How to Memorize a Speech Word for Word | Jim Kwik

Welcome back, Kwik Brains. So what we're going to do in this lesson is I'm going to share with you some tips on how to memorize word-for-word information. Now I want you to think about it. What kinds of information, where do you need to remember things word for word? Where would that be valuable? As I work with actors, they need to remember things word for word verbatim. TED speakers often want to present word for word verbatim. Scripture, proverbs, word for word. Poetry, word for word. So think about something where you want to present something word for word, like maybe a sales script. Maybe you're creating videos, presentations, and you want to stick to a script. This is the technique that I would use, and actually it's not one technique, it's multiple tips. So in this lesson, I'm going to share with you the tips for remembering things word for word. So let's go through this. I'm going to alliterate this. As many of you know, I use acronyms. I like to have everything spelled out, use the same letter. They're all mnemonic devices, right? So as I'm teaching memory, we're doing memory at the same time. It's kind of very meta. I'm teaching you how to remember, and I'm teaching you in a way where hopefully you do remember it also as well. So you have this amazing meta-learning skill. So I'm gonna give you a bunch of Rs. Let's make it a bunch of Rs. And I want you, if your imagination's going somewhere, think about the Rs. Like, what stands for R that will help you to remember things word for word? And you can play this game with me. All right? So, in no particular order, the first R for remembering things word for word is you need to read it. Because often the things that you want to learn word for word, they're written down. And so, it requires you to read. Now, reading is interesting because reading is a skill. It's a skill that you're not born with. You're not born with the ability to read. You weren't born and just went into the waiting room and just started reading magazines, right? It's an ability, a capability that you were taught. And when's the last time you took a class though called reading? How old were you? 6, 7 years old? Now let me ask you a question. Has the difficulty and the demand increased since you were 6 or 7? Of course. A little bit or a lot? A whole lot. Yet how we read it, is it fair to say that we read it the same way? As the last time we were taught and trained. One quick tip is when you're reading something, use a visual pacer if you can. A visual pacer, I believe that your visual focus, it controls your mental focus. Like where your eyes go is where your mind goes, right? And when you're underlining the words or not touching the page or touching the screen, but if you're using a pen, a highlighter, your finger, a mouse on a computer, it actually helps to improve your focus while you're reading. And also, not only that, it paces your reading speed. And so if you're underlining the words, you actually improve your reading speed about 25 to 50%. But not only are you saving time, it actually improves your focus because you're focusing on the words. You're not back-skipping and regressing how you often do without a visual pacer. And because you have better focus, You also have better what? You have better understanding, better comprehension. So the first tip is to read it and reading using a visual pacer. You're just underlining the word because where your finger goes is where your eyes are going to go. Where your eyes are going to go is where your mind goes. Okay. Your second quick tip for remembering things word for word is to reflect. After you've read the material, whatever it happens to be, If it happens to be Proverbs, if it happens to be a sales script, or maybe you're a Broadway actor, or maybe you're in some film for school, after you read it, I want you to reflect on it because it's not just about regurgitating words. There are meaning behind the words, right? There's meaning behind the words. So I want you to pause and just reflect on the meaning of what you're reading. Actors do this all the time. Right? They go within, they read the script, and then they pause and they think about and reflect on the motivation of the character, right? What is this character experiencing at this time? What drives him or her to do what they're doing? So as you're reflecting on it, you're not just the words, because it's, it's, it could be difficult to remember words if you don't have any meaning behind it. So the second tip after you read is you reflect. Reflect on what you just read and come up with the meaning and the motivation behind it. The next tip for remembering words verbatim or a script verbatim or proverbs again or something you want to do like poetry is after you read and you reflect on what you just read, the 3rd R I'm going to give you is you want to write And that's R-I-T-E. I know it's supposed to spell with a W, but we want to make them all Rs, right? And what are you going to write? You're going to write down the things that you want to remember. And here's what I propose: that you don't type this out, that you actually handwrite this out. Something about handwriting notes or handwriting what you want to say makes it more ingrained in your learning, in your nervous system. So I'm going to ask you to write, and you can write what you want to say and also write down what you just reflected on. So what are you writing? You're writing the things that you read, and you're also writing on your reflections of this character or the meaning behind the words. What is your interpretation? So you're not just reflecting on it, you're capturing it by what? By writing about it. The 4th tip is repetition. Repetition. And you've been doing this your whole life, right? Repetition is the mother of memory. And specifically, I want you to practice spaced repetition. That when you space your learning out and you repeat— repetition— you repeat it over maybe an hour later or a day later, maybe do it a few days later, a week later, it helps you to transfer that information from short-term memory into your long-term memory, better than just repetition throughout the day, spreading it out over time. And that's the power of repetition. So it does take a little time, but if you're doing everything else, it's going to take a lot less time. It's smart repetition. The 5th quick tip, and that starts with an R, to help you remember your lines word for word is I'm going to talk about running your lines. Run your lines. In our Quick Reading Program, in order to help build comprehension, we talk about the power of