# Find New Locus and Concentration **URL:** \ **Category:** General Memory Chat\ **Created:** [August 29, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363 "2022-08-29T16:26:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/tryFau)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/1 "2022-08-29T16:26:50Z")
Hello everyone, I have recently been training with memory techniques, especially with the memory palace. What I wanted to ask you is: how can I find 100/200 locus? To start I am using my home, and to find other loci I wanted to use homes of friends and family. Are there any other ways to implement other loci? Regarding concentration, I am dyslexic, so I find it very difficult to concentrate, how can I improve this? Thank you, advice regarding the palace of memory is favored. Thanks in advance for your time. ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/2 "2022-08-29T18:27:50Z")
Welcome to the site! 🙂 > [@tryFau](#): > > how can I find 100/200 locus? You can use any location that you’re familiar with: - homes you’ve lived in - schools you’ve attended - stores you shop at - neighborhoods - interesting buildings in your town - objects — imagine that you are small enough to walk around on an object - [Using paintings as palaces](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/using-paintings-as-palaces/28296) - [Miniature memory palaces - including your palm](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/miniature-memory-palaces-including-your-palm/28864) - [Virtual memory palaces](https://artofmemory.com/blog/virtual-memory-palaces/) ---
**Author:** ![zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/zweb_chess/32/17277_2.png) [@zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/zweb_chess)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/3 "2022-08-29T18:43:18Z")
I have used all of the following. My preference is places I can currently visit and write the loci in Google Sheets as I walk through wherever I am mapping. 1. Places I lived ~10 palaces 2. Places I worked ~5 palaces 3. Schools I attended ~5 palaces 4. Misc - Past memory (Churches, Camps etc.) ~5 palaces 5. Misc - Active visit present with intent to create a palace (Costco and other big box stores, Art Museum, Nearby Parks, Airports, Hotels, Tourist Attractions like museums) \*\*My preference, especially big box stores. ~20 palaces ---
**Author:** ![tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/tryFau)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/4 "2022-08-29T19:25:32Z")
Thank you, so I can use anything as a memory palace. another question, making an estimate, how many locus should I get in a room? **I even managed to take up to 8 locus in a single room, but I don’t know it seems excessive to me, I heard from other people to take from 3 to 5 locus.** what do you say? Thank you ---
**Author:** ![zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/zweb_chess/32/17277_2.png) [@zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/zweb_chess)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/5 "2022-08-29T19:42:42Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > another question, making an estimate, how many locus should I get in a room? This is mostly preference. For competitive memory not too many but for general knowledge projects you can jam-pack the rooms a lot more. Some general knowledge projects may also have a design preference if you for example want to use 5 loci related to the same fact set then you could strictly do 5 per room. I usually do 3-5 per room. For my Chess openings in which I intend to often transform the locus (Olympics version of locus, Blizzard version of locus, Harry Potter version of locus etc.) I plan to make the first 15 loci entire rooms so I am not needing to make the blizzard version of toilet or the wizards version of the washing machine. The rule of 5 you will hear fairly often is just most memory competitors know where each 5th loci is, not necessarily strictly 5 per room. ---
**Author:** ![LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/lynnekelly/32/385_2.png) [@LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/LynneKelly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/6 "2022-08-30T02:23:52Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > another question, making an estimate, how many locus should I get in a room? I started with 10 to a room, 5 to the window and 5 back to the door for a palace for every country in the world. I use the rule of 5 a lot, but that may be partly because I have Aphantasia and so struggle with visualisation, so need that check on the palace for recall. I would not do 10 to a room again, but probably 5. Although the 10 works, I like to stack my palaces with lots of information, and so the more space there is, the better. Lynne ---
**Author:** ![LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/lynnekelly/32/385_2.png) [@LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/LynneKelly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 2:35am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/7 "2022-08-30T02:35:36Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > Are there any other ways to implement other loci? I don’t use places I can’t visit because my aphantasia limits visual memory. I struggle to remember