1 00:00:22,119 --> 00:00:27,960 [music] 2 00:02:10,940 --> 00:02:14,860 V.O.: Balance. Balance. Balance. Balance. Balance. 3 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,480 [music] 4 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:36,080 V.O.: Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. 5 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:37,720 Two. One. 6 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,480 Yay! 7 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:49,840 C.H.: Let me pull out my mic real quick. 8 00:02:52,900 --> 00:02:57,480 Wow, that was awesome. OK. So, we don't know 9 00:02:57,489 --> 00:03:00,790 that much about memory, but what we do know 10 00:03:00,790 --> 00:03:02,379 is that if I were to start reading off 11 00:03:02,379 --> 00:03:04,799 a list of random words, you would only be 12 00:03:04,799 --> 00:03:08,299 able to memorize about four of those things. And 13 00:03:08,299 --> 00:03:11,109 then, if we wait twenty to thirty seconds, and 14 00:03:11,109 --> 00:03:14,249 talk about anything else, you're only gonna remember about 15 00:03:14,249 --> 00:03:17,090 two, or one, or none. 16 00:03:17,090 --> 00:03:18,689 We kind of know that, right. Almost every person 17 00:03:18,689 --> 00:03:20,909 I've met has told me, I have a really 18 00:03:20,909 --> 00:03:24,029 bad memory. So that's understood. But at the same 19 00:03:24,029 --> 00:03:26,840 time, if I walk up to anybody in this 20 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,760 room and I ask how to get to the 21 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,290 restroom, you could probably tell me. And you could 22 00:03:33,290 --> 00:03:35,790 probably tell me with, like, really good detail. 23 00:03:35,790 --> 00:03:37,680 Like, walk out of that door. There's gonna be 24 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,400 the thing with the coffee and the tea on 25 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,569 it. Just passed that is the registration desk. Take 26 00:03:42,569 --> 00:03:45,069 a right. We're gonna pass the escalators. And we're 27 00:03:45,069 --> 00:03:46,870 gonna have two sets of elevators. The one on 28 00:03:46,870 --> 00:03:48,650 the left that only goes up to the seventeenth 29 00:03:48,650 --> 00:03:50,049 floor, right. The one on the right starts at 30 00:03:50,049 --> 00:03:52,680 the eighteenth floor. Keep going. We're gonna see the 31 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,019 women's restroom first and then the men's restroom. 32 00:03:56,019 --> 00:03:58,459 We could all do that. So, on one hand, 33 00:03:58,459 --> 00:04:00,879 we have a memory that completely sucks, but at 34 00:04:00,879 --> 00:04:03,230 the same time we're able to, like, magically memorize 35 00:04:03,230 --> 00:04:05,719 the blueprint of this building. And we don't even 36 00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:10,760 try to do it. So has does that work? 37 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,299 What memory athletes do when they memorize gigantic lists 38 00:04:14,299 --> 00:04:16,980 of words is, instead of using that short term 39 00:04:16,980 --> 00:04:19,399 memory that we call it, or present memory, they 40 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:21,290 use their spatial memory. The same memory that we 41 00:04:21,290 --> 00:04:23,360 use to memorize location. Which is what I tried 42 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,030 to do today. So we'll see how we did 43 00:04:26,030 --> 00:04:28,610 with ten random words, which is more than double 44 00:04:28,610 --> 00:04:30,280 the amount of words that we're supposed to be 45 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:31,900 able to memorize. 46 00:04:31,900 --> 00:04:35,280 So the first word was me staring at my 47 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,060 watch, right. Anticipation. Does anyone remember what happened next? 48 00:04:38,060 --> 00:04:43,020 Clown. Perfect. And then what? Yes. Clown and opera. 49 00:04:43,020 --> 00:04:44,900 And we did a little trick there where we 50 00:04:44,900 --> 00:04:46,550 combined the two, right. I was wearing the clown 51 00:04:46,550 --> 00:04:48,979 thing and I was singing. Does anyone remember what 52 00:04:48,979 --> 00:04:50,520 happened next when I came over to this side 53 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:52,110 of - yeah, I don't even need to remind 54 00:04:52,110 --> 00:04:53,460 you. Perfect. Car. 55 00:04:53,460 --> 00:04:57,110 And then what happened over here? Discovered an orange. 56 00:04:57,110 --> 00:05:00,699 That's awesome. You guys are doing really well. After 57 00:05:00,699 --> 00:05:07,699 that, what happened next? Sprint. Great. So I balanced 58 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,410 on my hands, and then we sprint back over 59 00:05:10,410 --> 00:05:12,379 to the other side of the stage, and there 60 00:05:12,379 --> 00:05:14,840 was a countdown playing on the speakers, right. And 61 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:19,020 then we ended up applause. That's excellent. That's the 62 00:05:19,020 --> 00:05:22,460 entire method. That's what everybody uses to memorize thousands 63 00:05:22,460 --> 00:05:25,599 and thousands and thousands of digits, or hundreds and 64 00:05:25,599 --> 00:05:27,720 hundreds and hundreds of random words. Is just by 65 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,419 visualizing it and using that spatial memory. 