Your brain doesn’t always tell you the truth, it often lies to you.

Answer this problem quickly.

A coffee and a cookie together cost $1.10. The coffee cost $1 more than the cookie. How much does the coffee cost?

Most people say $1, which is wrong.

The coffee costs $1.05 and the cookie 5¢.

Our brain often takes shortcuts based on how important it thinks accuracy is over speed. It usually opts for speed, giving rules of thumb too much consideration over straight logic.

This is evident when we make assumptions about someone based on how they are dressed and even how they speak.

By the way, if you know of a place that sells coffee and a cookie for $1.10…let me know!

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In almost 30 years of delivering memory enhancement keynotes and workshops, without a doubt the number one issue I hear over and over again is remembering names, or rather the inability to recall someone’s name. I have a 90-minute keynote covering just this issue. We don’t have ninety minutes right now, so here’s an incredibly powerful technique to help overcome this problem.

I have said many times that all memory systems are based on associating an image of what you wish to remember, to an image of something you already know, a memory that you have already stored, and have instant access to. So when it comes to names, you already have access to images related to hundreds of common names. These can be images of famous people or people you already know. If I asked you to think of the names Donald or Hillary, whom do you think of? Of course Donald Duck and Sir Edmond Hillary…….no, you think of the politicians? Okay, let’s use them then.

This is how it works. When you are introduced to someone who shares the same first name as someone famous, or someone you know, you must quickly think of something about that famous person (or the person you know) which instantly reminds you of him or her, whether it’s a location, an action or something about him or her which stands out to you.

So you’ve just been introduced to someone named Donald, you immediately conjure up an image of Donald Trump, you now pick something about Donald Trump which reminds you of him, something which stands out, perhaps his hair, an image of a WALL, maybe Trump Tower in Manhattan, any number of things will work fine.

Here’s the powerful technique. You must now see this person, who you’ve just been introduced to, with a head of hair exactly like The Donald; of course you have to do this without laughing! Or you could imagine this guy sitting astride the top of Trump Tower (ridiculous images are ALWAYS stronger). Or you could imagine this guy literally building a brick WALL in the exact spot you are introduced to him.

When you next bump into this guy, your brain will do all the work for you, it will instantly recognize him with Donald Trumps hair, or see him building a wall and you will IMMEDIATELY recall his name.

If you meet a Hillary, you can picture her ignoring you while she’s checking her emails on her phone, or picture her giving a speech behind a lectern.

Here’s a real life example. I recently took an elevator ride in a hotel to give a speech. On the way down a guy in the elevator noticed my name badge and recognized me from the conference brochure. He introduced himself, his name was Roger, I immediately thought of Roger Federer and imagined him serving tennis balls inside the elevator. He came up to me after my presentation and I instantly saw him with a huge tennis racquet in his hand, he was so flattered that I recalled his name.

And by the way, our brain is so powerful at recognizing images; you don’t have to worry that you might end up calling him Novak, Andy or Rafael.

Try it, practice it, you will be amazed at how incredibly strong this one technique is for remembering names.

Download my new app for remembering names  BOB’S APP

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.

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How do I remember names? The number one recall question I have been asked over the years.

I have said many times that memory techniques are based on linking or associating what we wish to remember, to something we already know. This is why we recall the shape of Italy as opposed to Outer Mongolia.

This past weekend I spoke at a retreat and was asked to show how to recall names.  Along with my standard system, I introduced a powerful technique which I have used for many years.  I will attempt to share it with you now.

Whenever I meet someone, I immediately ask myself if they remind me of anyone I know, either someone famous or someone I know, or knew from my past.  Once I have this person, I then immediately think of a location, and or an action, associated with that famous person (or person I know).

So if I meet someone who reminds me of say, Beyoncé, I would immediately think of a stage (location) and or, someone dancing/singing in a skimpy outfit (action). I now take this persons name (the person I’ve just met), and I now think of another famous person, (or someone I know) who shares that name.  I then see this second person performing the action, or in the location, of the original (famous) person. Ok, ok, sounds confusing I know. So let me share with you the example I used this past weekend.

One of the attendees in the group I was presenting to was named Benjamin, Benjamin looked like Tom Cruise.  So I thought of an action, and or location, associated with Tom Cruise, now this is subjective and there is no right or wrong here….I thought of the scene from Risky Business where Tom Cruise slides across the floor in his socks holding a candlestick holder as a microphone and miming Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock & Roll. That is both an action and a location. (You may think of Tom Cruise hanging from a wire in Mission Impossible).

Now all I did was to place someone I know named Benjamin, in that scene….so I used Benjamin Franklin.  It is SO powerful.

