A picture really does paint a thousand words

Do you have a mega or a meagre memory? 

 I have just finished a brief two hour programme with an eleven year old boy.

His mother asked me to show Trevor how to use his memory better, with a view

to him doing better at tests in school.

We began with a list of twenty unrelated words which I asked him to try to

remember and write down a few minutes later. The average score for this quick

memory test is between 2 and 5 out of 20. Trevor scored 3. The frst time I did it,

I scored 2! I then learnt the first steps of how to use my memory properly and

within an hour I scored 20/20.

After showing young Trevor this trick, we moved on to creating a mental

shopping list in a supermarket. In fact, within ten minutes he easily retained (and

could recall a week later) two lists, each including five items. The following week

in the second of our one hour sessions, Trevor created a list of all the parts he

would need to put together a worm farm. This is a project he has coming up at

school soon and he will now be able to reel off everthing he needs to collect and

take along with no trouble at all. As you can imagine, both Trevor and his mum

Elayne are extremely happy with the results and amazed to see what Trevor's

mind and memory are capable of.       

I first began to learn how to use my memory from a set of Kevin Trudeau tapes I

bought back in the mid 90's called 'Mega Memory' and from learning and

practising other techniques ever since, I have managed to turn it into a powerful

business and personal tool.

    A picture paints a thousand words 

 

    In my experience working with people's confidence and self image/ belief, I have

    noticed that most human mind's don't think in words but in pictures. We then

    convert those pictures into words and languages in order to speed up

    communication. Memory works much more efficiently when we create and play 

    mental videos of the things we want to remember.

 
    Here are the five things you need to have in your mental video for maximum
    retention/recall:

    1. Colour

    2. Movement/ Action 

    3. Vivid activation of at least one of the senses. Touch, sight, sound, smell and 

        taste

    4. Emotion. Fear/ desire etc

    5. Ridiculous association. Incredible, funny, fantastic and amazing things that

        your mind creates but would never actually happen

    Why Air New Zealand Link staff don't think

 

    For almost ten years I have worked with the new cabin staff of Air New Zealand

    Link during their three week induction course. My session is just one afternoon at

    the end of those three weeks, during which time I show them how to memorise

    their PA's (public address). Once they have mastered this, just like young Trevor,

    I regularly see their confidence and self belief growing right before my eyes.

    Initially, many of these new recruits seem rather daunted by the task ahead.

    Hardly surprising when you consider that study after study says that most

    people's biggest fear in life is speaking in public. All that fades into insignificance

    when they learn the trick to using their memory. 'The human brain thinks in
    pictures, not in words'.

    During the session, these words, handed to them on a page:

    "Please ensure hand luggage is safely stowed either in the overhead locker, or 

    beneath your seat. A reminder that all electronic equipment must be switched off

    for take off and landing. Please fasten your seat belts, check that your tray table

    is folded away and your seat back is in the upright position."

    Becomes a series of bullet point images which I ask them to draw:

    The bullet points act as visual triggers for the mental video clip they create. In

    the space of three hours, the majority of them go from self consciously reading

    just the first three lines of a script which they need to refer to while presenting

    to their peers, to doing it using a group of only five pictures drawn next to their

    bullet points, and finally to reciting entire, lengthy PA's with no safety net at

    all, completely from their memory. They don't need to think about the words,

    they just need to remember the pictures, and their subconscious takes over and

    does the rest.

    I should say that James Hamilton of Air Nelson and his team do a fantastic job

    of choosing and training the people I get to work with, which certainly makes my

    job that much easier, more enjoyable and fun.

 

Article Source: www.paulkernot.com