Lol, I’m a long way from being a Grandmaster, but it sounds like an amazing goal! Honestly, my primary aim is to just improve my memory recall.
I kicked off my journey by reading the Free PDF Ebook on Memory Techniques. I was surprised at how quickly I could learn the animals associated with the 26 letters of the alphabet. For my second challenge, I tackled memorizing all the names of the books of the Bible (66 in total). I created a little story and followed the journey in my mind, which worked pretty well.
My next goal is to master the P.A.O (Person-Action-Object) system. So far, I’ve managed to complete 52 of the numbers in the P.A.O system, which I’m using to memorize a deck of cards. It currently takes me about 4 minutes to go through the deck and recall the P.A.O for each card. While I can memorize the full deck of 52 cards, it takes quite a while to get the images in my head and recall them later.
I’ve been practicing over the last few days. I probably put in an hour or so a day total. I memorized the biblical Kings. I used a disc golf course as the loci and the tee box’s for the Judean kings and the baskets for the 10 tribe kings. It was an interesting exersize since the names are unconventional. I found coming up with visuals difficult. I’ve been going through my playing cards. I feel like I am getting quicker, but the clock says I’m still just under the 4min mark on recalling the cards.
I just started reading the “Complete guide to memory, the science of strengthening your mind”.
At the end of each day, I also try to remember what all I did during the day. I also do a couple date exercises trying to figure out the day of the week it was for that date.
You don’t mention your age, but I think under 4 minutes for memorizing a deck of cards is pretty impressive for a beginner.
Personally I learned that storing images in your brain just takes more time when you get older, even if you have build up experience over the years. I am now 55 yo, and while my ‘best’ time on 52 cards is just shy of 3 minutes (I started in my forties, lol), it now takes 5+ minutes to memorize a deck. I guess that if you’re young, there is still room for improvement, but things just get slower as you age. We have to live with it, I guess…
For unfamiliar names (countries/cities, for me), I recommend looking for sound-alike words that could help you create memorable images. They don’t have to match exactly; they just need to be close enough to trigger the actual name.
For example, if I wanted to recall the name “Ishmael,” I might use an image of a giant whale doing something interesting (since “Call me Ishmael” is the opening line of Moby Dick). But if I didn’t know that about Moby Dick, maybe I’d picture a “fish” being sent as “mail,” complete with an address written on its scales and a stamp on its tail. “Fish mail” would easily trigger “Ishmael.”
You may not need an image for every single syllable in a name. A human-looking letter “G” squirting someone with a giant hose might be all you need to trigger “Jehoshaphat.”
I’m 50. I don’t memorize a deck of cards in 4 min. I am just recalling the P.O.A for each card in my memory palace. (lol not so impressive). I got my time down to 3 min, 38 seconds. I did a quick internal thing where I just said in my mind he/she’s doing this and got it down to about 90 seconds. You said you are getting slower, I wonder how you can speed things up? That is a goal of mine. I am good at figuring things out, but I need to chew on it for awhile. I would love to speed up the process. Let me know if you figure this out.
Yeah, I’ll try that. It did seem to be easier when I thought of numbers like one = bun, two= shoe, etc…
Lol how do you some up with stuff like “Fish mail” that’s genius.
Update: I have the kings memorized now. It actually did not take long. I just recited them all and got only 2 mixed up. The bible books I can do easy without mistakes. The 52 cards I can recite in about 3 and a half minutes. (I think it’s my internal dialogue slowing me down.) I’m going to start memorizing the deck properly now by flipping cards. (It takes 7 min for me just to visualize the deck in my memory palace. That does not include recall.) I also want to start working on a face/name system. (I’ve been really bad remembering names lately.)
Well, I don’t know if this is very positive news, but as far as I can see, it is just an aging thing. You can’t really stop it.
In the beginning you go quicker obviously because you gain experience. But when you get older, your brain just doesn’t work that fast anymore. For example, I find that I can still remember and recall everything well, but the process of forming the images in my brain just takes longer than, say, 10 years ago.
If there is a miracle cure, I would love to hear about it!
But I think this is also why Grandmasters are relatively young and it gets harder and harder to achieve a GM standard as you get older. Let alone when you started later in life.
That said, memory training is above all a fun hobby that you can enjoy. Speed is less important for me than it was 10 years ago…
(Yes, read this, young guns. When I was younger, I also thought everything was much more fun if you were faster, but as you get older, it all becomes relative. Which again, of course, is not to say you can’t strive for it…)
Yeah, that will definitely get quicker. I also started reading cards out loud (internally, that is), but I hardly find this necessary anymore. The image pops up as soon as I see the card without internal dialogue. That is just a matter of time and experience I believe. Good luck!
It’s still taking about 3:38 to remember my P.A.O. I’m thinking there has to be a better system. Something like reading. I’ll stick with this until I think of something beter though. I was thinking of maybe putting my images on the cards or something so it is crystal clear what the card is. As I thought about this I started reading about Synesthesia and thought why not add that into the training. My idea is 12 notes, 12 colors, I’ll have to associate them with the numbers 0-9 so 2 notes and colors I guess I will not use. Then say for the number 12 it will be a mix of 1 and 2. But somehow I need to differentiate 12 from 21… It’s just an idea at the moment…
Read Dominic O’Brien’s book and Jonathan Hancock’s book. Lots of cool ideas. I decided to keep the P.A.O system as one system. It works and I can remember the whole deck of cards. I’ll probably get faster at it. I’m still studying the other systems. I’m leaning toward a 000-999 CVC system. I’d like to have it as universal as possible, not just for cards. I think my brain works better with look alikes rather than sounds.
I expect my frame for a 2704 pairs CVC system will likely only complete as a 000-999 CVC system.
From my experience a CVC system is mostly sounds, so I look forward to a CVC look alikes system.
I was working on the 000-999 system but frankly there is no real way to decifer vowels before some r sounds. So I’m back to the 00-99 PAO system. I am using letters that look like the numbers so it is easier to just know the sound from the look.
It’s just an idea at the moment…
