# Suggestions for visualization goals **URL:** \ **Category:** General Memory Chat\ **Tags:** visualization\ **Created:** [October 23, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319 "2025-10-23T00:08:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/ADHDmemory)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 12:08am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/1 "2025-10-23T00:08:31Z")
Hey guys i’m working on a couple of projects at once and I’ve noticed they all have one thing in common. They could all use better visualization. I’m trying to work on my visualization at least 15 min a day from now. This will help with memory palaces but I’m also doing it for other areas of my life. Despite the mental strain of creating an object in detail, I feel refreshed afterwards. I notice this the most when I’m practicing for 10 minutes in between complicated tasks. I found several ways to practice this online but I need goals would like suggestions for goals I can use to monitor my progress. I know it’s not going to be perfect so I would like to make realistic goals. So far i’m working on two things. The first is trying to keep three objects in my minds eye at once. I want to be able to see objects in relation to each other to make things stick and help me navigate. Second when I imagine a book or display case my mind only wants to visualize two shelves. The same thing with file cabinets sometimes I get three easily and sometimes only two. My goal is to be able to visualize for shelves or drawers for a single object, but I would be happy with just three. What kind of goals do you think are reasonable? How many weeks or months should I assign to an individual goal before working on the next thing? ---
**Author:** ![Noan](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@Noan](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Noan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/2 "2025-10-23T14:07:48Z")
I can’t tell you what’s realistic. Keeping 3 high fidelity objects in mind at once probably isn’t it though. Even just holding one object at high fidelity is usually an illusion, you tend to only hold details for a portion of the object at a time. We don’t even pick up the world around us in high fidelity. If you don’t believe me, pick anything you think you know well and look at it very closely, see how many details you never noticed before. And that brings me to what I can offer, an exercise: Spend a minute studying one thing as closely as you can. A spoon, pencil, crumpled napkin, doesn’t matter. Pick out the variety of colours, examine the shadows, highlights, how thick or thin the bevels on any edge is, etc etc. Make sure to rotate the object and really pay attention to how it looks from all sorts of angles. Then set it aside and pull up as many details as you can in your imagination. When you’re done, quickly look the object over again. Do something else for 5-10 minutes. Check the object in your mind, pulling up as many details as you can, then spend another minute just observing the object. That’s it. 3-5 minutes effort and you’re done with that exercise for the day. ---
**Author:** ![ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/ADHDmemory)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/3 "2025-10-23T15:33:46Z")
Thanks! Im taking a screenshot of that excersise and saving it to favorites. That was a very detailed and straightforward list of aspects to cycle through thanks again. The reason I want to remember at least 3 objects at a time even if they are not that high in detail is to link them together better. When Iv been successful all 3 are stronger on their own. It also feels like when the room has a central composite image of three things then the rest of the room loads into my brain faster. Instead of Like a video game slowly rendering its assets one at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Stefos](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Stefos](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Stefos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/4 "2025-10-23T19:57:42Z")
Hi ADHD, Try visualizing a large dot first After some time 1-2 weeks, add another object. After an addtn’l 1-2, add the 3rd object. If you add color to the objects, you’ll remember them better…if they make a sound, add that too. That is a good primer… then make the objects more abstract and try to visualize them. Stefos ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_360](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/daniel_360/32/8886_2.png) [@Daniel\_360](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Daniel_360)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 5:29am UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/5 "2025-10-24T05:29:02Z")
What @Noan says is accurate: our working memory (human RAM, where we do all deliberate thinking) is very limited. The visual part is called the visuospatial sketchpad (VSS). In the context of mental math, the VSS can hold only ~5 digits at a time. Furthermore, it seems to be a fairly fixed hardware constraint, so if you “practise” imagining significantly more detail simultaneously, then it’s an illusion. Our brains fill in most of the details. For example, if you imagine an elephant, it mostly just links you to an elephant in long-term memory, rather than rendering the full detail. Two exercises that can help: - mental math (using good technique) although this might be a different rabbit hole than you wanted. - manipulating a familiar object mentally (rotating it, stretching it, breaking it, moving it, zooming out, changing its colour etc.) This teaches your brain to use the VSS for manipulating images, which is one reason you might be wanting to improve visualization. (Mental math does the same, except you’re manipulating digits rather than objects.) ---
**Author:** ![ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/ADHDmemory)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/6 "2025-10-24T15:24:50Z")
Interesting. So I would be better off practicing with a single object and just staying with a very vague image of the objects next to the one I’m focusing on. Okay I’ll focus on manipulating the objects as well. I am planing on mental math later. It’s something I have always struggled with. When I do look into it what book or method would you recommend in the future? ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_360](https://forum.artofmemory.com/user_avatar/forum.artofmemory.com/daniel_360/32/8886_2.png) [@Daniel\_360](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/Daniel_360)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 4:45pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/7 "2025-10-24T16:45:13Z")
Yes, work within the limits of the hardware that you have, but learn to get really good at using that hardware (for memory, for mental math, for whatever else). For mental math, I’ve written a lot on my website ([https://worldmentalcalculation.com/](https://worldmentalcalculation.com/)) about this, and have my own training program (for all ages) that is obviously too complex to summarize here, but these ideas about visualization of numbers are key (I wrote more here but it’s an old post: [Optimizing Working Memory for Mental Calculation – World Mental Calculation](https://worldmentalcalculation.com/2018/03/16/baddeleys-model-working-memory/)). I’m planning to have a post on my website soon explaining my main suggestions. In brief though, I recommend having a solid base of mathematical facts (multiplication tables to 9×9 and ideally much further; addition and subtraction tables; and other things depending on your goals) and to get really fast at processing numbers visually. That takes practice—and then you should learn some efficient methods, but to be honest the “best” methods are not that complex so this is the easy part. Once you have a solid foundation, if you want to get really good at competition-level mental math, then take a look at the categories in international competitions and see what is interesting for you! (There’s a lot of choice.) ---
**Author:** ![ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ADHDmemory](https://forum.artofmemory.com/u/ADHDmemory)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/suggestions-for-visualization-goals/106319/8 "2025-10-24T19:11:15Z")
Thanks! I will save the link and look into it after I have improved my visualisation a bit and fished my pao system.