34.800
is, this is, the first thing that I started

0:07:34.800,0:07:37.580
getting interested in when I got into memory.[br]It's

0:07:37.580,0:07:39.889
actually more, more useful than you think[br]it is.

0:07:39.889,0:07:43.169
The reason you want to memorize cards is because

0:07:43.169,0:07:45.610
it's the only thing that you can memorize[br]that

0:07:45.610,0:07:48.990
will actually impress your friends, for number[br]one, the

0:07:48.990,0:07:51.409
second reason is because it teaches you everything[br]you

0:07:51.409,0:07:54.310
need to know to compete in the world memory

0:07:54.310,0:07:58.819
competition. All the techniques that are important[br]for that.

0:07:58.819,0:08:03.129
So, looking at a card, here we have the

0:08:03.129,0:08:06.689
seven of diamonds and the seven of hearts.[br]The

0:08:06.689,0:08:09.719
reason why this is so difficult to memorize[br]is

0:08:09.719,0:08:12.289
because they're just hard to visualize. These[br]two cards

0:08:12.289,0:08:14.569
almost look exactly the same. If I wanted[br]to

0:08:14.569,0:08:16.189
just close my eyes and try to use this

0:08:16.189,0:08:18.099
visual technique we've been talking about[br]and I visualize

0:08:18.099,0:08:20.159
the seven of diamonds and I visualize the[br]seven

0:08:20.159,0:08:22.800
of hearts, I'm probably still gonna forget[br]it. It's

0:08:22.800,0:08:23.620
difficult.

0:08:23.620,0:08:25.729
So what the pros do is, instead of memorizing

0:08:25.729,0:08:29.810
cards, they memorize people. So the seven[br]of diamonds,

0:08:29.810,0:08:32.929
for me, is Isaac Newton. The seven of hearts

0:08:32.929,0:08:35.700
is Einstein. So these guys are much easier[br]to

0:08:35.700,0:08:38.490
memorize. They're completely different. You[br]can imagine them interacting

0:08:38.490,0:08:41.469
with each other, doing different things, right.

0:08:41.469,0:08:43.390
So the next step is to think of a

0:08:43.390,0:08:47.050
person for every single card in the deck.[br]That's

0:08:47.050,0:08:49.500
fifty-two people. And when I first heard this,[br]I

0:08:49.500,0:08:52.180
almost stopped. Because that sounds like,[br]I mean, I

0:08:52.180,0:08:54.120
gotta use my memory to do that, right. But

0:08:54.120,0:08:58.320
there's a technique, a trick, it's called[br]mnemonic. And

0:08:58.320,0:09:01.690
mnemonics just take information that's available[br]to you, that's

0:09:01.690,0:09:03.060
already right in front of your face, and uses

0:09:03.060,0:09:05.000
that information to remind you of the thing[br]it

0:09:05.000,0:09:06.610
is that you want to remember.

0:09:06.610,0:09:09.180
So, looking at a card, we have two bits

0:09:09.180,0:09:12.160
of information. We have the value of the card,

0:09:12.160,0:09:14.170
so for, for, four of hearts, it's a four,

0:09:14.170,0:09:16.029
and then we have the suit of the card.

0:09:16.029,0:09:17.910
Just looking at those two things can remind[br]us

0:09:17.910,0:09:19.820
of the person it is that we associated with

0:09:19.820,0:09:22.139
that card. So we'll go through the values[br]really

0:09:22.139,0:09:25.130
quickly here. You'll reference these later[br]I'm sure. But

0:09:25.130,0:09:27.810
every ace and every two in the deck is

0:09:27.810,0:09:30.660
an athlete. Doesn't matter what the suit is.[br]Ace

0:09:30.660,0:09:33.209
of clubs, ace of spades, ace of diamonds.[br]These

0:09:33.209,0:09:37.670
are all athletes. Ace is a male athlete. Two

0:09:37.670,0:09:39.260
is a female athlete.

0:09:39.260,0:09:42.110
Every three and four is an actor. Three is

0:09:42.110,0:09:44.399
a male actor, four is a female actor. Every

0:09:44.399,0:09:47.550
five and six is a controversial or sketchy[br]person,

0:09:47.550,0:09:49.930
somebody that's done something that not everyone[br]agrees with.

0:09:49.930,0:09:52.440
And these are people that you can think of.