66 00:05:30,419 --> 00:05:31,970 So now we're gonna see how to apply that 67 00:05:31,970 --> 00:05:34,680 to a few different things. The first thing is 68 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:36,590 gonna be names, cause everybody has a hard time 69 00:05:36,590 --> 00:05:39,300 with names. How many people do you think you've 70 00:05:39,300 --> 00:05:41,229 met this conference? I think I've met maybe like 71 00:05:41,229 --> 00:05:42,830 two hundred people. All right. I think there's fifteen 72 00:05:42,830 --> 00:05:45,789 hundred people. I remember about half of those names, 73 00:05:45,789 --> 00:05:48,210 and I was actually trying to remember them. So 74 00:05:48,210 --> 00:05:49,560 it's probably a lot worse for some of you 75 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,300 who weren't trying. 76 00:05:51,300 --> 00:05:54,520 When you first meet somebody, what you want to 77 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,139 do is actually listen to them tell you their 78 00:05:57,139 --> 00:05:59,120 name. Cause a lot of the times when we're 79 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,789 meeting somebody, right, we're five seconds into the conversation 80 00:06:01,789 --> 00:06:03,650 and we completely forgot their name. Well, our memories 81 00:06:03,650 --> 00:06:05,849 actually aren't that bad. We just weren't paying attention 82 00:06:05,849 --> 00:06:08,310 when we were introduced to them. So remember their 83 00:06:08,310 --> 00:06:09,340 name. 84 00:06:09,340 --> 00:06:11,270 The second thing you want to do is kick 85 00:06:11,270 --> 00:06:14,030 in that spatial memory. So to do that, this 86 00:06:14,030 --> 00:06:17,770 is Ryan. Everybody say hi Ryan. All right. So 87 00:06:17,770 --> 00:06:19,530 you've got the first thing down. You've listened to 88 00:06:19,530 --> 00:06:21,629 the name. Now you want to look at Ryan 89 00:06:21,629 --> 00:06:24,099 and find something that stands out to you. 90 00:06:24,099 --> 00:06:26,650 Now Ryan's got, obviously he's got his own look 91 00:06:26,650 --> 00:06:28,169 going on, so he, he's given us a lot 92 00:06:28,169 --> 00:06:30,139 of things to look at but first thing I 93 00:06:30,139 --> 00:06:31,909 notice for him is his tattoo on his neck. 94 00:06:31,909 --> 00:06:35,639 So if I want to remember Ryan, I'm gonna 95 00:06:35,639 --> 00:06:37,970 look at that tattoo, and I'm gonna think of 96 00:06:37,970 --> 00:06:41,000 a word that rhymes with the word Ryan. Something 97 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:43,860 that I can easily visualize, and then attach it 98 00:06:43,860 --> 00:06:45,270 to that tattoo. 99 00:06:45,270 --> 00:06:48,740 So Ryan, for me, makes me think of lion. 100 00:06:48,740 --> 00:06:52,060 So I'm gonna imagine, coming up on Ryan's right-hand 101 00:06:52,060 --> 00:06:54,039 size, a big lion running. He's got like a 102 00:06:54,039 --> 00:06:56,300 bright-orange main, he's breathing hard. He jumps up in 103 00:06:56,300 --> 00:06:57,800 the air and he bites Ryan in the neck 104 00:06:57,800 --> 00:06:59,879 and just, like, rips off his tattoo, and he's 105 00:06:59,879 --> 00:07:02,800 flailing it around. There's blood everywhere. The lion's like, 106 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:04,949 throwing the tattoo at you and you're super grossed 107 00:07:04,949 --> 00:07:07,590 out. The most offensive you can make the image, 108 00:07:07,590 --> 00:07:09,409 the better, because then it's gonna be more memorable. 109 00:07:09,409 --> 00:07:12,219 So the next time we see Ryan, we'll immediately 110 00:07:12,219 --> 00:07:15,810 notice his tattoo. We're gonna remember that crazy scene 111 00:07:15,810 --> 00:07:17,729 of a lion ripping off his tattoo and throwing 112 00:07:17,729 --> 00:07:19,460 it around the room, and then we'll be able 113 00:07:19,460 --> 00:07:21,750 to connect that again with Ryan. Make sense? So 114 00:07:21,750 --> 00:07:23,770 names are pretty easy. And I bet you all 115 00:07:23,770 --> 00:07:26,080 can start doing that right now. 116 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:28,629 Let's move on to the next thing. And that 117 00:07:28,629 --> 00:07:32,659 is memorizing a shuffled deck of playing cards. This 118 00:07:32,659 --> 00:07:34,800 is, this is, the first thing that I started 119 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,580 getting interested in when I got into memory. It's 120 00:07:37,580 --> 00:07:39,889 actually more, more useful than you think it is. 121 00:07:39,889 --> 00:07:43,169 The reason you want to memorize cards is because 122 00:07:43,169 --> 00:07:45,610 it's the only thing that you can memorize that 123 00:07:45,610 --> 00:07:48,990 will actually impress your friends, for number one, the 124 00:07:48,990 --> 00:07:51,409 second reason is because it teaches you everything you 125 00:07:51,409 --> 