So this is how our brain figures this out.  I’m introduced to Benjamin, I think he looks like Tom Cruise, I am reminded of that scene, I imagine Benjamin Franklin sliding across the floor.  The next time I meet Benjamin, that whole process will take a fraction of a second to process, and I will recall his name immediately.  You may have an uncle named Benjamin; your uncle sliding across the floor would work just as well.

Now the skill set here is not to wait until you meet someone who looks the spitting image of someone famous or someone you know, that rarely happens, but you can still capitalize on this incredible name association technique.

You need to get to the stage where you can look at someone and immediately, indiscriminately and without reservation, think of someone they remind you of, it can be the smallest of things, it might just be the color or shape of their hair, the sound of their voice, their height or weight, it doesn’t matter; the first person that comes to mind will work.

Try it the next time you ride a bus or subway, look at people and see if you can think of someone they remind you of.  It’s a skill set well worth the time investment.

Funny, unique and interactive in his entertaining conference keynotes and workshops, Bob Gray reveals the untapped potential in each of us. His empowering systems and their many applications in the business world give participants immediate ‘walk away’ value. Book Bob Gray today as your next conference keynote speaker.  Watch Bob in action.

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Remember the US Presidents. I mentioned in my previous post how as a keynote presenter I often have the audience remember the US Presidents as a creative exercise for forming images. I thought I would extend it beyond the first 10 and write a series of posts to show how to recall all 44.

We memorize the 1st five presidents by linking them together in a crazy story, with the first president, Washington, associated to your 1st location in your home, I used my downstairs hallway and placed a huge Washing Machine there. If you don’t recall them, please go back and review the 1st five images in the previous post.

The next five presidents, (Quincy Adams to Harrison), will again be linked together in a crazy sequence with the first, Quincy Adams, being associated to your next location or Loci. In my home it would be the Front Living Room. This is where we open our second folder containing the next five presidents.

We now need to place an image, which reminds us of Quincy Adams, and place it smack bang in the middle of the living room. Already being familiar with the name Quincy Adams, all we need is an image with the ‘Q’ sound….a huge Q-tip would do. Go ahead and imagine a gigantic 6′ tall Q-tip standing erect in the middle of your living room (or whatever second location you are using).

Next: Q-tip to the Jackson Five (Andrew Jackson)

Now we link the Q-tip to the image representing the 7th president, Jackson.

Imagine this: Visualize the Jackson Five all hanging onto, and singing into, this gigantic Q-tip as if it were a microphone.

Next: Jackson Five to a Van transporting a huge Bureau (Van Buren)

Imagine this: See the Jackson Five, still holding this gigantic Q-tip, ‘moonwalking’ backwards onto a ramp that leads into the back of a Van. Inside the Van is an old ornate wooden bureau. The Jackson Five sit around the bureau and start opening drawers looking for pens and paper to sign autographs.

Next: The Van containing the Bureau to Harrison Ford and George Harrison (Harrison)

Imagine this: Separating the Jackson Five from the driver is a glass partition; they bang on the partition and yell at the driver to get going, as they are late for a gig. Look who’s in the driver’s seat, it’s Harrison Ford from the Raider’s movie. See him in his Brown leather jacket, bullwhip and revolver in hand, his fedora hat, and look who’s in the passenger seat, it’s George Harrison from the Beatles sitting there strumming his sitar.

Next: The Harrison’s to Steve Tyler (Tyler)

Imagine this: The Harrison’s say, “We can’t go yet until that nut job Steve Tyler gets off the roof of the van.” You hear this loud thumping on the roof, and the roof is starting to buckle in with the weight of Steve Tyler jumping up and down. The inevitable happens and Steve Tyler smashes through the roof and lands on top of the bureau, mic stand in hand with his trademark silk scarf tied to it, he’s singing his heart out.

If you are not familiar with Steve Tyler from Aerosmith, then you can perhaps visualize a Tiler with a work belt and kneepads ’tiling’ over some huge holes in the roof of the van.

So, to review. What is standing erect in the middle of the Living Room? (Our second location). Of course, the Q-tip….Quincy Adams. Who grabs hold of the Q-tip and starts to sing? The Jackson Five….Jackson. Where do they ‘moonwalk’? Into the back of the Van, which contains what? The Bureau….Van Buren. They bang on the glass, who is driving? The Harrison’s….Harrison. They say they can’t go until the nut job is off the roof, Steve Tyler….Tiler.

Just as with the first five presidents, you need to review these images within the hour then again tomorrow, then review them each time I post another five. By the end you will know all 44 in sequence, a great exercise to show how images need to be formed to take advantage of memory systems. Remember to share with your children.