0:09:52.440,0:09:54.170
Five is a male, six is a female. So

0:09:54.170,0:09:56.149
you might see a pattern. Every single odd[br]card

0:09:56.149,0:09:57.990
in the deck is a male. Every single even

0:09:57.990,0:10:01.209
card in the deck is a female.

0:10:01.209,0:10:05.060
Seven and eight. These are people of, like,[br]any

0:10:05.060,0:10:09.970
kind of science field. Physics, math, any[br]scientist. Remember

0:10:09.970,0:10:12.560
my seven of diamonds, seven of hearts, had[br]Isaac

0:10:12.560,0:10:15.490
Newton and Einstein. Again, seven's a male,[br]eight's a

0:10:15.490,0:10:18.269
female. Nine and ten, these are people of[br]power.

0:10:18.269,0:10:21.600
That can mean political power or super human[br]powers.

0:10:21.600,0:10:23.899
Any of that stuff. And queen and king, this

0:10:23.899,0:10:25.980
is a couple. This could be a famous couple.

0:10:25.980,0:10:29.199
A couple you know. This could be you. Whatever.

0:10:29.199,0:10:31.260
And finally jack. There are four of these[br]in

0:10:31.260,0:10:35.000
the deck, too. And these are all religious[br]figures.

0:10:35.000,0:10:35.320
K.

0:10:35.320,0:10:39.560
The second thing. Suit. There are four suits[br]we

0:10:39.560,0:10:41.820
have. Each of these are a specific type of

0:10:41.820,0:10:45.310
person. So a diamond is a rich person, or

0:10:45.310,0:10:48.350
a fancy person, or a shiny person. Think diamonds,

0:10:48.350,0:10:51.560
right. Shiny, fancy. Hearts, these are people[br]you love.

0:10:51.560,0:10:55.980
This can be family, friends. Clubs, these[br]are, like,

0:10:55.980,0:10:58.820
bad people. You can think strong, Arno - I

0:10:58.820,0:11:00.560
have, I use Arnold Schwarzenegger for one[br]of my

0:11:00.560,0:11:04.370
club cards. Sylvester Stallone, another good[br]example. Or people

0:11:04.370,0:11:06.660
who are just, like, bad at what they do.

0:11:06.660,0:11:09.910
Spades. This means funny. These can be comedians,[br]friends,

0:11:09.910,0:11:13.160
joksters, or other things that are funny to[br]you.

0:11:13.160,0:11:15.760
So taking those two things combined, now,[br]we can

0:11:15.760,0:11:19.560
try to memorize three cards. So we have ace

0:11:19.560,0:11:23.149
of diamonds, jack of spades, and four of hearts.

0:11:23.149,0:11:24.779
So first thing we want to do is look

0:11:24.779,0:11:26.949
at the suit, right. You may not remember,[br]but

0:11:26.949,0:11:30.930
ace is a male athlete. And diamonds is super

0:11:30.930,0:11:34.350
fancy, or extravagant or rich. So this, for[br]me,

0:11:34.350,0:11:36.949
is Michael Jordan. And for the rest of my

0:11:36.949,0:11:39.699
life, this will always be Michael Jordon.

0:11:39.699,0:11:41.829
The next card we have is jack of spades.

0:11:41.829,0:11:46.160
Remember jack is a religious person, spades[br]means funny.

0:11:46.160,0:11:51.350
So a funny religious person. The Dali Llama.[br]Next

0:11:51.350,0:11:55.089
card is four of hearts. Remember four is a

0:11:55.089,0:12:00.170
female actor. Hearts is somebody you love.[br]So it's

0:12:00.170,0:12:03.350
a female actor that I love. Well, we may

0:12:03.350,0:12:06.079
have all different opinions on this, but I'm[br]married.

0:12:06.079,0:12:08.800
So this is my wife. Remember, this is just,

0:12:08.800,0:12:10.570
you can use whatever pictures you want. This[br]is

0:12:10.570,0:12:12.220
just a reminder. So four of hearts is my

0:12:12.220,0:12:15.029
wife. She's not an actor. And she's putting[br]a

0:12:15.029,0:12:18.120
Santa hat on my dog Baxter.