00:07:54,310 need to know to compete in the world memory 126 00:07:54,310 --> 00:07:58,819 competition. All the techniques that are important for that. 127 00:07:58,819 --> 00:08:03,129 So, looking at a card, here we have the 128 00:08:03,129 --> 00:08:06,689 seven of diamonds and the seven of hearts. The 129 00:08:06,689 --> 00:08:09,719 reason why this is so difficult to memorize is 130 00:08:09,719 --> 00:08:12,289 because they're just hard to visualize. These two cards 131 00:08:12,289 --> 00:08:14,569 almost look exactly the same. If I wanted to 132 00:08:14,569 --> 00:08:16,189 just close my eyes and try to use this 133 00:08:16,189 --> 00:08:18,099 visual technique we've been talking about and I visualize 134 00:08:18,099 --> 00:08:20,159 the seven of diamonds and I visualize the seven 135 00:08:20,159 --> 00:08:22,800 of hearts, I'm probably still gonna forget it. It's 136 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:23,620 difficult. 137 00:08:23,620 --> 00:08:25,729 So what the pros do is, instead of memorizing 138 00:08:25,729 --> 00:08:29,810 cards, they memorize people. So the seven of diamonds, 139 00:08:29,810 --> 00:08:32,929 for me, is Isaac Newton. The seven of hearts 140 00:08:32,929 --> 00:08:35,700 is Einstein. So these guys are much easier to 141 00:08:35,700 --> 00:08:38,490 memorize. They're completely different. You can imagine them interacting 142 00:08:38,490 --> 00:08:41,469 with each other, doing different things, right. 143 00:08:41,469 --> 00:08:43,390 So the next step is to think of a 144 00:08:43,390 --> 00:08:47,050 person for every single card in the deck. That's 145 00:08:47,050 --> 00:08:49,500 fifty-two people. And when I first heard this, I 146 00:08:49,500 --> 00:08:52,180 almost stopped. Because that sounds like, I mean, I 147 00:08:52,180 --> 00:08:54,120 gotta use my memory to do that, right. But 148 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:58,320 there's a technique, a trick, it's called mnemonic. And 149 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,690 mnemonics just take information that's available to you, that's 150 00:09:01,690 --> 00:09:03,060 already right in front of your face, and uses 151 00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:05,000 that information to remind you of the thing it 152 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:06,610 is that you want to remember. 153 00:09:06,610 --> 00:09:09,180 So, looking at a card, we have two bits 154 00:09:09,180 --> 00:09:12,160 of information. We have the value of the card, 155 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,170 so for, for, four of hearts, it's a four, 156 00:09:14,170 --> 00:09:16,029 and then we have the suit of the card. 157 00:09:16,029 --> 00:09:17,910 Just looking at those two things can remind us 158 00:09:17,910 --> 00:09:19,820 of the person it is that we associated with 159 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:22,139 that card. So we'll go through the values really 160 00:09:22,139 --> 00:09:25,130 quickly here. You'll reference these later I'm sure. But 161 00:09:25,130 --> 00:09:27,810 every ace and every two in the deck is 162 00:09:27,810 --> 00:09:30,660 an athlete. Doesn't matter what the suit is. Ace 163 00:09:30,660 --> 00:09:33,209 of clubs, ace of spades, ace of diamonds. These 164 00:09:33,209 --> 00:09:37,670 are all athletes. Ace is a male athlete. Two 165 00:09:37,670 --> 00:09:39,260 is a female athlete. 166 00:09:39,260 --> 00:09:42,110 Every three and four is an actor. Three is 167 00:09:42,110 --> 00:09:44,399 a male actor, four is a female actor. Every 168 00:09:44,399 --> 00:09:47,550 five and six is a controversial or sketchy person, 169 00:09:47,550 --> 00:09:49,930 somebody that's done something that not everyone agrees with. 170 00:09:49,930 --> 00:09:52,440 And these are people that you can think of. 171 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:54,170 Five is a male, six is a female. So 172 00:09:54,170 --> 00:09:56,149 you might see a pattern. Every single odd card 173 00:09:56,149 --> 00:09:57,990 in the deck is a male. Every single even 174 00:09:57,990 --> 00:10:01,209 card in the deck is a female. 175 00:10:01,209 --> 00:10:05,060 Seven and eight. These are people of, like, any 176 00:10:05,060 --> 00:10:09,970 kind of science field. Physics, math, any scientist. Remember 177 00:10:09,970 --> 00:10:12,560 my seven of diamonds, seven of hearts, had Isaac 178 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:15,490 Newton and Einstein. Again, seven's a male, eight's a 179 00:10:15,490 --> 00:10:18,269 female. Nine and ten, these are people of power. 180 00:10:18,269 --> 00:10:21,600 That can mean political power or super human powers. 181 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:23,899 Any of that stuff. And queen and king, this 182 00:10:23,899 --> 00:10:25,980 is a couple. This could be a famous couple. 183 00:10:25,980 --> 00:10:29,199 A couple you know. This could be you. Whatever. 184 00:10:29,199 --> 00:10:31,260 And finally jack. There are four of these in 185 00:10:31,260 --> 00:10:35,000 the deck, too. And these are all religious figures. 