Two Time USA Memory Champion and memory training expert and memory speaker Ron White gives insight on how to build more memory training files:
This article has to do with how to build more memory training files using the method of loci. If you have not read my post on the method of loci or memory palace you really need to read that to understand this post.
Once you have selected files for your home, office and school then what do you do? Or what if you need 1,000 files for a massive memorization project?
Well…recently I had the same dilemma. I needed 3,000 memory training files (crazy but true) So what did I do? I grabbed my camera and then set out to put the method of loci into action. I walked out my front door in downtown Fort Worth and as I walked around the town I snapped pictures of 1,000 items as I created a mental journey.
I took photographs of EVERYTHING – stop signs, bricks, bars, cash registers, tables, signs, trees, statues, elevators, doors….EVERYTHING! I was questioned, ‘Why are you taking pictures of the bank?’ I was asked, ‘I am the 2 Time USA Memory Champion and I am improving my memory’ was my reply as I walked away. (Granted I could have been a little less vague!) I was thrown out of a piano bar because my activity also seemed to break some rules and Starbucks didn’t want me there either!
So my advice when you are snapping these photos is to perhaps be a little more discreet! But you get the point – walk around your neighborhood with a camera and snap photos as you walk. These photos will then become your files.
I put them in a PowerPoint presentation and then memorized my files. So my suggestion to you is that if you need several hundred files, get your camera and go for a walk! It could be fun and if you need to get bailed out of jail later please don’t call me 🙂