houses I have lived in, let alone those of friends or other buildings. But more than that, I love creating new palaces. I do that by walking the streets around the town where I live. I now add one location per house / shop / side street (marking every 5) - I will add two locations to a house, or skip one as needed to get the street to mark the fifth location. Each morning, I walk for 40 minutes or more, walking my palaces. At the moment, it is almost always my Chinese palace for learning Mandarin and Chinese characters. It is 5 km long, so I walk to part of it, do the memory stuff, go to the shops and get fresh bread and home. It’s a wonderful start to the day - physical and mental exercise. Your dyslexia interests me greatly, especially in terms of using memory palaces. I have only worked with a few dyslexic students, but have been astonished how well they responded to memory palaces. I am looking at diversities in terms of evolution, with special interest in memory. This article really interests me. [https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/dyslexia-isnt-a-disorder-its-part-of-our-species-cultural-evolution-say-researchers/](https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/dyslexia-isnt-a-disorder-its-part-of-our-species-cultural-evolution-say-researchers/) Any opinion you might have on that would be welcome. Welcome to this wonderful community! Lynne ---
**Author:** ![Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/josh/32/21_2.png) [@Josh](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Josh)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:15am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/8 "2022-08-30T03:15:36Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > I even managed to take up to 8 locus in a single room, but I don’t know it seems excessive to me, I heard from other people to take from 3 to 5 locus. I think it can vary a lot between people. Here are some examples from around the site: A pattern that can be used in rooms: ![example memory palace](https://forum.artofmemory.com/uploads/default/original/3X/2/b/2bc654665fab37efe32506072e3c79d1f3054efd.png) Full example: > **[Learn How to Memorize the Order of Black & Red in a Deck of Playing Cards (Easy)](https://artofmemory.com/blog/memorize-order-of-black-red-playing-cards/)** > > 👉 This is the first memory technique that I learned, and the one that introduced me to memory techniques. I’ve found that it’s easy to teach in 15 minutes. Related topic: [Anyone here who has experience with The Vaughn Cube?](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/anyone-here-who-has-experience-with-the-vaughn-cube/41484) (If your palaces have an uneven number of locations, there’s also an alternate way to keep track of location numbers, but it requires a second set of images: [How to Keep Track of Memory Journey Locations | Art of Memory](https://artofmemory.com/wiki/How_to_Keep_Track_of_Memory_Journey_Locations/) ) Here’s an example of using 50 locations in a room: > **[Figuring out How Many Locations to Place in a Journey](https://artofmemory.com/blog/how-many-loci-memory-journey/)** > > 👉 I found an interesting tip from Ben Pridmore on the Yahoo Memory Sports group1 about how many locations can be created a small area. Here’s an example of using something as small as a bar of soap as a memory palace: [The Efficiency of Different Card Memorization Systems - #21 by Boris](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/the-efficiency-of-different-card-memorization-systems/26790/21) In contrast, the book, [_Rhetorica Ad Herrenium_](https://artofmemory.com/wiki/Rhetorica_ad_Herennium/), suggests not making the locations too small or too close together: > Again, it will be more advantageous to obtain backgrounds in a deserted than in a populous region, because the crowding and passing to and fro of people confuse and weaken the impress of the images, while solitude keeps their outlines sharp. Further, backgrounds differing in form and nature must be secured, so that, thus distinguished, they may be clearly visible; for if a person has adopted many intercolumnar spaces, their resemblance to one another will so confuse him that he will no longer know what he has set in each background. **And these backgrounds ought to be of moderate size and medium extent, for when excessively large they render the images vague, and when too small often seem incapable of receiving an arrangement of images. Then the backgrounds ought to be neither too bright nor too dim, so that the shadows may not obscure the images nor the lustre make them glitter. I believe that the intervals between backgrounds should be of moderate extent, approximately thirty feet; for, like the external eye, so the inner eye of thought is less powerful when you have moved the object of sight too near or too far away.