186 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:35,320 K. 187 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:39,560 The second thing. Suit. There are four suits we 188 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:41,820 have. Each of these are a specific type of 189 00:10:41,820 --> 00:10:45,310 person. So a diamond is a rich person, or 190 00:10:45,310 --> 00:10:48,350 a fancy person, or a shiny person. Think diamonds, 191 00:10:48,350 --> 00:10:51,560 right. Shiny, fancy. Hearts, these are people you love. 192 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:55,980 This can be family, friends. Clubs, these are, like, 193 00:10:55,980 --> 00:10:58,820 bad people. You can think strong, Arno - I 194 00:10:58,820 --> 00:11:00,560 have, I use Arnold Schwarzenegger for one of my 195 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:04,370 club cards. Sylvester Stallone, another good example. Or people 196 00:11:04,370 --> 00:11:06,660 who are just, like, bad at what they do. 197 00:11:06,660 --> 00:11:09,910 Spades. This means funny. These can be comedians, friends, 198 00:11:09,910 --> 00:11:13,160 joksters, or other things that are funny to you. 199 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,760 So taking those two things combined, now, we can 200 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,560 try to memorize three cards. So we have ace 201 00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:23,149 of diamonds, jack of spades, and four of hearts. 202 00:11:23,149 --> 00:11:24,779 So first thing we want to do is look 203 00:11:24,779 --> 00:11:26,949 at the suit, right. You may not remember, but 204 00:11:26,949 --> 00:11:30,930 ace is a male athlete. And diamonds is super 205 00:11:30,930 --> 00:11:34,350 fancy, or extravagant or rich. So this, for me, 206 00:11:34,350 --> 00:11:36,949 is Michael Jordan. And for the rest of my 207 00:11:36,949 --> 00:11:39,699 life, this will always be Michael Jordon. 208 00:11:39,699 --> 00:11:41,829 The next card we have is jack of spades. 209 00:11:41,829 --> 00:11:46,160 Remember jack is a religious person, spades means funny. 210 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:51,350 So a funny religious person. The Dali Llama. Next 211 00:11:51,350 --> 00:11:55,089 card is four of hearts. Remember four is a 212 00:11:55,089 --> 00:12:00,170 female actor. Hearts is somebody you love. So it's 213 00:12:00,170 --> 00:12:03,350 a female actor that I love. Well, we may 214 00:12:03,350 --> 00:12:06,079 have all different opinions on this, but I'm married. 215 00:12:06,079 --> 00:12:08,800 So this is my wife. Remember, this is just, 216 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:10,570 you can use whatever pictures you want. This is 217 00:12:10,570 --> 00:12:12,220 just a reminder. So four of hearts is my 218 00:12:12,220 --> 00:12:15,029 wife. She's not an actor. And she's putting a 219 00:12:15,029 --> 00:12:18,120 Santa hat on my dog Baxter. 220 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:20,440 So now we have three very different images that 221 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,139 we need to memorize. And we could, if we 222 00:12:23,139 --> 00:12:25,300 wanted to, build a story, like we did with 223 00:12:25,300 --> 00:12:27,320 the words. And we already know you guys can 224 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,070 do that, cause we just did it, right. So 225 00:12:29,070 --> 00:12:31,800 you can imagine there's a basketball court. Michael Jordon's 226 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:34,699 dribbling down the basketball court. He jumps up, slam 227 00:12:34,699 --> 00:12:36,980 dunks the basketball and for, for whatever reason, the 228 00:12:36,980 --> 00:12:39,610 Dali Llama is like, he's down below the basketball 229 00:12:39,610 --> 00:12:41,690 hoop praying, and so the ball just hits him 230 00:12:41,690 --> 00:12:43,639 in the back of the head, and boom, his 231 00:12:43,639 --> 00:12:45,990 head hits the ground. There's blood everywhere. My dog 232 00:12:45,990 --> 00:12:47,610 comes running out of the locker room. He's running 233 00:12:47,610 --> 00:12:49,509 around in the blood. He's leaving footsteps all over 234 00:12:49,509 --> 00:12:52,759 the ground. Loise is screaming. It's crazy, right. 235 00:12:52,759 --> 00:12:54,190 So you won't forget that. And that's how you 236 00:12:54,190 --> 00:12:55,440 would memorize three cards. 237 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:58,769 But there's actually a more popular technique of memorizing 238 00:12:58,769 --> 00:13:00,670 when you have lots of things to memorize. So 239 00:13:00,670 --> 00:13:02,920 we have to memorize fifty-two cards. So we're probably 240 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,329 gonna wanna use this. This is called the method 241 00:13:06,329 --> 00:13:09,930 of Loki. Also known as the journey method or 242 00:13:09,930 --> 00:13:13,180 the memory palace. Most people have heard of this. 243 00:13:13,180 --> 00:13:15,769 The way this works is you take a location 244 00:13:15,769 --> 00:13:18,769 that you're really, really familiar with. You're probably gonna 245 00:13:18,769 --> 00:13:20,750 start with your house cause you're probably