Hello,
my name is Tom, and I logged on here, since I want to become better memory and for a while I am trying to find the right loci route.
I have the blueprint of my apartement, I have the office building where I work, I live in a big city, I got plenty of routes to choose from. But how will I know which is the best, and what do I have to do, to really have this rout permenantly in my head. I lost my previous routes, because I got mixed up with the correct way.
For me, the whole point of using the journey method, with loci, is to easily associate the things you’re trying to memorize with the help of a place/location you know very well. If you don’t know that location very well, and you’re trying to remember the journey as well as the associated information, then you’re not really getting the advantage that comes with a memory palace/journey.
My advice would be, when possible, to associate your memory palace with the information you’re wanting to learn. Want to memorize facts about world history? Maybe use a library or one of your schools… that kind of thing. It also helps to have some sense of just how much information you’re going to want to store in a particular journey, so you can choose a place that offers enough loci.
If you’re having trouble going through your journey, establish some basic approaches and stick to them. Always move through rooms in the same direction; always move from ceiling to floor or floor to ceiling, etc. Also, I’d encourage you to keep your loci as consistent in size as possible; that is, I think it may cause problems (until you become adept) if you have six associations tied to major pieces of furniture in one room and then have 20 items in the next room that you associate with everything from furniture to the specific collectibles on the mantel. This certainly can work, but it may not be the best way to begin.
I also think it can help to develop patterns that you can keep relying on. For example, I will often work in threes… If there are offices in a hallway, I’ll limit them to three, regardless of how many might actually exist in the real world. I’ll often create three loci on a single piece of furniture…or make sure I only have loci on three pieces of furniture.
Finally, don’t feel that you have to have everything nailed down before you even begin. I made some blunders with my first memory palace—inconsistencies, mostly—but I can still recall the information. Just dive in and see what works for you.
Practice each palace with 5 items locations in each room.
For example;
If the palace is your home, choose your route first.
let’s say it’s;
Bedroom-Bathroom-Kitchen-TV-Room.
Bedroom: 1-2-3-4-5 (create a mini-story)
Bathroom: 6-7-8-9-10 (create a mini-story)
Kitchen: 11-12-13-14-15 (create a mini-story)
TV-Room: 16-17-18-19-20 (create a mini-story)
Start with the bedroom first.
Choose 5 items in the room, going clockwise, or anticlockwise whichever easier for you.
Count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pointing your finger at each item at its location.
Go to the next room, and choose the next 5 items/locations, count 6,7,8,9,10
Repeat this with all the rooms. So if you had 4 rooms and had 5 stops each, then your last count would equal to 20.
To memorise all 5 items locations in each room, use the Link method and create a mini-story in each room.
Practice until all items are in your memory for each room for your Home Palace.
Repeat for all other palaces.
When I say 5 items in each room, you can of course use more items. I used to use 10 items, but now I use 5, it seems to be easier. However I have a place I use that has 15 items in each room.
It is to create an empty palace, so you can place your information there. However, it’s usually used as a permanent palace with permanent pegs in each room and permanent information.
You can use the same palace over and over for a different list each day if they are not to be used permanently.