Memory Test: Can You Remember These Words?

Now, in this session, I'm going to test your memory once again. Remember, in order to be able to manage something, you have to be able to measure it. And I'm going to give you a list of words. All right? So, I'm going to give you a list right now of, let's say, 10 random words. And I want you to do the best you can to memorize this list of 10. Now, I'm not going to number them, and it's only 10 instead of the 20 you did before. So, I'm going to go rather quickly. All right? So, put down your pen. And just pay attention, do the best you can to memorize these 10 words. Are you ready? All right, let's begin. Fire hydrant, balloon, batteries, barrel, board, like a surfboard, diamond, Sir Lancelot, mask, toothpaste, and Sign. Okay, I just gave you 10 brand new words. How do you feel you did? How was that for you? Did it stress you out? Just notice, self-awareness is a superpower. How'd you do? Now you're thinking, Jim, please stop talking. Take out your notebook and write down as many as you remember in order. Do that now. Do the best you can. Just write them down. If you can't remember the next one, just go on to the next one. Whatever you remember, just jot down. All right, finish up. Let's see how you did. I'm going to give you the list of words. Fire hydrant. What was the next one? Balloon. Say it out loud if you know it. Batteries. Barrel. Board. Diamond. What was the next one? Sir Lancelot. Mask. Toothpaste. And what was the last one? Sign. Now, check your work. And what I'd love for you to do is in the comments here, I'd love for you to, to put how you did. How many out of the 10 were you able to remember in order? And just put it down in the comments. Do it now. Now, I have a question for you. I want you to pretend you are the memory expert because you are. Your memory is what? Say it out loud. How's your memory? It's limitless. You're thinking, based on my numbers here, I wasn't quite limitless, but I'm going to show you how limitless your memory truly is. I'm going to show you how to memorize this list. I'm going to give you a technique. Before I do, I want you to be the memory coach. I want you to see yourself as a memory expert because you have this quick recall ability. You're born with with this ability, right? Think about everything that you remember. And so memory and this genius, it leaves clues. Write that down. It's a principle of quick recall. It's a quick— it's a principle of our Kwik Brain Methodology that genius leaves clues, that there's always a method behind the magic. And so you probably didn't remember all 10 words, but you probably remembered some of them, right? And I believe that there's certain qualities of those words, something you were doing or some kind of association that you had with that word that made it memorable. All right, so now you are the memory coach, you are the memory expert, and I want you to start seeing yourself that way because you really are. And I want you to teach me what were the principles that helped you to recall those things. All right, so for example, which words out of those 10 did you remember? So which words? Maybe you remembered fire hydrant. Now, I want you to tell me as a memory expert, because you've spent your whole life remembering things, why do you think you remembered fire hydrant if you did? Because it was the first word, right? It was the first. Now, in memory training, we know that we tend to remember things in the beginning of something. That if I give you a list of 10 or 20 words, you probably remember the first words. You go to a gathering or a party, you'll probably remember the first people you met there. In psychology, they call it Primacy. They call this primacy. Please write that down. Primacy is this phenomenon where we tend to remember the things in the beginning or the start of something. All right. What other words out of this list did you remember? You're thinking, Jim, I also happen to remember what? Sign. Now, why do you think you'd remember the word sign? Because it was what? The last word. And in memory training, we know you tend to remember things That come at the end. If I gave you a list of 10 or 20 words, you probably remember the, the last words. If you go to an event and you meet 10 strangers, you probably remember the first people you met there and the last people you met there. They call this phenomenon recency. Please write that down. Recency. So what we're doing is we're writing down a list of qualities or principles of quick recall. All right, because you're teaching me. Remember this, that often our— the human brain doesn't just learn through consumption where you're consuming this information. It also learns through creation, pulling this information out of you, because that's the retrieval, because you are smarter than you think. So primacy and recency are 2 of the principles to quick recall. Amazing. And behind every principle There is a promise, and I promise you there is. So, what other words do you remember in this list? You're saying, Jim, I remember the balloon, the battery, the barrel, the board. Why do you think you remember those? Because they all started with the letter what? They started with the letter B. Okay? And so, what principle is that? This is called chunking. Chunking. Another word for chunking is they're organized. Okay. Right? If you get a list of 20 words and I give you random words, you probably remember 2, 3, 4, 5, maybe 6 or 7 of those words. But if before that I said, okay, these words are going to fall in these categories, they are fruits and vegetables, they are colors, right? They are capitals of countries, right? They are famous political leaders, you're probably going to remember more because they're organized. And so that's another principle to quick recall. Please add that to your list. You have primacy, recency, and chunking or organization. Very good. What other words, you know, as a group, right, from people watching this in 195 countries, what other words did you remember? Some people remembered what? Sir Lancelot, right? That stands— that stood out. And why do you think you remembered Sir Lancelot if you did? And you're thinking, Jim, I remembered Sir Lancelot, or I imagine a lot of people remember Sir Lancelot because it's unique. It is different. And the human brain tends to remember things that are novel, that stand out. So add that to your list of principles of quick recall. You have primacy, you have recency, you have chunking and organization, and you have uniqueness. Difference, something that is outstanding, if you will. By the way, if you go to a party and somebody is wearing, you know, very outrageous clothing, right, or something that you've never seen before, you're going to remember that person, right? Because your mind focuses on things that are different. And so write that down. What other principles of recall, what other words did you remember on this list? Just go through it. You're thinking, I remember diamond. Why would some people, do you think, remember a diamond? Because why? Because it has value. Because maybe there's some emotion behind a diamond. Maybe they associate some kind of feeling around it. So please add that to your principles of quick recall. To have faster recall, not only do you remember things that are first and last, things that stand out, that are different, things that are organized and chunked, you also remember things that you have emotion attached to it. Remember, information by itself is forgettable, but information combined with what? Emotion becomes unforgettable. Very good. What other words do you tend to remember? Some people say they remember mask. They— or they tend to remember, let's say, toothpaste. Now, why would you remember mask and toothpaste? Maybe because it's familiar. Maybe because you brush your teeth or wear a mask, and so it's more familiar. So, add familiarity to The principles of recall. Add that to your list. Because have you ever met somebody and they give you their name and that name is the name of somebody like a good friend of yours or maybe a family member? And you're probably going to remember that better, right? Because it's familiar. So, add that please to your principles of quick recall. See, this is wonderful because you're not just consuming this information, we're creating it and you're pulling it out of yourself. Do you feel the difference? Good. Any other words that you tend to remember? Some people will go through there, say, I remember these words. Let's say they take one of the words in there, like a board, because I pictured a surfboard when you said surfboard. So visualization is a wonderful principle to recall, that when you see something, you're more likely to what? To remember it. In fact, when you use more of your senses, you tend to remember that thing. If you could see it, if you could taste it too, Right. If you could feel the mask, if you could see the batteries, if you will, you're going to remember it better. So please add visualization to this list, the things that you see. In fact, you could add all your senses. When you add sensory things that are perceivable, that you could hear or taste or smell, you're more likely to what? You're surely likely more to remember it. And then some people will remember certain words because they, they associated them together. How many of you watching this right now, when I said something like balloon and battery, you put them together? Like, imagine you saw them at the, at the grocery store, right? You saw a pack of balloons, a pack of batteries. You somehow associated them together and you remembered them. So please add that to your list. These are principles of what? Kwik Recall, because you're a quick recaller, right? And so add association. That tends to help you to remember something better.