I learned of this memory trick quite a few years back, it does indeed work (for ten items or less), I’ve used it for a long time, and I wanted to share it.
This is good for shopping lists etc and is easy to do. It relies on visual association.
First off, we need to associate a set of ten things with the numbers 1 - 10. These items will never change for you so just go with what is the most obvious for you and makes the most sense in your head. They need to rhyme with the number itself so they are easy to recall in the first place.
Here are the ones I use:
1 is a Gun
2 is a Shoe
3 is a Tree
4 is a Door
5 is a Hive
6 is some Sticks
7 is Heaven
8 is a Gate
9 is a Line
10 is a Hen
So the first thing you need to do is pick 10 things which rhyme like this (or just use these 10) and run through saying it enough times that you know what each number is. Once you have your ten objects which rhyme with the number it is associated with and are comfortable with that association, you can continue. For the time being we will use mine.
So lets’ run through this and you can do it with me...
We will make up a list of 10 shopping items... Milk, Toilet paper, Mouthwash, Cat litter, Lightbulbs, Cashews, Lemonade, Eggs, Potato Chips, Broccoli.
OK, now we are going to mentally visualize each item in the shopping list connected with the item associated with that number and I want you to do this with me. Each time you do this, spend a good few seconds vividly imagining the image in your head a few times and do not move onto the next number until your have done it properly. The stronger the image in your head the better the recall later on. The image you come up with can basically be any type of thing associating the two, but I will use my own examples. It has also been said that the more bizarre the image the better it works, but I find it works fine with just basic associations.
1: Milk. (1 is a gun) Imagine a gun shooting at a plastic bottle of milk, see the bullet go to it and through it and all this milk splash out everywhere making a huge mess of white liquid as the bottle is destroyed.
2: Toilet paper. (2 is a shoe) Imagine two shoes on two feet made out of toilet paper rolls, see them moving around all bulky and round and spongey on two feet.
3: Mouthwash. (3 is a tree) Imagine a large tree with mouthwash bottles sprouting all over the branches, see the colour, label on the bottle and the clear plastic. Imagine they are all growing out of the tree like fruit or flowers and hanging there and see it vividly.
4: Cat litter. (4 is a door) Imagine a door made completely out of one huge bag of cat litter, watch the door slam shut and hear and feel the grains inside the bag rattle as it does so. See the label on the front of the door and visualize the shape of the bag thickness-wise, being much thicker than an actual door but still being a door.
5: Lightbulbs. (5 is a hive) Imagine a beehive made entirely of lightbulbs which are all on. See the hive glow, see the glass. It is in the shape of a beehive but it is made of glowing lit-up bulbs.
6: Cashews. (6 is some sticks) Imagine looking down to the ground while you are outside in a garden or forest and you see a stick and lift it up, but find it is made out of cashews all joined together in a long line. See the shapes of the nuts all joined together to form a stick shape. (I guess you could also imagine a stick skewering the nuts like a kebab.)
7: Lemonade. (7 is heaven) Imagine traveling up to heaven, or even just looking upwards to heaven, and you see it is made out of one huge bottle of lemonade, the shape of the bottle acts like a giant dome under which heaven exists. (I guess you could also imagine getting to heaven and seeing angels all drinking lemonade, but it is the product image you need to keep strong, and just a glass of liquid could be anything, so I’m going with a lemonade bottle being the structure of heaven.)
8: Eggs. (8 is a gate) Imagine a garden gate closing, and the gate is made entirely of eggs.
9: Potato chips. (9 is a line) In my list of 10 things when I say ‘line’ I mean washing line and most usually visualize something hanging off the line with a peg holding it there like washing. This is always enough of a visual to work for me. So imagine a washing line, and all along it packets of potato chips are hanging off it.
10: Broccoli. (10 is a hen) Imagine a hen sitting on top of a large pile of broccoli and trying to make it hatch. See the green and the shape of the broccoli flowers with the hen sitting on top of it all.
From now on, when you go through the list mentally and say “one is a gun, two is a shoe” etc, you will get the associated image for each number and recall the item you attached to it.
So now you have done this, move right away from your computer, go find a scrap of paper and a pen and go through your ten items and write them down. Say “One is a gun” and see the image in your head and write down the item you have associated with the gun, repeat for all 10 rhymes. When you have done this, bring your piece of paper back here to the screen and check it against the shopping list I wrote down. You will have all 10 items correctly listed.
This memory trick usually works for a long time, the associations will stick in your head for longer than you need them for the things you wish to use it for, at least 24 hours or more in my own experience. You can also easily ‘erase’ your list and restart a completely new list by replacing each associated image with a new one. Remember, the more vivid the image in your head, the longer it will last and the better it will work, so imagine each one a couple of times when you do it to really make it stick.
Til next time…