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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Scott, Gini Graham.
30 days to a more powerful memory / Gini Graham Scott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-7445-7
ISBN-10: 0-8144-7445-4
1. Mnemonics. 2. Memory. I. Title. II. Title: Thirty days to a more powerful
memory.
BF385.S36 2007
153.1!4—dc22
2006032832

! 2007 Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D.

All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
This publication may not be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in whole or in part,
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of AMACOM,
a division of American Management Association,
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.
Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 20

Linked In and Linked Up

Linking up is a powerful way of making connections so you can re-

member short lists. This system is a very basic introduction to using
your imagination to create links—even more basic than creating a
story. Think of it as a way to incorporate a variety of memory princi-
ples and limber up your memory muscle, so you can apply these
methods for even more elaborate systems. Linking is most appro-
priate for remembering short lists, from grocery lists to the subjects
you want to cover in a meeting or speech.
Essentially, you help make your memories more memorable by
using your mind proactively to make your memories more vivid
through imagery and associations. Then, you either create a continu-
ous narrative that links all of the images together in sequence, or
you link a series of pairs of items like a chain, where you create a
visual association between the first two items, then between the sec-
ond and third item, the third and fourth, and so on. I call these the
‘‘continuous link system’’ and the ‘‘chain link system.’’ In either
case, you use various memory-sharpening skills that increase recall.
You might even close your eyes to cut out distractions, hone your
concentration, and make the imagery more vivid when you first are
learning to visualize, though as you become accustomed to creating
images in your mind’s eye, you can do this anywhere, anytime.
According to memory expert Tony Buzan in his book Use Your
187
 188 ✧ 3 0 D AY S TO A M ORE P OWERFUL M EMORY

Perfect Memory, the sharpening skills that improve memory include

the following (which I have described in a little more detail):

• Using the Five Senses—Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell, and Taste,

where the more fully you experience something, in reality or
in your mind, the more it will come to mind in the future.
• Movement: where you incorporate motion in your visualiza-
tion—or move yourself.
• Association: whereby you associate one thing with another to
trigger a memory when you see or experience the association.
• Sexuality: where a sexual association creates a stimulus that is
more exciting and therefore more memorable.
• Humor: where the experience of laughter and amusement
makes the memory more pleasurable, and hence something
you more want to remember.
• Imagination: where you use your creativity to add oomph to
your desired memory.
• Number: where you group things together, as in chunking, to
make memory easier.
• Symbolism: where you associate things you want to remember
with symbols that help you remember.
• Color: where you make any imagery more vivid and hence more
memorable.
• Order and Sequence: where you arrange things into an order
based on common characteristics, priority, numerical se-
quence, or other organizing principles.
• Positive Images: where you emphasize the positive, because you
are more apt to remember what’s pleasurable (as we learned
earlier, we repress negative experiences because we don’t want
to think about them).
• Exaggeration: where you make things even bigger and grander
than they are, so they stand out in your memory.
• Absurdity: where you make something very crazy, bizarre, and
outlandish to help it stand out in your mind.
 L INKED I N AND L INKED U P ✧ 189

• Substitution: where you replace something you want to remem-

ber with something else you can remember even better, and
then, through the power of association you recall what the
substitution represents.

The reason these principles work, according to memory experts,

is that you use both sides of your brain—both your left and right
cortex. So you not only use a more analytical approach to remember-
ing associated with your left cortex (such as chunking and rehears-
ing), but you tap into your more intuitive and holistic side with your
right cortex as you create visual and sensual images. It’s like the
difference between putting something you want to remember in a
beautifully framed picture that stands out in your mind or into a file
in a musty file cabinet that you have to burrow through to find that
document again.

Using the Continuous Link System

In the continuous link system, you create a narrative link for each
item on the list in sequence.
To practice with this system, take any short list of things you
want to remember, even very mundane items on a shopping list,
create a series of associations for each item, and link those together
into a sequence as you travel through time or space. For example,
imagine you are taking a walk or driving in a car, and as you go
along, you see each item. But more than that, use other principles of
memory, such as exaggeration and absurdity, to make these images
even more memorable. Some of the possible trips you might take as
you make these link-ups include a walk in the park, a flower garden,
or your neighborhood, or a drive through the country.
Then, as you go on this journey, you see the items you want to
remember.
For example, here’s how you might apply the various memory
principles with the following everyday shopping list: apples, eggs,
soap, sugar, coffee, ice cream, paper cups, pie, bread, and fish.
Say you are going for a walk in the country. First you pass an
apple tree, but these are not ordinary apples. You see they are col-
 190 ✧ 3 0 D AY S TO A M ORE P OWERFUL M EMORY