relating, relating, talking about this to somebody else. We do this when you teach somebody else. And so you want to run your lines. And so what does that mean? It means you role-play this. Imagine this, that you're not only reading it and reflecting on it and writing down your reflections, but you're going to role-play this out. And that means you're going to get into character. Whatever that character is for you. If you're, if you happen to be acting, or if it's not an external for entertainment purposes, what character do you want to access inside of yourself and run those lines? It helps maybe to have a buddy to do that with, to run lines with, as often actors have where they could run lines. Or if you're in sales, you practice role-playing that you are the salesperson and that person is the prospect, or that person is the client or the customer. So you run those lines. lines with somebody else. Because when you have to explain this to somebody else, it puts you on the spot, right, where you have to be able to perform, as opposed to you just repeating it on your own. So that, number 5, is running your lines. Another word for that is role play. Another word for that is relating it to somebody else. Because you could do it for yourself, to yourself, right, repeating into yourself, And repeat it to somebody else. So you run those lines with a partner. The 6th way, the 6th R, are resources. Resources, meaning, yes, you're going to read and you're going to reflect and you're going to write and you're going to use repetition, right? And you're going to run your lines and you're going to role-play all these Rs, right? There are some resources that you could use to actually amplify and support your process. There are apps that do this also as well. So if you can't run your lines with somebody else, there's an app, for example, called Rehearsal, and you can run your lines using technology where you could record your voice into an app or a technology, a resource like this, and it could serve as another person. And so you can imagine that, but there are a number of different resources that you could discover that could help you to be able to remember your lines Better. One of them, and I'm not vested in this, is an app again called Rehearsal. Number 7 on this list is rise. I want you to rise up. In fact, right now, stand up, rise up, rise, because when you use your body, you're going to remember things better. We know that through research, it suggests that when somebody's on an elliptical or they're going for a brisk walk and they're listening to a program, Maybe you listen to our podcast as you're going for a walk, or you— as you're exercising on a treadmill, you're listening to Limitless audiobook. You're going to retain that information and understand it better. So I call it rising up. Get out of your chair, you rise, and you use more of your physicality. Because as we talked about in language learning, when we memorize the numbers, like in Japanese, we used our body. And as our body moves, our brain grooves. And you access different parts of your nervous system. when you move your body. So as best as you can, move your body as you're learning this. You could even enunciate things with your physicality also as well. So number 7 is rise. Rise out of your chair when you need to memorize and get your physicality involved. The 8th brain tip is this: reform. Reform. What does it mean to reform something? When you're reforming something, you're changing it. Like transform. You're changing it. And so what are you transforming? What are you reforming here? What I want you to do— it's not just the words. Words are one thing. You're remembering things word for word, but it's not just what you're saying, it's how you're saying it. So what I'm going to suggest when I'm helping actors memorize scripts, and they could have 40 pages of script for a movie, right? Is practice your lines and also reform them. Try to change the voice in your head a little bit, or if you're saying it out loud, say it in a different voice. Use an accent or use— say it as if you're Mickey Mouse. So if you were to say those same lines on the quote or the scripture or the comedy, the jokes, whatever it is you're doing word for word, reform the tonality, the tempo, the volume of the language. The words that you're saying, the voice that you're using, because that's very powerful too. Because we talked about physicality, because that's part of communication, and the words you're using. But it's not just what you say, it's also how you're saying it. Your brain really loves novelty, and that's when you get that dopamine spike, and when you're learning, to your motivation centers. When you make something different and you change your voice or use an accent, you change the timbre, the tempo, the volume, the tonality of the voice, then it becomes more memorable. So you could switch, take some of your favorite characters or your favorite personalities and say the same words, but do it in a different voice, either in your head or even better, out loud. Okay, so that's reform. Number 9, the 9th quick tip for remembering things word for word is ration. Ration. What does it mean to ration something? What does it mean? You're collecting these things, but you also kind of chunk them together, right? You're rationing it. So then you're doing it in bite-sized pieces. And one of the best ways to learn something faster is to break it down, right? Inch by inch, it's a cinch. Yard by yard, it's too hard. So if you have pages of script or scripture or, or jokes or lots of quotes, or you want to memorize a speech verbatim, then it helps to break it down. And that's what I call ration. You're chunking. And we know that when you break things down into smaller bite-sized pieces, you take advantage of a principle in psychology called primacy and another one called recency. So the reason why you don't want to study for 5 or 6 hours and pull all-nighters is primacy says you tend to remember something in the beginning. Recency says you tend to remember stuff at the end. But there's a big dip in the middle. But if you take breaks every 25 minutes, what happens? You create more beginnings and more ends. And so you pick up a lot of remembrance. You don't forget as much. You actually remember more by taking breaks. Well, the same thing applies when you need to study this material and remember things word for word. So if you ration, you take it into chunks, you do it line by line, or you do it by time, you're going to remember a whole lot more. So always break things down into bite-sized pieces, either by the length of the content or by the time, and