really familiar 246 00:13:20,750 --> 00:13:23,509 with your house. And you imagine yourself walking from 247 00:13:23,509 --> 00:13:26,339 room to room to room. So you would walk 248 00:13:26,339 --> 00:13:29,060 through your front door into your bedroom, and here 249 00:13:29,060 --> 00:13:30,870 you would place the first thing you want to 250 00:13:30,870 --> 00:13:32,709 remember. So if it's Michael Jordon, you might see 251 00:13:32,709 --> 00:13:34,820 him jumping off your bed and slam dunking into 252 00:13:34,820 --> 00:13:37,440 your laundry basket. The important thing is to look 253 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,610 at everything in your room and imagine your memory 254 00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:42,529 interacting with those things so it's firmly planted. 255 00:13:42,529 --> 00:13:44,230 And then you go to the next room, say 256 00:13:44,230 --> 00:13:46,290 the bathroom. You do the same thing here with 257 00:13:46,290 --> 00:13:49,160 your second memory. So here we'd have Dali Llama. 258 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:50,860 Maybe he's in the shower and the Buddha's in 259 00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:53,889 the sink. I don't know. You then leave the 260 00:13:53,889 --> 00:13:56,259 bathroom. You walk into the living room. And here's 261 00:13:56,259 --> 00:13:58,519 where you place your third memory. You look at 262 00:13:58,519 --> 00:14:01,290 the TV, you look at the carpet, you look 263 00:14:01,290 --> 00:14:03,690 at the couch, you imagine your memory interacting with 264 00:14:03,690 --> 00:14:06,440 all of those things. And then you retrace your 265 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,920 steps from the beginning of the journey, and everything 266 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,850 will be right where you left it. So if 267 00:14:11,850 --> 00:14:14,250 you're like me and you're from, I'm in Portland 268 00:14:14,250 --> 00:14:15,519 now so I have a little bit more room, 269 00:14:15,519 --> 00:14:18,079 but if you're coming from San Fransisco or even 270 00:14:18,079 --> 00:14:21,110 here in Chicago, you're memory palace might look something 271 00:14:21,110 --> 00:14:22,540 like this. 272 00:14:22,540 --> 00:14:25,060 So I would actually recommend, and this is a 273 00:14:25,060 --> 00:14:27,259 better method, is to go outside to make your 274 00:14:27,259 --> 00:14:29,120 journey. Cause you have a lot more room this 275 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:30,759 way. So this is a run that I do 276 00:14:30,759 --> 00:14:32,269 a couple times a week, and I've ran it 277 00:14:32,269 --> 00:14:34,509 so many times that I could close my eyes 278 00:14:34,509 --> 00:14:37,690 and run it and I have thirty-four locations that 279 00:14:37,690 --> 00:14:39,709 I could place memories. And then I just start 280 00:14:39,709 --> 00:14:41,980 my run over again and I go back through, 281 00:14:41,980 --> 00:14:44,490 and they'll all be sitting there waiting for me. 282 00:14:44,490 --> 00:14:47,779 And thirty-four doesn't seem like, like a ton, but 283 00:14:47,779 --> 00:14:51,060 that's actually enough to memorize two shuffled decks of 284 00:14:51,060 --> 00:14:53,100 playing cards. And I'm gonna explain how that works 285 00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:55,000 right now. 286 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,790 Professional memory athletes need to memorize a lot of 287 00:14:57,790 --> 00:14:59,480 stuff. And they don't want to be building journeys 288 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,069 that are like thousands and thousands and thousands of 289 00:15:02,069 --> 00:15:04,920 locations long. So they're actually able to compress their 290 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:08,139 memories to take up less space. So if we, 291 00:15:08,139 --> 00:15:10,540 instead of just coming up with a person for 292 00:15:10,540 --> 00:15:12,519 each of our cards, we also come up with 293 00:15:12,519 --> 00:15:15,540 an action and an action - for example, the 294 00:15:15,540 --> 00:15:19,630 first card is Michael Jordon slam dunking a basketball, 295 00:15:19,630 --> 00:15:22,579 the second card is the Dali Llama praying in 296 00:15:22,579 --> 00:15:24,319 front of the Buddha. The third card is my 297 00:15:24,319 --> 00:15:27,329 wife Loiussa putting a Santa hat on my dog 298 00:15:27,329 --> 00:15:31,040 Baxter. We can then compress those three cards into 299 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,540 a single image, a single memory by taking the 300 00:15:33,540 --> 00:15:36,940 person from the first card, Michael Jordon. The action 301 00:15:36,940 --> 00:15:41,199 from the second card, praying. And the object from 302 00:15:41,199 --> 00:15:42,930 the third card, which is, in this case, my 303 00:15:42,930 --> 00:15:46,100 dog, and then we combine those into a single 304 00:15:46,100 --> 00:15:46,550 image. 