When it comes to learning, memory is king. So it can really suck if you’re a student and you have a less than perfect memory! Fortunately, memory can be improved just like any other aspect of our selves. That’s where memory techniques come in. One of the simplest and most powerful techniqes for memorization is called the Link Memory System. If you learn and practice the Link System, you’ll be able to memorize anything in half the time it takes you now, and retain it for as long as you want. And not only is the link system easy to use, but it’s fun too!
So let’s get down to it. What is the Link System and how does it work?
I first read about the Link System in a fantastic book by Harry Lorayne called Super Memory - Super Student: How to Raise Your Grades in 30 Days
“In order to remember any new thing, it must be associated, in some ridiculous way, with something you already know or remember.”
That’s all there is to it really.
Putting it into action
Say for whatever reason that you needed to remember this list of 10 items:
shoe, baseball, lamp, computer, phone, nail, bottle, fish, window, wheel.
The first thing you need to do is to picture the first item on the list, in this case a shoe, in your mind’s eye. And really picture it. Visualize it. Make it big and vivid. The easiest thing to do is picture something familiar, so picture your own shoe.
Next you will “link” the shoe to the second item, the baseball. You’ll do this by visualizing the baseball interacting with the shoe in some totally crazy and ridiculous way. That’s the key to the Link System. The links have to be crazy, ridiculous, illogical or impossible. The crazier or more impossible it is, the easier it is to remember.
Really use your imagination on this. Maybe the shoe is a monster and it’s eating the baseball. Or maybe you could imagine a giant baseball wearing shoes. Know what I mean? Once you’ve got a crazy picture in your mind, stop thinking about it and move on to the next one.
Quick Tip: If your imagination is a little rusty, here are some shortcuts to get you started: Make one of the items giant. Give the items human characteristics. Picture a million of one item.
Next create an impossible association between baseball and lamp. Here are a few I can picture: A lamp with a baseball for a lightbulb. A baseball speeding across a living room and shattering a lamp. A giant baseball monster with a lampshade on his head. See, isn’t this fun?
Go onto the next item and the next, until you’re finished. Then go through your links and see if you can remember the whole list in order. You might be surprised how easy it is to recall each item in order.
The Link System is so great because it uses the same “machinery” that our brains use all the time to remember stuff. Simply put, we remember stuff that seems to stand out in some way. Boring, non-interesting things never stick very well in our memory.
Just like any other skill, this one takes time to learn. You might think this little exercise took longer than if you had tried to memorize the list the old way. It did because you were still learning the technique. Once you get some practice in you’ll be able to remember lists longer than that one in way less time!
For a little fun, come back tomorrow see if you can remember the list of items from this article. Then leave a comment telling me how you did. Good luck!
Image by macropoulos
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Cool! It worked!
Be blessed!
Neat! I have been doing this without realizing it had a name. Cool!
I can remember almost anything as long as I either a) set it to a tune (Yes, Jesus Loves Me works quite well LOL) b) tie it into a memory c) set a visual clue
My DH can’t remember a DARN THING. It drives me insane. I am always teaching my kids memory tricks and praying sincerely that they got my memory and NOT their dads.
Wow this is fun and incrdible. Thank you and God bless.
I got new shoes and when i opened the fridge, a baseball fell on my foot. I turned on the lamp to see what happened. It looked bad so i looked up the condition on the computer. it was bad so i called my doctor with a phone. I went downstairs to tell my mom. She was cooking fish which she told me had good healing properties. I looked through my window and saw my dad’s car parking. He saw my foot and took me to the hospital where i got in a “wheel” chair.
Thats my short little anecdote that i made up to remember. Is this the way and i was visualizing this process all the time.
How is this useful for studying for tests when there’s a lot more than 10 things to study? How much time would it require to study for lets say a highschool history test using this method?