** It might be worth experimenting to see what works best for you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Memery](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Memery](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Memery)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 6:43am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/9 "2022-08-30T06:43:00Z")
There are potential advantages to a fixed number per room: You’ll know if you missed one. You can use # of rooms seen to determine number of loci seen. Those kind of dry up if you don’t commit to meaningful consistency though. If you choose inconsistency, I’d argue for looking at factors like- Whether there is a clear order in which the loci should appear. Whether the loci can be viewed from the path without any other loci appearing in the background. Whether the loci are visually unique such that a very partial memory can capture what makes them unique in the group of loci. Whether you need to travel through the loci in a way that would interfere with images of obstructions. Whether the loci feels like a place with definite boundaries. I think of having a fixed number per room as a luxury that may not be worth the cost, even if it plausibly improves overall performance if you can avoid sacrificing quality elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/lynnekelly/32/385_2.png) [@LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/LynneKelly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/10 "2022-08-30T08:09:58Z")
> [@Memery](#): > > Whether there is a clear order in which the loci should appear. > Whether the loci can be viewed from the path without any other loci appearing in the background. > Whether the loci are visually unique such that a very partial memory can capture what makes them unique in the group of loci. > Whether you need to travel through the loci in a way that would interfere with images of obstructions. > Whether the loci feels like a place with definite boundaries. What an excellent list. I reflected on my mistakes in the past and best palaces now, and you have really nailed this! Lynne ---
**Author:** ![tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/tryFau)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 9:20am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/11 "2022-08-30T09:20:36Z")
Thank you, but I continue to have difficulty in creating new buildings, as I hear people who in a short time (10 - 20 minutes) manage to create buildings of 100-200 loci, which is impossible for me, since so far I have managed to find a maximum of 30 loci, very little. my fear is to forget where my loci are. ---
**Author:** ![LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/lynnekelly/32/385_2.png) [@LynneKelly](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/LynneKelly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 9:47am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/12 "2022-08-30T09:47:04Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > I hear people who in a short time (10 - 20 minutes) manage to create buildings of 100-200 loci Do they really? Wow, I couldn’t even conceive of doing that even though I have been using memory palaces for over a decade now. I don’t create loci quickly. I do it quite slowly because I want them to be permanent. And I want to enjoy myself. I like to really engage with each location, so I would only add two or three new loci a day when I am creating a new palace for long term use. I might map the whole palace out, as I did for the 214 locations for my Chinese palace, or the 167 location for 1000 digits of Pi. But that was a map on paper, walking around to make sure it worked - and having it written down so I wouldn’t forget them. That was not knowing the locations - to do that took ages! It is MUCH harder to create new loci when you are starting out. As you get used to doing it, it becomes faster. I focus on a single aspect of the new location - whatever stands out when I first look at it - the shape of the fence, a strange door, a kid’s swing. I also name the locations. The Chinese ones are named by the Chinese character radical the represent. The Pi ones are named for some feature of the location or the story that encodes information there. My palace for images in competition is : grog-door-pillar-post-rain… People with good visual imagery might not need to do that. I only know what works for my brain. I never engage with the whole location in detail when I first choose it. I notice more about it as I add more data to the location. I think that you might have unreasonable expectations of yourself. I have set up palaces with hundreds of people including kids, and they all manage it fine. But I never hurry them. I always let them experience a small palace - a dozen locations at most, and put information in it. Once you are used to doing that, you’ll understand what works best for you in defining a memory location. Persevere, it is worth it. But don’t hurry and don’t expect to do what the champions manage just yet! I have well over 1000 locations in constant use now, but that took me years. Lynne ---
**Author:** ![zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/zweb_chess/32/17277_2.png) [@zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/zweb_chess)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/13 "2022-08-30T13:18:06Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > my fear is to forget where my loci are. Creating written references describing the loci or drawings can reduce your cognitive load. ---
**Author:** ![tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tryFau](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/tryFau)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/14 "2022-08-30T13:57:21Z")
thank you, creating a small summary document: 1. about always finding new buildings, can I use any physical path? (and walk mentally) 2. Regarding locus numbers instead, 5 might be a wise choice, so that they are accurate 3. the last problem I still have is to create buildings quickly and to always find new places sorry if the questions may sound the same, really sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Memery](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Memery](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Memery)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/15 "2022-08-30T14:24:54Z")