0:12:18.120,0:12:20.440
So now we have three very different images[br]that

0:12:20.440,0:12:23.139
we need to memorize. And we could, if we

0:12:23.139,0:12:25.300
wanted to, build a story, like we did with

0:12:25.300,0:12:27.320
the words. And we already know you guys can

0:12:27.320,0:12:29.070
do that, cause we just did it, right. So

0:12:29.070,0:12:31.800
you can imagine there's a basketball court.[br]Michael Jordon's

0:12:31.800,0:12:34.699
dribbling down the basketball court. He jumps[br]up, slam

0:12:34.699,0:12:36.980
dunks the basketball and for, for whatever[br]reason, the

0:12:36.980,0:12:39.610
Dali Llama is like, he's down below the basketball

0:12:39.610,0:12:41.690
hoop praying, and so the ball just hits him

0:12:41.690,0:12:43.639
in the back of the head, and boom, his

0:12:43.639,0:12:45.990
head hits the ground. There's blood everywhere.[br]My dog

0:12:45.990,0:12:47.610
comes running out of the locker room. He's[br]running

0:12:47.610,0:12:49.509
around in the blood. He's leaving footsteps[br]all over

0:12:49.509,0:12:52.759
the ground. Loise is screaming. It's crazy,[br]right.

0:12:52.759,0:12:54.190
So you won't forget that. And that's how you

0:12:54.190,0:12:55.440
would memorize three cards.

0:12:55.440,0:12:58.769
But there's actually a more popular technique[br]of memorizing

0:12:58.769,0:13:00.670
when you have lots of things to memorize.[br]So

0:13:00.670,0:13:02.920
we have to memorize fifty-two cards. So we're[br]probably

0:13:02.920,0:13:06.329
gonna wanna use this. This is called the method

0:13:06.329,0:13:09.930
of Loki. Also known as the journey method[br]or

0:13:09.930,0:13:13.180
the memory palace. Most people have heard[br]of this.

0:13:13.180,0:13:15.769
The way this works is you take a location

0:13:15.769,0:13:18.769
that you're really, really familiar with.[br]You're probably gonna

0:13:18.769,0:13:20.750
start with your house cause you're probably[br]really familiar

0:13:20.750,0:13:23.509
with your house. And you imagine yourself[br]walking from

0:13:23.509,0:13:26.339
room to room to room. So you would walk

0:13:26.339,0:13:29.060
through your front door into your bedroom,[br]and here

0:13:29.060,0:13:30.870
you would place the first thing you want to

0:13:30.870,0:13:32.709
remember. So if it's Michael Jordon, you might[br]see

0:13:32.709,0:13:34.820
him jumping off your bed and slam dunking[br]into

0:13:34.820,0:13:37.440
your laundry basket. The important thing is[br]to look

0:13:37.440,0:13:39.610
at everything in your room and imagine your[br]memory

0:13:39.610,0:13:42.529
interacting with those things so it's firmly[br]planted.

0:13:42.529,0:13:44.230
And then you go to the next room, say

0:13:44.230,0:13:46.290
the bathroom. You do the same thing here with

0:13:46.290,0:13:49.160
your second memory. So here we'd have Dali[br]Llama.

0:13:49.160,0:13:50.860
Maybe he's in the shower and the Buddha's[br]in

0:13:50.860,0:13:53.889
the sink. I don't know. You then leave the

0:13:53.889,0:13:56.259
bathroom. You walk into the living room. And[br]here's

0:13:56.259,0:13:58.519
where you place your third memory. You look[br]at

0:13:58.519,0:14:01.290
the TV, you look at the carpet, you look

0:14:01.290,0:14:03.690
at the couch, you imagine your memory interacting[br]with

0:14:03.690,0:14:06.440
all of those things. And then you retrace[br]your

0:14:06.440,0:14:08.920
steps from the beginning of the journey, and[br]everything

0:14:08.920,0:14:11.850
will be right where you left it. So if

0:14:11.850,0:14:14.250
you're like me and you're from, I'm in Portland

0:14:14.250,0:14:15.519
now so I have a little bit more room,

0:14:15.519,0:14:18.079
but if you're coming from San Fransisco or[br]even

0:14:18.079,0:14:21.110
here in Chicago, you're memory palace might[br]look something

0:14:21.110,0:14:22.540
like this.

0:14:22.540,0:14:25.060
So I would actually recommend, and this is[br]a

0:14:25.060,0:14:27.259
better method, is to go outside to make your

0:14:27.259,0:14:29.120
journey. Cause you have a lot more room this

0:14:29.120,0:14:30.759
way. So this is a run that I do

0:14:30.759,0:14:32.269
a couple times a week, and I've ran it

0:14:32.269,0:14:34.509
so many times that I could close my eyes

0:14:34.509,0:14:37.690
and run it and I have thirty-four locations[br]that

0:14:37.690,0:14:39.709
I could place memories. And then I just start

0:14:39.709,0:14:41.980
my run over again and I go back through,

0:14:41.980,0:14:44.490
and they'll all be sitting there waiting for[br]me.