305 00:15:46,550 --> 00:15:49,250 So we have Michael Jordon praying to my dog 306 00:15:49,250 --> 00:15:53,290 Baxter. And the really, really, really great thing about 307 00:15:53,290 --> 00:15:56,649 this technique, is not only have we compressed our 308 00:15:56,649 --> 00:15:58,250 memories to take one third of the space that 309 00:15:58,250 --> 00:16:00,379 they used to before, but we automatically get these 310 00:16:00,379 --> 00:16:02,600 images that are extremely memorable, and we don't even 311 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:04,089 need to think about it. You know, I'm not 312 00:16:04,089 --> 00:16:06,240 gonna forget Michael Jordon, like, on a, on a 313 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,790 mat in my bedroom praying to my dog who's 314 00:16:08,790 --> 00:16:10,870 on my dog, like ripping up pillows, like. It's 315 00:16:10,870 --> 00:16:13,730 very memorable and it's easy to retrace. 316 00:16:13,730 --> 00:16:17,000 So that's good. If you want to get started, 317 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,970 the gift shop here, I checked actually has Chicago 318 00:16:19,970 --> 00:16:23,160 themed gift cards, playing cards. So you can go 319 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,040 check those out. If you start getting quicker and 320 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,629 want to just have shuffled decks to practice on, 321 00:16:27,629 --> 00:16:29,170 you can go to this url. It's just spitting 322 00:16:29,170 --> 00:16:31,750 out shuffled decks of cards, and it'll time you. 323 00:16:31,750 --> 00:16:33,269 This is also a GitHub repo that shows the, 324 00:16:33,269 --> 00:16:36,600 the people that I use for these associations. 325 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,209 That may be a good starting point but it's, 326 00:16:38,209 --> 00:16:39,100 it's pretty good to come up with your own 327 00:16:39,100 --> 00:16:40,339 pictures so you actually remember them. 328 00:16:40,339 --> 00:16:42,190 All right. So that was kind of intense. So 329 00:16:42,190 --> 00:16:44,850 we're gonna take a quick thirty second break and 330 00:16:44,850 --> 00:16:48,290 practice our memories. So, find a person to your 331 00:16:48,290 --> 00:16:49,649 left or to your right, to front, to your 332 00:16:49,649 --> 00:16:52,629 back, that you haven't met, and memorize their name. 333 00:16:52,629 --> 00:16:55,680 And I'm gonna give you a quick reminder. Quick 334 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,860 reminder. Hold on. Hold on. Quick reminder. OK. Find 335 00:16:58,860 --> 00:17:02,490 something on their face. Attach their name to that 336 00:17:02,490 --> 00:17:04,400 something on their face and don't actually tell them 337 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,349 the image you create. That's important. Go. 338 00:17:07,349 --> 00:17:12,589 OK. Time's up. Sit down. Time's up. Time's up. 339 00:17:12,589 --> 00:17:14,869 Everybody back. Get it down. All right. Good job. 340 00:17:14,869 --> 00:17:17,329 So does anybody remember this guy's name? Yes. Good. 341 00:17:17,329 --> 00:17:20,099 I was hoping no one would get it and 342 00:17:20,099 --> 00:17:21,089 I'd give you a prize but I don't have 343 00:17:21,089 --> 00:17:22,609 enough prizes for everybody. OK. 344 00:17:22,609 --> 00:17:25,480 Moving on. We're now going to memorize something that 345 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:27,909 is probably the hardest thing to memorize, but since 346 00:17:27,909 --> 00:17:30,090 we've all learned how to memorize cards, it's not 347 00:17:30,090 --> 00:17:31,860 as hard as it once was. We're going to 348 00:17:31,860 --> 00:17:35,000 memorize numbers. This is definitely the hardest thing to 349 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,419 memorize, but the person who sets the world record 350 00:17:37,419 --> 00:17:39,710 for this is able to memorize nine hundred and 351 00:17:39,710 --> 00:17:43,820 thirty-seven random digits in fifteen minutes, which is four 352 00:17:43,820 --> 00:17:46,750 credit cards a minute. Kind of amazing, right? Like 353 00:17:46,750 --> 00:17:50,090 this guy can make bank at a restaurant. 354 00:17:50,090 --> 00:17:55,159 So. Memorizing these sixteen digits isn't actually that difficult. 355 00:17:55,159 --> 00:17:56,650 We're gonna use a system a lot like we 356 00:17:56,650 --> 00:17:59,669 did for the cards, because numbers are basically impossible 357 00:17:59,669 --> 00:18:02,260 to memorize, we're not gonna memorize numbers at all. 358 00:18:02,260 --> 00:18:05,000 We're gonna memorize pictures instead of numbers. 359 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:06,150 So here's a grid I've made. You could do 360 00:18:06,150 --> 00:18:09,169 the same exact thing. Each of these squares represents 361 00:18:09,169 --> 00:18:13,909 a two digit number, from zero zero to ninety-nine. 362 00:18:13,909 --> 00:18:16,159 It's your task to fill all of these squares 363 00:18:16,159 --> 00:18:19,450 with different pictures that you can memorize every two-digit 364 00:18:19,450 --> 00:18:22,940 number. So if you started with cards, like I 365 00:18:22,940 --> 00:18:25,919 recommended, then there's no problem just using those images. 