Inner Projection

“Memory is the mother of all wisdom” Aeschylus, founder of Greek tragedy.

You’ve probably heard the hype made by companies promising an amazing’ memory: learn how to increase your memory ten fold; never forget another name again; weeks, months, years later recall at will all that you’ve seen; on and on the promises go. But unless you have a brain transplant, you’re really only as good as the software you’ve been given. Meaning, there are no miracles. There are techniques that can improve memory, but the key, the secret is in the individual’s increased concentration because of great desire and passion for what one is learning combined with just plain old hard work. If you have a great need and interest or motivation to remember, your chance of doing so increases considerably over those with a lukewarm interest. Few memory courses will aid you in retaining, processing, and recalling knowledge that you consider irrelevant and pointless. As I said above, passion and plain old hard work, so let’s get into it.

“The true art of memory is the art of attention” Samuel Johnson.

Any great project requires a good memory. The better the memory the smoother the flow of intake, process, retain, and recall. Want to get a job done right? Pass a test with flying colors? Memory, learn how to work it. And don’t worry too much about forgetting. If you do, that lack of faith may just encourage such a thing. But for the faithful, they believe that there just may be no such thing as forgetting.

“The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don’t come to mind when we want them” Friedrich Nietzsche.

There are a lot of things that can certainly inhibit memory: fatigue, hunger, poor diet, anger, depression, and so on. But there’s proof that those who use their minds often and for a long time, as in well into one’s life, there’s even been evidence that memory can continue to stay strong and healthy. But before we go any further, let’s take a look at the two sides of memory.

First, you need to understand that there is short-term and long-term memory. The key is getting the stuff in short-term into long-term. Now, once you get it there in order to keep it there, once again, requires work. Remember the old saying, use it or loose it? Well, you certainly need to work to get it in there, but in order to keep it there-long term-you need to work at that too with regular practice.

So what’s the work involved? What can you do to enhance your memory? Let’s get into it.

1. Take it easy and slow down. You need to be calm and focused, better yet, in the zone. Turn off the TV, cut the conversations, lock the door, put out the cat, tell the girlfriend you’ll see her later. Get to focusing and get to work. And remember, as my little Mikie says to me whenever he’s losing, “Daddy, it’s not a race.” When I’m working, or concentrating on what I love to do, my focus is so great that I can work downstairs blocking out the television and multiple conversations. Not the best environment for working the memory, like I said above, but with passion and desire, your focus or ability to use memory is enhanced considerably.And over the years I have almost exclusively worked without distraction in building up my ‘focus’ ability. To cite another example, I remember years ago blasting my new Led Zeppelin DVD while reading The Universe is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story by Brian Swimme, PhD. Through it all, I was not only able to pick up on what I was reading, but remembered the main points well enough after that one reading to teach it the next day in class. I was filling for a week for an ailing colleague. And don’t go thinking I have a photographic memory. No, that’s my colleague who I stood in for. I’ve acquired my ability to remember better than most simply through work.

2. But you say you’re still distracted? Sure, sounds great, Jeff. Just get to work. Easier said than done. I’ve got bills to pay, an interview coming up, the Lakers will be taking on the Celtics in just under three hours (reason for my three hour time limit on this work session), and so the distractions go. Maybe, just maybe, you can’t do it now. You’ve got to get rid of that distraction or two or three before you could even think about concentrating enough to get to the task at hand. OK, go take care of it. But if you have to deal with your scheduled work session, what are you going do? I suggest writing out everything that is blocking you until you’ve exhausted the distraction(s). Focus on what’s distracting you and then once that is out of the way or as much as you can get it out of the way get to work. It’s a technique I have my students and clients use. Write, write, write, until the distractions are all out on paper (good place to put stuff that’s bugging you; you can get back to it later since you’ve recorded it) and then get to the task at hand. Now all this is not to help you to remember things better but to get things out of the way that will inhibit you from doing so.