then you take a 5-minute break and then you can return. Your 10th quick tip for remembering lines and words verbatim is to record. Is to record. What does that mean? One of the best ways to learn something is to record Your own voice into, let's say, a voice recorder or into your phone, and you give your speech or you give your comedy set, or you talk about the proverbs in your voice recorder. And then once you record it, what do you do? You listen to it. You listen to it when you're cleaning your home. You can listen to it on the back, in the background when you're exercising. You can listen to it when you're falling asleep, which often people remember a lot more when— not while you're asleep, But going to sleep. When you're doing your morning routine that we talk about on the morning routine on how to boost your memory, you could be listening to that in the background. So something you can do to remember things verbatim: record your own voice and play it throughout the day. Okay, your 11th quick tip, the next R to help you learn things verbatim, is rouse. Rouse. Like arouse. What does it mean to rouse something? It means you're being stimulated, right? Especially by the environment, by people or things in your environment. And it's interesting because the environment actually gets linked to our memory. It actually arouses us. So there was a study where they took individuals and submerged them underwater. They gave them breathing apparatuses and they had them memorize or try to memorize lists of words. Exactly what we've done in this program. And then they take them out of the water and they test them, and then they put them back under the water and then they test them. In which environment do you think people remember the most? Underwater. Underwater, where they originally learned it. And they learned from this that the environment gets tagged and coded with the information. And that's very interesting. In fact, that water aroused the memory. Now, how do you apply this? How can you utilize this arousal? What I would suggest is if you have to perform, first of all, try studying and memorizing in the environment you need to perform in. So if it happens to be a play and you're in an auditorium, ideally you're rehearsing and you're remembering and studying on that stage. If you want to remember things that, that you're going to be tested to, it helps to study in that classroom. Does that make sense? It's kind of like you're studying underwater and then you're gonna be tested underwater, right? If you're giving a set at a comedy club, ideally do the practice there also as well, because the fragrances, the smoke, the, whatever's in the environment will get tagged to that information. Now you're saying, Jim, that's not always possible. You know, I need to perform a sales script and, but I'm going to be going to a client's office and I don't have access To do my studying in that office. Well, you could take the environment with you. Do you know out of all of your senses which one rouses or arouses the most memory? Out of all 5 of them, which one would you think is the closest? It's your olfactory. It's your sense of smell. And you know this. Is there a smell of a food or a fragrance that could just bring back memories for you? Of course. You could smell something, it'd take you back to when you're a teenager. You could smell a food and you can remember these childhood thoughts, right? Because that information tagged to that smell or that emotion becomes what? Unforgettable. So if you can't study in the environment that you're in, then bring the environment with you. What if when you were studying the things that you want verbatim or anything, foreign languages, phrases, what if you studied it and you had a certain smell, but a unique smell? Maybe it's a bubble gum or a lip balm or an essential oil. There's certain actually essential oils that actually will help you to remember better. It'll stimulate your focus and your memory as well. But when you're studying something and you have that perfume or you have that cologne on that you don't usually wear and you need to perform that comedy set or you're going to be tested verbatim, then wear that same fragrance and you'll find that that will help you to tap into more of your memories. And finally, the 12th quick tip is to relax. If you want to remember things verbatim, stress—the biggest obstacle is stress. Stress will shrink your mind. It'll put you in fight or flight, right? Which might be good for physical activity, but it's not really good to study. If you are nervous for giving that speech, or you're scared to go on stage for that comedy club presentation, or to be able to give that valedictorian speech or that toast at a wedding, that nervousness will actually make you forget because you create cortisol. And adrenaline, and that rush is not the best to have focus on. It's not the best to be able to perform and recall and retrieve the information that you know is inside of you. And so stress puts you in fight or flight— not great for the fulfilling work that you need when you need to be able to be at your best. So do anything you can to be able to relax, to take the edge off. I always love meditation. I always love things like deep diaphragmatic breathing. I like things like visualization where I could visualize and practice, rehearse inside my mind success, because you don't want to practice failing in your mind because you're just rehearsing that also as well. So you need to have some kind of perspective and relax. So those are your 12 different things you could do. And what can you apply this to? So many different things, including again language learning. Right? What if you took those words and you, you did translations, but you used, again, Mickey Mouse's voice in that? It'll make it more memorable because it'll make it more novel, and it'll make it more playful and interesting for you. What if you did this and looked at something that you want to remember and, and reflected on it? You know, that's one of the reasons why people can learn languages better, because maybe they are really interested in that culture. And it gives them reflection. Or maybe they're falling in love with somebody, you know, who speaks that language, and there's a level of meaning, reflection, and motivation and drive behind it. So play with this. And what I want you to do is in the comments, continue to share. Pick one of these new 6 or 7 strategies, and how are you going to use this? And remember, share your wins, share your joy stories, and support each other along the way. Because together we are limitless. I'll see you in our next lesson.