0:14:44.490,0:14:47.779
And thirty-four doesn't seem like, like a[br]ton, but

0:14:47.779,0:14:51.060
that's actually enough to memorize two shuffled[br]decks of

0:14:51.060,0:14:53.100
playing cards. And I'm gonna explain how that[br]works

0:14:53.100,0:14:55.000
right now.

0:14:55.000,0:14:57.790
Professional memory athletes need to memorize[br]a lot of

0:14:57.790,0:14:59.480
stuff. And they don't want to be building[br]journeys

0:14:59.480,0:15:02.069
that are like thousands and thousands and[br]thousands of

0:15:02.069,0:15:04.920
locations long. So they're actually able to[br]compress their

0:15:04.920,0:15:08.139
memories to take up less space. So if we,

0:15:08.139,0:15:10.540
instead of just coming up with a person for

0:15:10.540,0:15:12.519
each of our cards, we also come up with

0:15:12.519,0:15:15.540
an action and an action - for example, the

0:15:15.540,0:15:19.630
first card is Michael Jordon slam dunking[br]a basketball,

0:15:19.630,0:15:22.579
the second card is the Dali Llama praying[br]in

0:15:22.579,0:15:24.319
front of the Buddha. The third card is my

0:15:24.319,0:15:27.329
wife Loiussa putting a Santa hat on my dog

0:15:27.329,0:15:31.040
Baxter. We can then compress those three cards[br]into

0:15:31.040,0:15:33.540
a single image, a single memory by taking[br]the

0:15:33.540,0:15:36.940
person from the first card, Michael Jordon.[br]The action

0:15:36.940,0:15:41.199
from the second card, praying. And the object[br]from

0:15:41.199,0:15:42.930
the third card, which is, in this case, my

0:15:42.930,0:15:46.100
dog, and then we combine those into a single

0:15:46.100,0:15:46.550
image.

0:15:46.550,0:15:49.250
So we have Michael Jordon praying to my dog

0:15:49.250,0:15:53.290
Baxter. And the really, really, really great[br]thing about

0:15:53.290,0:15:56.649
this technique, is not only have we compressed[br]our

0:15:56.649,0:15:58.250
memories to take one third of the space that

0:15:58.250,0:16:00.379
they used to before, but we automatically[br]get these

0:16:00.379,0:16:02.600
images that are extremely memorable, and we[br]don't even

0:16:02.600,0:16:04.089
need to think about it. You know, I'm not

0:16:04.089,0:16:06.240
gonna forget Michael Jordon, like, on a, on[br]a

0:16:06.240,0:16:08.790
mat in my bedroom praying to my dog who's

0:16:08.790,0:16:10.870
on my dog, like ripping up pillows, like.[br]It's

0:16:10.870,0:16:13.730
very memorable and it's easy to retrace.

0:16:13.730,0:16:17.000
So that's good. If you want to get started,

0:16:17.000,0:16:19.970
the gift shop here, I checked actually has[br]Chicago

0:16:19.970,0:16:23.160
themed gift cards, playing cards. So you can[br]go

0:16:23.160,0:16:25.040
check those out. If you start getting quicker[br]and

0:16:25.040,0:16:27.629
want to just have shuffled decks to practice[br]on,

0:16:27.629,0:16:29.170
you can go to this url. It's just spitting

0:16:29.170,0:16:31.750
out shuffled decks of cards, and it'll time[br]you.

0:16:31.750,0:16:33.269
This is also a GitHub repo that shows the,

0:16:33.269,0:16:36.600
the people that I use for these associations.

0:16:36.600,0:16:38.209
That may be a good starting point but it's,

0:16:38.209,0:16:39.100
it's pretty good to come up with your own

0:16:39.100,0:16:40.339
pictures so you actually remember them.

0:16:40.339,0:16:42.190
All right. So that was kind of intense. So

0:16:42.190,0:16:44.850
we're gonna take a quick thirty second break[br]and

0:16:44.850,0:16:48.290
practice our memories. So, find a person to[br]your

0:16:48.290,0:16:49.649
left or to your right, to front, to your

0:16:49.649,0:16:52.629
back, that you haven't met, and memorize their[br]name.