3. Wa-wa-wa-wandering on and on, here to there, to and fro, and beyond. In one survey, college students were asked what they were thinking eight random times a day. Some said they weren’t thinking about what they were doing 30% of the time. Some were “elsewhere” 80 to 90% of the time. I gave a final one semester and about ten minutes before it began a dozen or so students were mulling about. I asked them if they remembered to bring their blue composition books. Only one out of a dozen students had brought it, but he made an interesting point when he said, “Gee professor, you told us ten times to bring one.” So this is certainly an acquired skill. Work at focusing on focusing. One of the best ways to do this is to, once again, write. Because when you’re writing, as fingers press keyboard or pen / pencil marks the page, it’s difficult to do anything else. Well, you can do other things, but the results of your writing will be poor. In order to do the job well, you’ll have to focus, focus, focus, focus. So get to it.

4. But what should I focus on? Good question. As Einstein said, why commit something to memory if you can look it up? That’s right, don’t put junk in there you don’t need. In college, if you read everything, you’d never pass. Huh? Yes, I remember, especially senior year and in graduate school, I tried to do ALL the reading. Not smart. One class alone was over one-hundred pages a week. What about the other four or five classes? Forget it. There was no way I was going to read it all, never mind remember everything I read. So we have to go to our critical thinking skills here to figure out how to pare it down.

This will take another paragraph; hang in there. I use the gear box analogy to explain this technique. First and foremost, you have to know what you’re looking for, what’s important, what’s required. Work from the question(s) to the answer(s). Why am I reading? What’s the answer I’m looking for? Where is it? In most cases, the main point is what you’re looking for. Where is it? In the introduction and / or conclusion. Or in a smaller sense in the topic sentence of each paragraph. Often there’s a lot of filler if you know what you’re looking for, so here you’re in fourth or fifth gear, skimming (over the years I’ve learned to be ruthless in skimming the unessential–it’s the only way to survive and thrive; sorry authors). Shifting speeds while reading is a key to memory-cut out the unnecessary. Get to the point. Gloss over introductory material, stories, examples, and get to the main point. Look for key words: “critical” “vital” “imperative.” Or some authors will tell you outright, “Here’s the main point.” Personally, my favorite. When I’m teaching I tell my students three times when I have something important to say, “This is important. This is important. This is important. Hey, did I tell you this is important?” You get the idea.

OK, now you have got to keep it-the stuff you’ve begun to memorize. How’s that done? Here, check it out.

1. Study it over and over and over again. Thought I had an easy answer for ya? Nope. One way of keeping it in your head is by writing books and articles. What? That’s right. Why do you think I write so much? (seven books, over 300 articles, dozens of poems) I want to know what I’m talking about in regards to what I’m teaching, coaching, and speaking, so I write, and write, and write, and write. Best way to learn it and retain it. Other ways. Well, first you have to read. But if you’re studying a particular topic or issue, don’t just read one book or article. Read several, many from different perspectives and styles. Maybe at first you don’t get it, but after a second or third author it makes sense because it’s said in just the right way or something that had been glossed over is presented in greater detail and then Bingo! You get it. Also, annotate. Get involved with the text. I never read without a pen and or pencil. I am always writing in the margins, summarizing, critiquing, questioning, agreeing, disagreeing. By being fully engaged using as many techniques and as many senses as possible and coming from as many angles as you can, the better the chance that you’ll not only get what you’re reading but you’ll retain it.

2. Learn it too much. Just because you get it doesn’t mean you know it. The best way to know if you’ve really got something is by trying to explain what you’ve learned to someone. And if you know it that well, you’ve really worked your memory by reading, taking notes, annotating, reading various authors on the same subject-the learn-too-much technique. It’s easy while sitting quietly reading and or writing to believe you know it. But the real test is can you explain it to someone else so that they understand and get it? Teaching is the best way to test whether or not you’ve got it. In one semester-long seminar in which a group of teachers got together every other Saturday to learn how to teach, we were told time and again, the closer we can get our students to actually teaching the greater the chance that they would take the knowledge deep and truly understand it and retain it. Worst thing you can do is just listen to someone and expect to get it and retain it. Next is simply by reading. But best of all is explaining verbally without a net (book, notes, video) what you know. Doing this work is like lifting heavy weights. It will strengthen your memory. If you just life five pound weights all your life you’ll never build muscle. Same thing goes for brain matter. Work it, sister.

