How to Remember Anything: The Proven Total Memory Retention System by Dean Vaughn
Authors: Dean Vaughn
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very well, nobody ever quite likes it when his or her own name is forgotten. A small irritation is an irritation, nevertheless.
Most competitive games are won, not only on the skill of the players, but on the mistakes and lack of skill of the opponents as well. Negatives play as important a part in many sports—and businesses—as do positives. That goes for the small hurts and slights we inflict by forgetting names. The Chinese call this accumulation of affronts the “Death of a thousand razor cuts.” It’s reasonable to assume that one less negative in our business, social, or academic lives would give us just that much more of an advantage.
It takes relatively little time and effort to learn memory techniques and to apply them to remembering names. It is such an uncommonly applied skill that those who do employ it stand out from all the rest.
If you walk into a party and are introduced to several dozen people throughout the evening, how many are you able to go back to later and recall by name? If you are like most people, the answer is, not very many.
Suppose you were able to go back to an individual, whom you may have met an hour or more earlier, and say something like, “Waldo, I was wondering whether you might be related to the Pasadena Gumfdormacherheinzes?” To say the very least, that would certainly get his attention. And the chances are pretty good you will not merely have an interesting conversation, but will find yourself standing before a dumbfounded admirer.
You will have impressed the socks off Waldo, and will be forever held in high regard by him and everyone to whom he relates the story. Multiply this effect by not only remembering his name several hours later at a party but at some future meeting on a street, in a store, or in a business situation weeks, months—even years later: “Well, darned if it isn’t Waldo Gumfdormacherheinz. I haven’t seen you since Gilmore Xotzenoffer’s party in 2001.” Do that and you will become a person not to be forgotten yourself. That’s memory power.
Everyone can remember names. What we lack is organization and the willingness to invest just a little time to learn how to do it.
To remember someone’s name is to show that person that you believe they are important. And that makes you important to them as well. If a person remembers your name, you respond much more positively to them. You are much more likely to return to a place of business where your name is remembered.
Because most of us remember much more of what we see than of what we hear or read, we have to learn to change audible and abstract printed data into objects we can see in our minds. Applying this concept to names, we simply change names that we hear or read into things we can see—objects that can be visualized—or audionyms.
The object we see must sound like or suggest the name to be remembered. For example:
An audionym for Ken could be call.
An audionym for Sally could be salad.
An audionym for Hu could be hoop.
An audionym for Manuel could be manual.
An audionym for Habib could be hairy bib.
You cannot see a Ken, a Sally, a Hu, a Manuel, or a Habib, but you can see a can, a salad, a hoop, a manual, or a hairy bib.
It is best to have an audionym already in mind for the most common names you are likely to hear. The uncommon names you encounter will be the only ones you will have to spend any time on. The unusual names, by the way, are often the easiest for which to make on-the-spot audionyms. It is also important that you develop audionyms for both first and last names.
Have you ever been in a social situation when someone said something like this, “The guy [or gal] standing near the door is a pilot with ABC Airlines. His [her] name is Myron [Debbie] Beckwith.”
Even an hour or so later, you will be able to recall that the person is an airline pilot. You may also remember that he or she flies for ABC Airlines. But will you remember the name? Most likely not. The
Most competitive games are won, not only on the skill of the players, but on the mistakes and lack of skill of the opponents as well. Negatives play as important a part in many sports—and businesses—as do positives. That goes for the small hurts and slights we inflict by forgetting names. The Chinese call this accumulation of affronts the “Death of a thousand razor cuts.” It’s reasonable to assume that one less negative in our business, social, or academic lives would give us just that much more of an advantage.
It takes relatively little time and effort to learn memory techniques and to apply them to remembering names. It is such an uncommonly applied skill that those who do employ it stand out from all the rest.
If you walk into a party and are introduced to several dozen people throughout the evening, how many are you able to go back to later and recall by name? If you are like most people, the answer is, not very many.
Suppose you were able to go back to an individual, whom you may have met an hour or more earlier, and say something like, “Waldo, I was wondering whether you might be related to the Pasadena Gumfdormacherheinzes?” To say the very least, that would certainly get his attention. And the chances are pretty good you will not merely have an interesting conversation, but will find yourself standing before a dumbfounded admirer.
You will have impressed the socks off Waldo, and will be forever held in high regard by him and everyone to whom he relates the story. Multiply this effect by not only remembering his name several hours later at a party but at some future meeting on a street, in a store, or in a business situation weeks, months—even years later: “Well, darned if it isn’t Waldo Gumfdormacherheinz. I haven’t seen you since Gilmore Xotzenoffer’s party in 2001.” Do that and you will become a person not to be forgotten yourself. That’s memory power.
Everyone can remember names. What we lack is organization and the willingness to invest just a little time to learn how to do it.
To remember someone’s name is to show that person that you believe they are important. And that makes you important to them as well. If a person remembers your name, you respond much more positively to them. You are much more likely to return to a place of business where your name is remembered.
Because most of us remember much more of what we see than of what we hear or read, we have to learn to change audible and abstract printed data into objects we can see in our minds. Applying this concept to names, we simply change names that we hear or read into things we can see—objects that can be visualized—or audionyms.
The object we see must sound like or suggest the name to be remembered. For example:
An audionym for Ken could be call.
An audionym for Sally could be salad.
An audionym for Hu could be hoop.
An audionym for Manuel could be manual.
An audionym for Habib could be hairy bib.
You cannot see a Ken, a Sally, a Hu, a Manuel, or a Habib, but you can see a can, a salad, a hoop, a manual, or a hairy bib.
It is best to have an audionym already in mind for the most common names you are likely to hear. The uncommon names you encounter will be the only ones you will have to spend any time on. The unusual names, by the way, are often the easiest for which to make on-the-spot audionyms. It is also important that you develop audionyms for both first and last names.
Have you ever been in a social situation when someone said something like this, “The guy [or gal] standing near the door is a pilot with ABC Airlines. His [her] name is Myron [Debbie] Beckwith.”
Even an hour or so later, you will be able to recall that the person is an airline pilot. You may also remember that he or she flies for ABC Airlines. But will you remember the name? Most likely not. The
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