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They say that a good deal of success in life just comes down to who you know. That’s certainly true, but I might amend that to include the people you’ve met and can remember.

If that seems like a small distinction, it isn’t – most of us meet hundreds, and maybe thousands, of people who could help us live better lives in dozens of different ways, if only we could make the right connections and associations at the right times. In other words, if we could recall the name of that great contractor we met, the recommendation for the dentist we got, or who the boss’s nephew was again, more things would tend to go our way.

That’s why it’s important that you make the most of holiday parties this year. It’s a virtual guarantee that you’re going to meet someone you’d like to know, or at least remember, at a later date, but most of us aren’t as strong with names and faces as we would like.

With that in mind, here are some quick tips for remembering the names and faces of people you meet at holiday parties this season:

Make a quick image association. This is one of the easiest memory techniques to learn, and one of the most powerful. When you meet a new person, associate their name with some image in your mind; perhaps they remind you of someone you know or someone famous. Or simply associate them with someone you know or someone famous who has the same name. Hold it firm for a moment or two. The stronger the picture is, emotionally speaking, the easier it will be to recall later.

Remember where you are when you meet someone. If you can recall where you were when you met someone, or who you were with, you stand a much better chance of recalling their name later. So, take a quick mental snapshot of your location and associate it with the new name.

Spell their name. Spelling their name forces you to hear it, most times we don’t actually forget a name, we just don’t remember it in the first place, and this is usually because we don’t hear it.

Say or repeat their name. Use the name once or twice in your initial conversation. Say the person’s name, either out loud in conversation or quietly to yourself. Then, remind yourself again at a later time of their name, and it will likely stick in your memory.

These are only simple techniques, of course, but they work. In my keynotes and workshops, I teach attendees to quickly memorize names and faces in rapid succession, and you can easily learn to do the same. Best of all, if you practice these techniques regularly, the names won’t just stay with you, but you’ll be able to recall them later, and maybe even for years to come.

Imagine how convenient it would be to remember the names, faces, and details of everyone you met at holiday parties, industry events, and social gatherings!

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” Bob Gray has a humorous, entertaining approach to improving memory and other business skills. memoryedge.com ”

Check out the full article by Loren G. Edelstein here.

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One of the easiest ways salespeople, self-employed professionals, and just about anyone else can get ahead is to enhance their memory. Learning to remember important details about clients, executives, coworkers, and other contacts can be just the ticket. These details include names and faces, of course, but could also be things like their birthday, spouse’s name, children’s names, even the name of their dog – ask any dog lover!

For a long time, getting this kind of information together, much less remembering it, required a lot of work. You might have to make detailed notes after a conversation, keep a filing system, or even put together a set of index cards with the person’s photo, if you could even find one. That meant that your post-networking event routine could turn into something resembling an FBI profiling chart.

With that kind of hassle involved, it’s no wonder very few people took the time to try. All of that has changed with the rise of social media, however, meaning that there is literally no excuse for not knowing what you should about your most important customers or contacts. With a simple look through someone’s Facebook or LinkedIn profile, for example, you can enhance your memory and remember the details

Enhance your memory with information like:

What their face looks like
The names of their spouse and/or children
Their hobbies and interests
What city or college they come from
What sort of positions or careers they worked at in the past

… and the list could go on and on. While I’m certainly not advising you to engage in cyber stalking, what I am recommending you do is start to build a mental profile – and maybe even a quick set of reminders that you can look over at regular intervals. You can then apply a memory system so you can recall this information quickly and easily. It’s not so difficult to enhance your memory after all.

The benefit? Well, let me put this scenario to you. How often have you bumped into a client outside of a prearranged appointment, where you don’t have the luxury to reacquaint yourself with all their personal information, say at the supermarket, and you find yourself ducking down the next aisle to avoid them because you can’t remember their name? Well, now when this happens, you’ll have the confidence to ask how their spouse is doing, or whether they are still hitting the golf course on the weekends. Doing so makes you seem more sharp and professional and their estimation of you is immediately raised. Recalling important information about a client or customer is after all the foundation of all relationships, and in any client-based business, a good relationship eventually spurs into referrals.

Isn’t that worth the effort for a few minutes a week using social media as an easy info-gathering tool? Try these tips out and enhance your memory.

Bob Gray is a popular keynote speaker and memory expert. You can find out about his speaking availability, rates, and other information by contacting his office directly.

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Just to be clear, I don’t mean that there was anything unusual about the audience members themselves; rather, it’s that people have trouble understanding why such a group could use a fun and entertaining keynote presentation about memory improvement. I can see how someone would think that way, but the better question is: Who couldn’t use sharper memory skills?