> the last problem I still have is to create buildings quickly and to always find new places When I struggle with this, I think it comes largely down to route planning. I may know the layout of a building, but not be familiar with a specific journey through it. This to me is the most challenging part: Finding a journey you’ve taken many times. When you approach it this way, a few obvious things come up, like hiking trails or the journey between classes at school / over a school day. Ultimately however, there are few places where you make repetitive journeys. This suggests trying to base your palaces off memories of particular journeys, not places. For example my first palace was based on a Christmas tradition where we would dance through our house, always following the same journey. My _house_ isn’t the memory palace so much as the _dance_ is. ---
**Author:** ![Memery](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Memery](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Memery)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/16 "2022-08-30T14:26:49Z")
(As such you might felt it helpful to internally refer to these palaces as “memory lanes” or “recall roads”, as that can make building them more intuitive imo.) ---
**Author:** ![zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/zweb_chess/32/17277_2.png) [@zweb\_chess](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/zweb_chess)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/17 "2022-08-30T14:55:46Z")
> [@tryFau](#): > > can I use any physical path? (and walk mentally) I often only use a fraction of the potential loci in order to follow a logical path completely ignoring certain rooms that would break my flow. I also teleport through walls often to maintain a logical flow. You don’t need to walk between loci you can teleport or “jump”. I find myself actually getting mildly annoyed at some of my palaces I created early on from this perspective. I would often go to the door of the public bathroom and make the entrance drinking fountain the initial loci then circle around the inside of the bathroom to urinals, stalls, and sinks. Now if I was creating a similar palace I would often just jump through the wall to the sinks instead of needing to use the bathroom door and just skip the drinking fountain entirely. ---
**Author:** ![X-Men\_Wolverine](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/x-men_wolverine/32/17639_2.png) [@X-Men\_Wolverine](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/X-Men_Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/18 "2022-08-30T15:30:09Z")
> [@zweb\_chess](#): > > I also teleport through walls often to maintain a logical flow. This reminds me very much of Sims. I bought the game second hand for exactly the purpose of helping me visualize. Unfortunately I found the game very tedious and decided that just using my imagination is far more efficient and takes less effort. What really got to me is when trying to play the game how annoying the Sims got. It brought back memories of Tamagotchi girls used to play with while I was growing up. I never got my head around why anybody would play with those things. ---
**Author:** ![michael2](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/michael2/32/32890_2.png) [@michael2](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/michael2)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/19 "2022-09-03T16:53:24Z")
I don’t create my rooms quickly - in fact it can take quite a while - sometimes a frustratingly long time. Also, I’ve found that memorizing things will also help me memorize the loci (I use each palace for a few different sets of information, so the first list I memorize helps me nail down the loci which is helpful for the other lists I’ll memorize). To help with my rooms, I make an excel spreadsheet, list each room followed by the 10 loci per room (that’s what I’ve found works well for me, with the 5 spot being on the wall opposite to where I enter the room). I also take photos of the room, and place the photos and the excel file in a folder, so I can easily review. ---
**Author:** ![paulvirtual](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paulvirtual](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/paulvirtual)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363/20 "2022-09-05T16:08:35Z")
I (now) know the every 5 suggestion is very, very old. But somehow I just discovered it (after years of using palaces) from you and Anthony M. It’s amazingly useful. Almost like a checksum in computer science. [Next page](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/find-new-locus-and-concentration/76363.md?page=2)