Memorization skill is one of the most important skills needed in our everyday life. We have to memorize things every now and then. You may have noticed that some people require less time to memorize something while others need longer time. This happens because every person uses a different technique for memorizing, and not all techniques are suitable for everyone. Now, how can you memorize something (e.g. a shopping list) quickly? In the following paragraphs, we are going to discuss a fast memorization method, originated in ancient Rome, which has been proved very effective for many people.
Before going into details, let me be clear. This method is mainly suitable for memorizing non-technical information. For memorizing technical or mathematical information, one needs to have a clear understanding of the topic and basic knowledge is a prerequisite. So, we will concentrate on memorizing information that don’t require any special knowledge and that produce more images in our mind.
Now, the method that we are going to discuss is the Journey Method. It helps to memorize information very quickly and is notably more effective than several other methods. The basic concept of the Journey Method is linking the information with different places you cross in a mental journey through a known place. Then, when you need to remember the information, all you have to do is to travel back through the path you came and find out which information was linked to each place. It is a fairly easy but very effective process.
The first step of the Journey Method is choosing a path where the journey would take place. It is best to choose a route that is very well known to you i.e., a path that you use regularly. A mental tour of your own house and your journey to your office are good examples of suitable journeys. The benefit of choosing such a path is that you would be able to identify each places and objects easily when you think about them in your mind. In this article, we will assume that you are taking a journey through your house.
Choose a spot from where you will begin your journey and also a spot where the journey will be ended. Suppose that you are starting from your front door and going to your bedroom. In your way, you will pass some rooms, hallways and objects, which you have to remember very clearly, and of course in the right order.
The next step is to link the information to the journey. After you have formed the journey in your mind, go through it a few times so that you can remember all the small details. The more you will be able to remember from the journey, the more information can be linked with it. Now, assign each of the journey’s steps to each of your information. Let’s say, the information here is a shopping list. In the beginning, it would be better to write out the journey’s steps and related information side by side on a paper. Some examples are given below.
Front door – Bread.
Hall – Beef.
Living room – Apples etc.
Now, imagine the first place and put the first item there and continue similarly. Resize the place as required. Open your eyes if it helps you to visualize more clearly. Make each object colorful, detailed and striking so that you can easily remember them. Give your full concentration to this process as this is the key point. After you have completed placing all objects, take a mental journey and see whether you can remember everything clearly. You may need to repeat the tour a few times in the beginning to make it perfect.
The last step is to remember the information when you need them. Just go through your journey and you will easily remember all information in the correct order.
Now, if you need to remember new information, just take the journey and assign each place a new object, old one will be automatically deleted. If you cannot visualize anything (e.g. happiness, love, air etc.), switch it with something that reminds you of the original entity.
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