0:16:52.629,0:16:55.680
And I'm gonna give you a quick reminder. Quick

0:16:55.680,0:16:58.860
reminder. Hold on. Hold on. Quick reminder.[br]OK. Find

0:16:58.860,0:17:02.490
something on their face. Attach their name[br]to that

0:17:02.490,0:17:04.400
something on their face and don't actually[br]tell them

0:17:04.400,0:17:07.349
the image you create. That's important. Go.

0:17:07.349,0:17:12.589
OK. Time's up. Sit down. Time's up. Time's[br]up.

0:17:12.589,0:17:14.869
Everybody back. Get it down. All right. Good[br]job.

0:17:14.869,0:17:17.329
So does anybody remember this guy's name?[br]Yes. Good.

0:17:17.329,0:17:20.099
I was hoping no one would get it and

0:17:20.099,0:17:21.089
I'd give you a prize but I don't have

0:17:21.089,0:17:22.609
enough prizes for everybody. OK.

0:17:22.609,0:17:25.480
Moving on. We're now going to memorize something[br]that

0:17:25.480,0:17:27.909
is probably the hardest thing to memorize,[br]but since

0:17:27.909,0:17:30.090
we've all learned how to memorize cards, it's[br]not

0:17:30.090,0:17:31.860
as hard as it once was. We're going to

0:17:31.860,0:17:35.000
memorize numbers. This is definitely the hardest[br]thing to

0:17:35.000,0:17:37.419
memorize, but the person who sets the world[br]record

0:17:37.419,0:17:39.710
for this is able to memorize nine hundred[br]and

0:17:39.710,0:17:43.820
thirty-seven random digits in fifteen minutes,[br]which is four

0:17:43.820,0:17:46.750
credit cards a minute. Kind of amazing, right?[br]Like

0:17:46.750,0:17:50.090
this guy can make bank at a restaurant.

0:17:50.090,0:17:55.159
So. Memorizing these sixteen digits isn't[br]actually that difficult.

0:17:55.159,0:17:56.650
We're gonna use a system a lot like we

0:17:56.650,0:17:59.669
did for the cards, because numbers are basically[br]impossible

0:17:59.669,0:18:02.260
to memorize, we're not gonna memorize numbers[br]at all.

0:18:02.260,0:18:05.000
We're gonna memorize pictures instead of numbers.

0:18:05.000,0:18:06.150
So here's a grid I've made. You could do

0:18:06.150,0:18:09.169
the same exact thing. Each of these squares[br]represents

0:18:09.169,0:18:13.909
a two digit number, from zero zero to ninety-nine.

0:18:13.909,0:18:16.159
It's your task to fill all of these squares

0:18:16.159,0:18:19.450
with different pictures that you can memorize[br]every two-digit

0:18:19.450,0:18:22.940
number. So if you started with cards, like[br]I

0:18:22.940,0:18:25.919
recommended, then there's no problem just[br]using those images.

0:18:25.919,0:18:27.700
So numbers one through fifty-two can just[br]be the

0:18:27.700,0:18:29.840
same images you used for your playing cards.[br]So

0:18:29.840,0:18:32.059
now you're over halfway there. You're basically[br]done. You

0:18:32.059,0:18:34.230
only have forty-eight more pictures you've[br]gotta come up

0:18:34.230,0:18:38.020
with. Some of these are gonna be super obvious.

0:18:38.020,0:18:40.929
Like zero zero is a person favorite of mine.

0:18:40.929,0:18:43.240
This, every time I see it, I see a

0:18:43.240,0:18:45.570
set of eyeballs. So it's really easy to remember

0:18:45.570,0:18:47.820
that one. It could be eyeballs. It could be

0:18:47.820,0:18:51.730
sunglasses or goggles. You might imagine,[br]like, Arnold Schwarzenegger

0:18:51.730,0:18:53.679
putting on shades.