While salespeople trying to remember names and faces and students attempting to learn new facts are obvious targets for what I do (and in truth, I do a lot of speaking for those groups), virtually anyone can benefit from the kinds of tools I teach.

Here are just a few of the best reasons why a memory keynote would work for you:

Improving your memory is a good way to improve your confidence. The more information you can recall at a moment’s notice, the more confidant you’re going to feel in almost any career situation. And as we all know, simply feeling more confident is a great way to improve your job performance, not to mention the impression other people have of you.

Besides, with a very small number of exceptions, being able to interact with others socially is important to your career development. So, being able to remember names, faces, and important details about a person is a good way to improve relationships with clients, supervisors, and others you’ll find in almost every organization.

Safety measures are ideal for memory training. As with our Sewer and Watermain engineers, along with Ontario’s health and environment, being dependent on these engineers, safety on the job is always a priority, for any safety procedure recalled out of sequence could potentially be fatal. There couldn’t be a more perfect situation to employ the Chain or Link method. Using this memory system, they are able to instill the procedures deeply and keep themselves safer in high-risk situations.

Nearly every job and organization has details to keep track of. You might not know hundreds of clients, but you may well need to remember dozens of product codes or various prices at any given time. The fact of the matter is that, even though the specific details themselves might change, there is always something to know and remember in any career. If it can be recalled without having to look it up, then that saves time and money.

It doesn’t matter what kind of office or setting you work in – or even if you do your best work underground. Enhancing your memory is a great way to improve your career prospects and have an easier time doing your job, and hey, it’s fun too!

Why not contact our office today to find out about Bob Gray’s entertaining memory keynote presentations?

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When I’m brought in as akeynote speaker for various conferences and events, I always enjoy talking to the attendees and audience members afterwards. Most of them don’t realize how powerful their memory truly can be, and it’s a joy to be able to teach them a life- changing skill.

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years, however, is that a lot of people don’t necessarily realize that it truly is a skill. Many tend to assume that I was just born this way, with a special mental gift for reciting names, numbers, and so on.

That’s actually not true – my memory skills are the result of practice, not any genetic gift or mutation. My first exposure to memory training came when I was about six or seven years old when I discovered a memory technique in a magic book, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

As much as I strongly advocate children learning these systems, adults can also learn, adapt and apply these systems to help them move ahead in their careers. They can be mastered and applied in a surprisingly short period of time (a topic I’ll cover in a coming post). But, if you really want to give children a head start in life, why not give them a boost with memory training?

I’ve seen myself how well it works. My own daughter was only about four years old when I started teaching her the Chain memory system, used for recalling items in a specific sequence. We played a game where several items were placed on a table, and she had one minute to try to remember all the items. A sheet was placed over the items, then I would take one item away without her seeing, then the sheet was taken away and she had to try to remember which item was missing. By initially “chaining” or “linking” the items together in a crazy story, she simply had to retrace the story in her head until she reached the missing item. This was a fun way to introduce her to the foundation of all memory systems, which is chaining visual images together in a creative way. Those tools to this day help her succeed in school, and will be a big asset to her in her coming career. I teach this same method, and more, to professionals to recall information like speeches, presentations, model numbers, prices and client names.

Here are a few things you should know about teaching memory to kids:

1. Somewhere around four years old is when I started with my daughter. Kids don’t have to be very old to learn the basics of memory improvement; the sooner the better. Arm them as soon as possible in order to take out the laborious rote memorization from the learning process. But it’s also never too late; I have taught people in their seventies!

2. Enhanced memory systems are more than “tricks.” Occasionally, teachers and administrators ask if I am teaching children more than simple tricks and gimmicks. I am, but that’s not even the point: Anything that helps kids be more knowledgeable and confident at school is a good thing, and that can carry over throughout the rest of their life. If they can remember the things they need to, who cares what you call the systems they use? All knowledge is memory; if you can find a fun, creative way for children to both store and retrieve information, then that’s a good thing in my book, no matter what you call it. Once they can do that, then you as a teacher can show them what to do with that knowledge.

3. You don’t have to be a parent to help kids with memory. I have spoken at many teachers’ conferences and other educational events. I’ve seen myself what kind of impact teachers, professors, and administrators can have on the lives of young people. You can help them take the first steps to improve their memory, and improve their lives in the process. Make memorization fun.

To learn more about an incredible memory system for recalling numerical information, which I adapted to help my daughter remember the Multiplication Tables, check out my book: Turbo Tables.

Or, contact my office to find out about my fees and availability as a keynote speaker for your next event.

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