Memory Training

The three principles through which an accurate and unfaltering
memory may be trained are few and comparatively simple:

1. Retention: The receiving of a sense impression through one or more
of the five senses, and the recording of this impression in the mind.
As stated earlier, this process may be likened to the recording of a
picture on the plate of a camera.

2. Recall: The reviving or recalling into the conscious mind of those
sense impressions that have been recorded in the subconscious
mind. This process could be compared to going through a card
index and pulling out a card on which information had been previously recorded.

3. Recognition: The ability to recognize a sense impression when it is
called into the conscious mind, to identify it as being a duplicate
of the original impression, then to associate it with the source
from which it came when it was first recorded. This process enables
us to distinguish between memory and imagination.

Now let us make application of these principles and determine
how to use them effectively.
First, when you wish to be sure of your ability to recall a sense
impression, such as a name, a date, or a place, be sure to make the
impression vivid by concentrating on it to the finest detail An effective
way to do this is to repeat the information several times. Just as a photographer
must give an exposure proper time to record itself on the
plate of the camera, so must we give the subconscious mind time to
properly and clearly record any sense impression that we wish to be
able to recall readily.
Next, associate whatever you wish to remember with some other
object, name, place, or date that is familiar to you, such as the name
of your hometown, a close friend, your birth date, and so on. Along
with the sense impression you can easily recall, your mind will also
store the one you may not recall as easily. Later, bringing the familiar
impression into the conscious mind will also bring the other with it.

Repeat what you wish to remember, a number of times, while at
the same time concentrating your mind on it. The common failing of
not being able to remember the names of other people, which most
of us have, is due entirely to the fact that we do not properly record
the name in the first place. When you are introduced to a new person,
repeat their name four or five times, first making sure you understood the name correctly. If the name is similar to that of someone else you know, associate the two names, thinking of both as you repeat the name of the new person.

The law of association is the most important feature of a well
trained memory and it is also a very simple law.

WHAT YOU SEE (IN YOUR MIND'S EYE) 

IS WHAT YOU GET. 

PROOF: WHAT YOU SAW 

IS PRETTY MUCH WHAT YOU GOT! 

-Joe Klock 

"BUT CAN YOU PERSUADE US, IF WE 

REFUSE TO LISTEN TO YOU?" HE SAID. 

"CERTAINLY NOT," REPLIED GLAUCON. 

"THEN WE ARE NOT GOING TO LISTEN; 

OF THAT YOU CAN BE ASSURED." 

-The Republic by Plato 

Begin now to cultivate the ability to fix attention, at will, on 

a given subject, with a feeling that this ability when fully developed 

would bring you the object of your Definite Chief Aim in life.