0:18:53.679,0:18:56.400
So then we only have now forty-seven numbers[br]left

0:18:56.400,0:18:58.140
that we need to memorize. And some of these

0:18:58.140,0:19:01.669
will have special meaning to you. So 1984,[br]that's

0:19:01.669,0:19:03.380
the year I was born. So I imagine a

0:19:03.380,0:19:08.679
birthday cake with big bright candles, burning[br]fire. 1974,

0:19:08.679,0:19:10.669
that's the year that the Rubik's cube came[br]out,

0:19:10.669,0:19:12.470
and I really love the Rubik's cube so I'm

0:19:12.470,0:19:16.549
never gonna forget that. 1991 was the year[br]that

0:19:16.549,0:19:19.409
the first episode of Doug aired, so I imagine

0:19:19.409,0:19:21.210
the Quail Man every time I see the number

0:19:21.210,0:19:21.750
ninety-one.

0:19:21.750,0:19:25.460
And, and, so that leaves with with now forty-four

0:19:25.460,0:19:27.580
more pictures that we need to come up with,

0:19:27.580,0:19:29.090
and none of these have any meaning to us

0:19:29.090,0:19:33.250
whatsoever, so we'll use another mnemonic[br]to build pictures

0:19:33.250,0:19:35.679
and remind us of those pictures. And a mnemonic

0:19:35.679,0:19:38.830
for this is called the major system. The major

0:19:38.830,0:19:41.890
system is also known as the phonetic system.[br]Because

0:19:41.890,0:19:44.720
each number from zero to nine is assigned[br]a

0:19:44.720,0:19:49.500
phonetic sound. So zero is z or zeh. One

0:19:49.500,0:19:54.980
t, teh, teh. Two is n, neh, neh, neh.

0:19:54.980,0:19:59.669
Three is m. Or muh, muh, muh. Four is

0:19:59.669,0:20:05.220
R, ruh. Five is L, luh. Six is J.

0:20:05.220,0:20:11.250
Juh. Seven is K. Or keh, keh. Eight is

0:20:11.250,0:20:14.659
F, or feh, feh. And finally nine is P.

0:20:14.659,0:20:18.470
So. Those are all the phonetic sounds. So[br]let's

0:20:18.470,0:20:19.970
break out a number real quick so we see

0:20:19.970,0:20:22.480
how this works. We'll grab a number, eighty-three.[br]This

0:20:22.480,0:20:24.860
number we don't yet have a picture for. And

0:20:24.860,0:20:26.450
we'll apply the major system to give us a

0:20:26.450,0:20:27.860
picture and be able to remind us of that

0:20:27.860,0:20:30.240
picture later. So we take eight and we grab

0:20:30.240,0:20:32.830
the phonetic sound for the number eight, which[br]is

0:20:32.830,0:20:35.279
F, and then we do the same with three,

0:20:35.279,0:20:37.409
so we have M. So some of you might

0:20:37.409,0:20:39.700
see FM and go, oh, FM radio. Well, that's

0:20:39.700,0:20:42.289
totally fine. So your picture now for eighty-three[br]could

0:20:42.289,0:20:44.360
be an FM radio. And that's all you need

0:20:44.360,0:20:45.779
to remember that.

0:20:45.779,0:20:48.059
But you could also just start sticking in[br]vowels,

0:20:48.059,0:20:50.059
things that aren't part of the major system,[br]until

0:20:50.059,0:20:51.500
you make a word that makes sense to you.

0:20:51.500,0:20:53.590
So foam is the first word I found. And

0:20:53.590,0:20:55.909
this is a really good word cause it's extremely

0:20:55.909,0:20:57.150
visual. You can imagine being in your room[br]and

0:20:57.150,0:20:59.870
just spraying foam all over the place. You're[br]not

0:20:59.870,0:21:02.529
gonna forget that. But I kept searching just[br]to

0:21:02.529,0:21:05.190
see if I could find something else. And I

0:21:05.190,0:21:09.470
found FIM. Does anyone know what FIM is?

0:21:09.470,0:21:12.960
No. FIM is not actually a word. But it

0:21:12.960,0:21:15.380
sounds like Vim. Now, remember this is the[br]phonetic

0:21:15.380,0:21:17.850
system, so you're looking for things that[br]sound similar,

0:21:17.850,0:21:21.990
not necessarily spelt the same. So eighty-three,[br]for me,

0:21:21.990,0:21:24.650
is Vim. So I imagine, maybe, my beautiful[br]color

0:21:24.650,0:21:27.760
scheme. Working on some Ruby. Just, basically[br]sitting behind

0:21:27.760,0:21:29.990
the computer, it would be my memory for eighty-three.

