“My memory isn’t so good.”
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people recite that phrase or a variation of that phrase to me. And in the past, I used to think that I didn’t have a good memory. Especially when you’re thinking about the times you had to mug for an exam the night before. Suddenly there is so much information to cramp into your brains and nothing seems to be going in.
Or when you meet someone new for the first time. Maybe a networking session, or a friend of a friend, and about 10 minutes into the conversation, you find yourself thinking… what is his name again?
But is it true that we have bad memory? Or is it because we haven’t trained our mind to remember details?
Why Can We Remember Somethings And Not Others?
I want to bring up this point for anyone who believes they have bad memory. Take a moment to think about your favourite television program. A Korean drama, a movie series, maybe even a novel or a video game.
Can you remember the main character’s name? Or their occupation? Or their personality?
Maybe that’s a little too easy.
What about the villain? Do you remember who they are? Or their background story that led them to choosing the path of evil?
Let’s make this a little harder…
What about the supporting characters? Do you remember how many support cast there are? Their names, their roles, their unique traits?
Notice how when it comes to something we like, it is easier to remember the details.
The question that remains is… can we adopt a “strategy” in remembering our favourite stories and use it to remember other details?
What Marvel’s Hit Movie Series “The Avengers” Can Teach Us About Memory
One of the biggest blockbuster series of all times now has got to be the “The Avengers” series by Marvel. No one can deny the success of the series. Whether you’re a Marvel fan or a DC fan, the fact remains… their series has got to be the most successful of all times.
And if you’re a movie lover like myself… here’s some great news…
I’m about to share with you a secret memory technique I learnt many years ago. And you can use movies to help you remember things better.
In this case, I’m going to use the first Avengers movie that pit Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and the entire cast together. In fact, let’s zoom in to the scene when their characters first met Thor.
If you remember the scene, it went something along the lines where they were in the Quinjet after capturing Loki. And as Captain America and Ironman were questioning their prisoner… soon there were flashes of lightning followed by thunder. Loki showed a sign of frustration as the roar of thunder filled the jet.
In jest, Ironman asked him, “Scared of a little thunder?” In which Loki replied, “I’m not particularly fond of what follows.”
And at that instance, they heard (and felt) something landing on their jet.
It was Thor, the son of Odin, who had come to fetch his half-brother back to Asgard to await judgement.
I’m not going to spoil the story for those who haven’t watched it and want to (though this is a relative old movie now) but I do want to point out something remarkable which you may have already noticed.
As I was describing the scene, if you have watched it, it would feel familiar. And for some reason, you may find yourself remembering the details perhaps even better than I did.
The question is why?
Up to this point, I’ve actually revealed the answer at least twice already, but before we dive into it… let’s examine a traditional memory technique that originated from Greece.
A Misfortune That Developed An Ancient Memory Technique
According to a myth, this technique was developed by a Greek poet after a terrible accident.
He was hosting a banquet and there were many guests at this event. People from all walks of life who were seated around the hall. (Imagine those Greek halls with a table full of dishes in the middle, and pillars all around the room)
Halfway through the dinner, he stepped out of the hall to attend to two gentlemen. But as he stepped out, the room behind him came crashing down, crushing his poor guests to the point of disfiguration. No one could identify who they were.
Yet this poet did something extraordinary.
He recalled back the moments before he had gone out, when he had spoken with his many guests and their seating arrangements.
Using this image in his mind, he identified the bodies of each guest by their position around the big hall.
This technique became a sensational method to remember details and has been passed down through the years. Undergoing many transformation and names.
But the underlying principle has never changed.
You may have heard of it on the popular BBC masterpiece program Sherlock played by Benedict Cumberbatch. In an episode he mentioned the technique known as the ‘Mind Palace’. But a more popular name for it is the ‘Memory Palace.’
And the base concept lies in remembering a location or a place you’re deeply familiar with.
Putting This Memory Secret Into Practice
Let’s return to the Marvel scene and see if we can apply the same concept into our memory.
Suppose we needed to remember a shopping list of grocery to get from the supermarket. And for some reason unknown, we cannot use our smartphone or write the list down on a piece of paper. All we have at our disposal is our wonderful brains. And our memory.
Let’s keep it simple. We only need to buy 5 items on this list. But there are a few special conditions attached. Take a look:
- A carton of fresh milk – any flavour is fine except chocolate. (Cos who likes chocolate milk?)
- Triple A batteries for the house remote controls
- A packet of fresh lime for making juice
- 5 kg bag of Basmati rice
- 200 grams of picnic ham
Alright, the ingredients are set. Now we just need to put the techniques together.
Let’s start by recalling the scene we had earlier. But this time, we’re going to add some unique modifications of our own.
The setting is the same, a jet soaring in the sky. Loki is strapped to his seat inside. Just then, Captain America comes into the scene with a glass of milk. He takes a sip, and out of nowhere, he flings the milk into Loki’s face.
“I hate chocolate milk. Anything else is fine, why did it have to be chocolate!”
Ironman noticing the commotion, sighs in his seat and decides to try and calm his colleague down. But as he attempts to get up from his seat, he halts. His amazing suit of armour just ran out of power. Captain America has no choice but to put his anger aside for the moment and open the drawer searching for batteries. But as he tries to insert the batteries, he discovered they are too big.
He needs Triple A batteries which as luck would play out, they don’t have.
So he decides on the next best thing to do. Remembering an odd method he read before, he takes the bowl of limes they brought for their trip. He proceeds to start squeezing the lime and dipping the batteries into the freshly squeezed juice.
There must have been something in the acidic nature of the lime, because instantly the batteries shrink perfectly into size.
Finally powered up, Ironman continues his interrogation. And he does this by swinging his bag of rice into Loki’s face. And soon rice is flying everywhere inside the jet.
“That must be at least 5 kg!” Loki shouted. “It’s Basmati” Robert Downey Jr retorted to his captive. “They’re lighter.”
***
Now take a short moment to read through that story and notice how it is easy to recall the scene the way I described.
While it is rather extreme, the funny thing is, our minds remember things better when they’re out of the norm. In fact, the wilder the story, the easier it is to remember details. It’s one of the reasons why we struggle to remember simple stuff.
They aren’t unique and fits perfectly into our everyday lives.
But when we twist the story a little, suddenly our minds can absorb these information much better.
So there you have it. A simple technique with an illustration on how to apply it.
And if you thought I forgot about the 200g of picnic ham, I intentionally left it out. Give it a try and practice continuing the story and improving your memory.
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