3. Test yourself. So you think you really know it? Probably not. Ask yourself questions, definitions, key terms, points, and so on. Do you really know it? This is how I developed my vocabulary. I used to write down words that I saw over and over but didn’t know the meanings to. So I’d fill up a page with words and their definitions. And over a period of days or weeks, however long it took, I’d quiz myself hiding the definitions until I got them all. When I was done I’d tear up the page and start over. Same with basketball free throws. I’d shoot one-hundred free throws until I hit eighty percent. If I got to a point where I wasn’t going to be able to get 80 percent, I’d start over. Did I become a good shooter? You bet. Did the same thing with shoot arounds. Different shots from here and there and here and there. I’d shoot for a particular percentage and keep going until I hit it, passed out, or my mom called me in for dinner. What did I say at the beginning of the article? What did I say? What did I say? Oh, yeah: Work. There you have it.

4. Associate, connect, and personalize. Today, I rarely if ever read or study something that isn’t related to personal interest: spirituality, history, success, business, and so on. I’m always trying to connect personal interest to what I’m learning, studying, trying to remember and retain. If you want it, desire it with passion, much greater chance it will stick and stay. If you can connect and associate to what you’re trying to learn, of course there’s a much greater chance you’ll retain it and keep it in a safe place for keeping. There are those times you may not be on fire about what you’re working with, but if there is motivation, self-motivation there is greater memorization.

5. Connect it to something that will help it stick. You can use acronyms FACE (notes between the lines) and Every Good Boy Does Fine (notes on the lines) to retain the notes of the Treble Clef. Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. It doesn’t work all the time, but it’s helpful using mnemonic or memory aiding devices when the occasion warrants it. But most of the time it’s just going back over and again until you have got it good and solid, and then reviewing occasionally so it doesn’t slip away.

6. You can picture it, draw it, speak it, sing it, map it, imagine it in nature, or express it physically. In a previous article, I spoke of the eight intelligences: logic / math, linguistic, inter-personal, intra-personal, naturalistic, kinesthetic, musical, spatial. I used to remember my stand up act (yes, professional comic for five years) by first writing and then speaking it into a tape player to get the natural rhythm of language as well as to retain the routine in my memory. Some have to speak it to themselves or others to, first, see it, think it out, and then to retain. Others have to draw, map, express it physically, whatever it takes to keep it in your head. I had one student who told me he couldn’t write in his journal. I asked, why? He said because he needs to draw as well. My five-year-old remembers colors, shapes, and numbers by singing. By all means, whatever it takes, do it.

Well, that’s not all there is to memory, memorizing, and retaining. But it’s a good start. Personally, I have used a majority of the methods of memory improvement mentioned here. And because of the practice, I have improved my memory considerably. My ability to focus (key word here) on key questions and to obtain the answers has been remarkable. I don’t say this to brag, but to impress upon you the worth of the above techniques.

For example, in recent months I gave a talk that took me just a few hours to prepare from scratch. I was told I would have thirty minutes to speak as keynote speaker. What I did initially was read several articles on material related to the main point of the talk, more than I needed to (over prepare or “learn it too much”). I took one of the articles and generally used several main points from it to build my outline around and circled those points. I also jotted down some notes and a larger overall outline to complete the talk.

That’s it. I didn’t memorize anything nor did I practice the talk even once. Now, keep in mind this comes after much practice and work, work, work, work. But if you do the work, you can and should be able to reach this point in the process. When I first began speaking, I was terrible, but after much, much, much practice I have achieved relative ease in not only putting together a talk but in presenting it. And no, I was not that familiar with the material, even. Meaning, I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert in what I was going to talk about.

Now, another technique I used during the talk was that of a reliance on the intuitive or sixth sense, meaning, I allowed the talk to come to me. This is the reason I didn’t memorize anything nor did I desire to practice, for I wanted the talk to flow to be organic and natural. I was allowing my trained and trusting memory to do the work. Hell, I’d worked hard enough training it, it should cooperate.

As I spoke, a miraculous thing occurred. Yes, the talk came to me. At several points impromptu, spur of the moment points came as I spoke. And amazingly enough as I finished these points, I looked down at the outline (the article I had circled key points from) and noticed the next point fell right in line with what I had been saying.

Now, I’m not telling you this to encourage you to do the same-for this is for advanced speakers only-but to drive home my point that one can improve his memory with techniques and a little bit of faith. I hope this has been of help to you in all your memory requiring endeavors.

Here’s to your success.