0:21:29.990,0:21:31.789
So, we could take the major system and apply

0:21:31.789,0:21:34.320
it to all the rest of the pictures, until

0:21:34.320,0:21:37.510
eventually we have one hundred unique images[br]that are

0:21:37.510,0:21:39.360
easy for us to recall, either by the major

0:21:39.360,0:21:42.510
system or they just have special meaning to[br]us.

0:21:42.510,0:21:44.840
So now, memorizing a credit card number is[br]just

0:21:44.840,0:21:47.809
like memorizing the cards. We go through and[br]break

0:21:47.809,0:21:50.330
the number down into sets of two. So we

0:21:50.330,0:21:52.620
look at forty-four, we grab our image for[br]forty-four.

0:21:52.620,0:21:54.190
We place it in the first room of our

0:21:54.190,0:21:55.330
memory palace.

0:21:55.330,0:21:56.460
We go to the next room. We grab the

0:21:56.460,0:21:58.960
image for eighty-five, we place that in the[br]next

0:21:58.960,0:22:01.429
room. We then move over to maybe the living

0:22:01.429,0:22:03.500
room. We take the image for thirty-four, and[br]we

0:22:03.500,0:22:05.539
put it in there. And then, again, we retrace

0:22:05.539,0:22:08.190
our steps to remember the number. And if you've

0:22:08.190,0:22:11.840
taken the time to create the person, action,[br]and

0:22:11.840,0:22:14.760
objects that we did for the playing cards,[br]then

0:22:14.760,0:22:17.350
the same exact compression can be used here[br]too.

0:22:17.350,0:22:21.190
So you can memorize a binary number like this,

0:22:21.190,0:22:24.350
which is huge, in a single image. This is

0:22:24.350,0:22:28.380
one image. So when someone memorizes something[br]like, you

0:22:28.380,0:22:32.309
know, fifty-thousand binary digits, it's not[br]quite as impressive

0:22:32.309,0:22:34.080
when you realize this is a single image in

0:22:34.080,0:22:36.340
their memory palace. The way this words is[br]you

0:22:36.340,0:22:38.409
can break it down, just like you might imagine.

0:22:38.409,0:22:41.770
So zero zero one is one. Zero one zero

0:22:41.770,0:22:45.230
is two. One one zero is six. One zero

0:22:45.230,0:22:48.400
one is five. One one one is seven, and

0:22:48.400,0:22:50.309
one zero zero is four. So we now we

0:22:50.309,0:22:53.159
have three two digit numbers, which can either[br]be

0:22:53.159,0:22:56.100
three pictures or we could compress them,[br]right, with

0:22:56.100,0:22:59.380
person from the first, second an action, and[br]action

0:22:59.380,0:23:01.200
from the third into a single image.

0:23:01.200,0:23:04.320
Well, it's not as difficult as it sounds.[br]So

0:23:04.320,0:23:07.600
I'm, I'm coming up on time, so I'm going

0:23:07.600,0:23:10.720
to give you something to read in the future,

0:23:10.720,0:23:13.840
and that is this book here. This is by

0:23:13.840,0:23:17.070
Dominic O'Brien, and he is the eight-time[br]world memory

0:23:17.070,0:23:20.590
champion. So he really, really knows his stuff.[br]He's

0:23:20.590,0:23:23.140
a horrible writer, but the techniques are,[br]are, are

0:23:23.140,0:23:25.620
very good. So he's gonna talk about everything[br]we

0:23:25.620,0:23:28.330
talked about today and then give a little,[br]little

0:23:28.330,0:23:30.289
bit of advice and like practice problems for[br]some

0:23:30.289,0:23:32.330
other techniques. But they all come from the[br]same

0:23:32.330,0:23:34.980
technique of using your, your spatial memory.

0:23:34.980,0:23:36.549
Another book, if you're interested in competing,[br]or just

0:23:36.549,0:23:38.669
learning more about how competitions work,[br]this is a

0:23:38.669,0:23:40.679
very popular book that you may have already[br]read.

0:23:40.679,0:23:43.350
It's Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer,[br]and he

0:23:43.350,0:23:46.340
is a journalist that decided he'd start learning[br]how

0:23:46.340,0:23:47.970
to memorize and he ended up just winning the

0:23:47.970,0:23:51.390
US Memory Championship, so it's, it's pretty[br]impressive.

0:23:51.390,0:23:52.940
That's it. I'm Chris Hunt in real life and

0:23:52.940,0:23:54.580
on the internet. If you have any questions.[br]Thank

0:23:54.580,0:23:55.520
you.