366 00:18:25,919 --> 00:18:27,700 So numbers one through fifty-two can just be the 367 00:18:27,700 --> 00:18:29,840 same images you used for your playing cards. So 368 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,059 now you're over halfway there. You're basically done. You 369 00:18:32,059 --> 00:18:34,230 only have forty-eight more pictures you've gotta come up 370 00:18:34,230 --> 00:18:38,020 with. Some of these are gonna be super obvious. 371 00:18:38,020 --> 00:18:40,929 Like zero zero is a person favorite of mine. 372 00:18:40,929 --> 00:18:43,240 This, every time I see it, I see a 373 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,570 set of eyeballs. So it's really easy to remember 374 00:18:45,570 --> 00:18:47,820 that one. It could be eyeballs. It could be 375 00:18:47,820 --> 00:18:51,730 sunglasses or goggles. You might imagine, like, Arnold Schwarzenegger 376 00:18:51,730 --> 00:18:53,679 putting on shades. 377 00:18:53,679 --> 00:18:56,400 So then we only have now forty-seven numbers left 378 00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,140 that we need to memorize. And some of these 379 00:18:58,140 --> 00:19:01,669 will have special meaning to you. So 1984, that's 380 00:19:01,669 --> 00:19:03,380 the year I was born. So I imagine a 381 00:19:03,380 --> 00:19:08,679 birthday cake with big bright candles, burning fire. 1974, 382 00:19:08,679 --> 00:19:10,669 that's the year that the Rubik's cube came out, 383 00:19:10,669 --> 00:19:12,470 and I really love the Rubik's cube so I'm 384 00:19:12,470 --> 00:19:16,549 never gonna forget that. 1991 was the year that 385 00:19:16,549 --> 00:19:19,409 the first episode of Doug aired, so I imagine 386 00:19:19,409 --> 00:19:21,210 the Quail Man every time I see the number 387 00:19:21,210 --> 00:19:21,750 ninety-one. 388 00:19:21,750 --> 00:19:25,460 And, and, so that leaves with with now forty-four 389 00:19:25,460 --> 00:19:27,580 more pictures that we need to come up with, 390 00:19:27,580 --> 00:19:29,090 and none of these have any meaning to us 391 00:19:29,090 --> 00:19:33,250 whatsoever, so we'll use another mnemonic to build pictures 392 00:19:33,250 --> 00:19:35,679 and remind us of those pictures. And a mnemonic 393 00:19:35,679 --> 00:19:38,830 for this is called the major system. The major 394 00:19:38,830 --> 00:19:41,890 system is also known as the phonetic system. Because 395 00:19:41,890 --> 00:19:44,720 each number from zero to nine is assigned a 396 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:49,500 phonetic sound. So zero is z or zeh. One 397 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:54,980 t, teh, teh. Two is n, neh, neh, neh. 398 00:19:54,980 --> 00:19:59,669 Three is m. Or muh, muh, muh. Four is 399 00:19:59,669 --> 00:20:05,220 R, ruh. Five is L, luh. Six is J. 400 00:20:05,220 --> 00:20:11,250 Juh. Seven is K. Or keh, keh. Eight is 401 00:20:11,250 --> 00:20:14,659 F, or feh, feh. And finally nine is P. 402 00:20:14,659 --> 00:20:18,470 So. Those are all the phonetic sounds. So let's 403 00:20:18,470 --> 00:20:19,970 break out a number real quick so we see 404 00:20:19,970 --> 00:20:22,480 how this works. We'll grab a number, eighty-three. This 405 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,860 number we don't yet have a picture for. And 406 00:20:24,860 --> 00:20:26,450 we'll apply the major system to give us a 407 00:20:26,450 --> 00:20:27,860 picture and be able to remind us of that 408 00:20:27,860 --> 00:20:30,240 picture later. So we take eight and we grab 409 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,830 the phonetic sound for the number eight, which is 410 00:20:32,830 --> 00:20:35,279 F, and then we do the same with three, 411 00:20:35,279 --> 00:20:37,409 so we have M. So some of you might 412 00:20:37,409 --> 00:20:39,700 see FM and go, oh, FM radio. Well, that's 413 00:20:39,700 --> 00:20:42,289 totally fine. So your picture now for eighty-three could 414 00:20:42,289 --> 00:20:44,360 be an FM radio. And that's all you need 415 00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:45,779 to remember that. 416 00:20:45,779 --> 00:20:48,059 But you could also just start sticking in vowels, 417 00:20:48,059 --> 00:20:50,059 things that aren't part of the major system, until 418 00:20:50,059 --> 00:20:51,500 you make a word that makes sense to you. 419 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:53,590 So foam is the first word I found. And 420 00:20:53,590 --> 00:20:55,909 this is a really good word cause it's extremely 421 00:20:55,909 --> 00:20:57,150 visual. You can imagine being in your room and 422 00:20:57,150 --> 00:20:59,870 just spraying foam all over the place. You're not 423 00:20:59,870 --> 00:21:02,529 gonna forget that. But I kept searching just to 424 00:21:02,529 --> 00:21:05,190 see if I could find something else. And I 425 00:21:05,190 --> 00:21:09,470 found FIM. Does anyone know what FIM is? 426 00:21:09,470 --> 00:21:12,960 No. FIM is not actually a word. But it 427 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,380 sounds like Vim. Now, remember this is the phonetic 428 00:21:15,380 --> 00:21:17,850 system, so you're looking for things that sound similar, 429 00:21:17,850 --> 00:21:21,990 not necessarily spelt the same. So eighty-three, for me, 430 00:21:21,990 --> 00:21:24,650 is Vim. So I imagine, maybe, my beautiful color 431 00:21:24,650 --> 00:21:27,760 scheme. Working on some Ruby. Just, basically sitting behind 432 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:29,990 the computer, it would be my memory for eighty-three. 