ored with all the hues of the rainbow, and you suddenly hear them
start singing.
As you look down, you see some very large eggs, the size of
footballs, and you reach down and touch them. When you do, they
start moving, by rolling around and bouncing up and down.
As they do this, you discover they are bouncing on a large, white
bar of soap, which is shaped like a boat, so you start laughing be-
cause you think it’s so funny. Then, as it floats off, you see nearby a
lake made of white sugar, a truly absurd picture, and next to it you
hear the sound of a bubbling brook, and it is the color of coffee.
But is it? You reach down to dip your finger in the brook, and as you
touch it, you smell the sweet coffee, which makes you hungry. So
you reach out and grab a big, round ball of ice cream that is hanging
from the trees like a ball of fruit.
As you pull each ball off the tree, you put it in a huge, spinning
paper cup in front of you. Then, to test your aim, you step away, and
pick up some pies and throw them at the cup, so you will win a
reward—a great, big teddy bear made of bread. And after you make
several successful throws you get the first prize—a gigantic fish that
you can frame to show what a great catch you made.
In short, you have made a series of associations that link the
items on your list together, using the many principles that help to
make a powerful memory.
Okay, now that you understand the basic principles through
reading the fantasy, without looking back at the original list or the
fantasy, see how many items you can remember. You can use that
number as a baseline when you try your own lists, create your own
linked associations using these principles, and then try to remember
even longer lists.

HOW M UCH CAN YOU R EMEMBER?

(Write down as many items as you can from the shopping list.)
 L INKED I N AND L INKED U P ✧ 191

Now, start creating your own lists. These can be random lists of
anything, or pick out some items on a list you really want to re-
member.
Once you have selected your items, create your own fantasies
using the above memory principles, making them as vivid and cre-
ative as possible. Afterwards, test yourself again and see how many
items on your list you remembered. Additionally, check how many
you remembered in the proper order. In some cases, just remember-
ing the items is sufficient, but sometimes, such as when you are
giving a speech, you want to remember the precise order, so you link
different sections of it to a path through your house.
You can also turn this process into a game you play with others,
which makes improving your memory even more fun—and memora-
ble. Here’s how.

Playing the Linking Game

Decide how many items you want to remember (7 is a good starting
point, but you can work your way up to 10 or more pretty quickly).
Then, each person creates a list on a card on a sheet of paper or index
card. Now mix up the lists and give each person a list other than
their own.
Each person will now read his/her list aloud in turn, allowing
about 10 seconds between items, so each person can create their own
fantasy associations with that image. After the person has read his/
 192 ✧ 3 0 D AY S TO A M ORE P OWERFUL M EMORY

her complete list, everyone else will write down as many items on
the list as they can remember in the next minute or two.
When everyone has finished, read the list aloud again, and each
person other than the person reading the list gets 2 points for each
item correctly remembered in the correct order, 1 point for each item
remembered but out of order, and loses 1 point for each item that
doesn’t belong on the list.
Go around the group so everyone has a chance to be the reader.
At the end, total the scores for each round, and the person with the
highest score wins.
As a variation in play, after the reader reads the whole list and
players write down the words they can remember, each person in
turn relates his or her fantasy for those words—which can help
everyone in developing their imagination. You might even vote on
who has created the most imaginative story, with the winner for
each round being the person who has gotten the most votes. The
overall winner is the person who has won the most rounds.

Using the Chain Link System

In the chain link system, as described by numerous memory experts,
including Kenneth L. Higbee in his book Your Memory: How It Work &
How to Improve It, you create a series of short image associations that
link each item in the list to the previous item, rather than crafting a
continuous narrative. This system is also ideal for remembering all
of the items in order.
The way the process works is you create a visual image for each
item in the list and then you associate the image for one item with
the next item on the list. We can use the same list as above: apples,
eggs, soap, sugar, coffee, ice cream, paper cups, pie, bread, and fish.
You might create the following chain link of associations, incor-
porating the principles described above to make the imagery dra-
matic and memorable.
To associate apples and eggs, imagine the apples falling from a
tree in an orchard and landing on top of a line of eggs, with a big
SPLAT!
To associate eggs and soap, imagine someone throwing eggs at
some bars of soap, which are targets in a competition.
 L INKED I N AND L INKED U P ✧ 193

To associate soap and sugar, imagine a small boy using a bar of

soap in a bathtub, when he sees a big monster made of sugar.
To associate sugar with coffee, imagine the big sugar monster
striding forward through a river of brown coffee.
And so on. The imagery for each association doesn’t have to
carry over from each paired link in the chain, although it can, such
as in the case of the image of the sugar monster in both paired asso-
ciations.
Have fun making these associations. You also can play the same
game described above with the chained links, instead of using con-
tinuous links.