433 00:21:29,990 --> 00:21:31,789 So, we could take the major system and apply 434 00:21:31,789 --> 00:21:34,320 it to all the rest of the pictures, until 435 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,510 eventually we have one hundred unique images that are 436 00:21:37,510 --> 00:21:39,360 easy for us to recall, either by the major 437 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:42,510 system or they just have special meaning to us. 438 00:21:42,510 --> 00:21:44,840 So now, memorizing a credit card number is just 439 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,809 like memorizing the cards. We go through and break 440 00:21:47,809 --> 00:21:50,330 the number down into sets of two. So we 441 00:21:50,330 --> 00:21:52,620 look at forty-four, we grab our image for forty-four. 442 00:21:52,620 --> 00:21:54,190 We place it in the first room of our 443 00:21:54,190 --> 00:21:55,330 memory palace. 444 00:21:55,330 --> 00:21:56,460 We go to the next room. We grab the 445 00:21:56,460 --> 00:21:58,960 image for eighty-five, we place that in the next 446 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:01,429 room. We then move over to maybe the living 447 00:22:01,429 --> 00:22:03,500 room. We take the image for thirty-four, and we 448 00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:05,539 put it in there. And then, again, we retrace 449 00:22:05,539 --> 00:22:08,190 our steps to remember the number. And if you've 450 00:22:08,190 --> 00:22:11,840 taken the time to create the person, action, and 451 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,760 objects that we did for the playing cards, then 452 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,350 the same exact compression can be used here too. 453 00:22:17,350 --> 00:22:21,190 So you can memorize a binary number like this, 454 00:22:21,190 --> 00:22:24,350 which is huge, in a single image. This is 455 00:22:24,350 --> 00:22:28,380 one image. So when someone memorizes something like, you 456 00:22:28,380 --> 00:22:32,309 know, fifty-thousand binary digits, it's not quite as impressive 457 00:22:32,309 --> 00:22:34,080 when you realize this is a single image in 458 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,340 their memory palace. The way this words is you 459 00:22:36,340 --> 00:22:38,409 can break it down, just like you might imagine. 460 00:22:38,409 --> 00:22:41,770 So zero zero one is one. Zero one zero 461 00:22:41,770 --> 00:22:45,230 is two. One one zero is six. One zero 462 00:22:45,230 --> 00:22:48,400 one is five. One one one is seven, and 463 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,309 one zero zero is four. So we now we 464 00:22:50,309 --> 00:22:53,159 have three two digit numbers, which can either be 465 00:22:53,159 --> 00:22:56,100 three pictures or we could compress them, right, with 466 00:22:56,100 --> 00:22:59,380 person from the first, second an action, and action 467 00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:01,200 from the third into a single image. 468 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,320 Well, it's not as difficult as it sounds. So 469 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:07,600 I'm, I'm coming up on time, so I'm going 470 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,720 to give you something to read in the future, 471 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,840 and that is this book here. This is by 472 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,070 Dominic O'Brien, and he is the eight-time world memory 473 00:23:17,070 --> 00:23:20,590 champion. So he really, really knows his stuff. He's 474 00:23:20,590 --> 00:23:23,140 a horrible writer, but the techniques are, are, are 475 00:23:23,140 --> 00:23:25,620 very good. So he's gonna talk about everything we 476 00:23:25,620 --> 00:23:28,330 talked about today and then give a little, little 477 00:23:28,330 --> 00:23:30,289 bit of advice and like practice problems for some 478 00:23:30,289 --> 00:23:32,330 other techniques. But they all come from the same 479 00:23:32,330 --> 00:23:34,980 technique of using your, your spatial memory. 480 00:23:34,980 --> 00:23:36,549 Another book, if you're interested in competing, or just 481 00:23:36,549 --> 00:23:38,669 learning more about how competitions work, this is a 482 00:23:38,669 --> 00:23:40,679 very popular book that you may have already read. 483 00:23:40,679 --> 00:23:43,350 It's Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer, and he 484 00:23:43,350 --> 00:23:46,340 is a journalist that decided he'd start learning how 485 00:23:46,340 --> 00:23:47,970 to memorize and he ended up just winning the 486 00:23:47,970 --> 00:23:51,390 US Memory Championship, so it's, it's pretty impressive. 487 00:23:51,390 --> 00:23:52,940 That's it. I'm Chris Hunt in real life and 488 00:23:52,940 --> 00:23:54,580 on the internet. If you have any questions. Thank 489 00:23:54,580 --> 00:23:55,520 you.