So with the Oscars coming up a friend of mine asked how she could show off at her annual Oscar party by recalling best film winners.  This is what I shared with her for best film winners 2001 – 2010.

First of all we need an image to represent each year, so I gave her rhyming partners.  For 1, (or for our purposes 2001) I told her to visualize a Bun,  2 (2002) A Shoe,  3 Tree,  4 Door,  5 Hive,  6  Sticks, 7 Heaven,  8 Plate,  9 Wine and 10 Pen.

To each of these images I had her attach, in a crazy way, an image which would represent the film.

2001 winner was A Beautiful Mind.  She visualized a Brain (Beautiful Mind) in a hamburger Bun (1 or 2001)

2002 (Shoe) winner was Chicago, she thought of the Windy City, for Chicago, and imagined Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers being swept up in a Tornado.

2003 (Tree) Lord of the Rings. The rings of a Tree replaced by the Golden Ring from the movie.

2004 (Door) Million-Dollar Baby.  A huge 6’ baby nailing $1M bank notes to an ornate Door.

2005 (Hive) Crash. A car crashing into a huge bee Hive.

2006 (Sticks) Departed. Running through her favourite DEPARTMENT store smashing everything in site with a huge hockey Stick.

2007 (Heaven) No Country For Old Men.  Old Men, each holding a flag from a different country, jumping from cloud to cloud in Heaven.

2008 (Plate) Slum Dog Millionaire. A basketball player, worth a Million $’s, Slam Dunking a Plate.

2009 (Wine) Hurt Locker.  She saw herself smashing a bottle of Wine against a metal Locker, hurting herself with the broken glass.

2010 (Pen) The King’s Speech.  A Kings Crown with large fountain Pens in place of jewels, and the King uses each pen, one at a time, to write a Speech.

If you visualized each of those images as you read them, go back in your head and test yourself to see if you have them memorized.

This is a basic Peg System, which coupled with another system known as The Phonetic Index, would allow you recall, not only the Best Film winners of every year, but also the best actors, supporting actors, cinematography….. and so on and so on.

These same systems help in business, recalling model numbers, prices, speeches, presentations, clients names…… and so on and so on.

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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Arthur to McKinley

In my previous posts I had you memorize the 1^st 20 US presidents by linking them together in groups of five to four separate rooms in your home, with the first president, Washington, associated to your 1^st 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 these 20 images. Here is a link to that first post with the other three directly after it.http://bit.ly/13zWvBM

So to continue memorizing our next five presidents, Arthur to McKinley, we will again link together a crazy sequence with the first, Arthur, to your next (5^th) location or Loci. In my home it would be the Laundry Room. This is where we open our fifth folder containing the next five presidents.

Here are the images I would personally use to represent these names. These are by no means the strongest; they are just the ones that would work for me. Your own images will always be stronger, but feel free to use any or all of these if you wish.

Arthur = Dudley Moore drunk and laughing from the movie Arthur, you younger folks may choose Russell Brand, I prefer the original,or a sword, King Arthur.

Cleveland = A meat Cleaver

Harrison = Hairy Son

Cleveland (again) = A meat Cleaver

McKinley = Mountain (Mt McKinley)

So off we go again. The image that reminds me of the laundry room is the washing machine with the dryer stacked on top, this is my starting point. Obviously you need to pick a piece of furniture or appliance that reminds you of your fifth location or room in your house. So I have these two appliances with which I need to associate Dudley Moore. Easy, how about opening up the dryer door and Dudley jumps out laughing hysterically with his top hat askew.

Next: Dudley to a meat Cleaver (Cleveland)

Imagine this: Dudley jumps out of the dryer but instead of a bottle of Dom Pérignon in his hand he is wielding a huge meat cleaver, it’s massive.

Next: Cleveland, to a Hairy Son (Harrison).

Imagine this: Dudley runs out of the laundry room and starts chasing a Hairy Son, simple and will work. If you actually have a son it will be stronger, if he happens to be hairy….then even better!

Next: Hairy Son back to Cleaver (Cleveland)

Imagine this: The Hairy Son, puts on the brakes, turns and wielding an even bigger Cleaver than Dudley is holding, starts to chase Dudley.

Next: Cleaver to Mountain (McKinley)

Imagine this: See Dudley frantically climbing a mountain desperately trying to get away from the hairy son.

So, to review. Who jumps out of my dryer?

Dudley Moore = Arthur

What is he wielding?

Meat Cleaver = Cleveland

Who does he chase?

A Hairy Son = Harrison

What does the Hairy Son do?

Skids to a halt and turns around holding an even larger Cleaver = Cleveland

Where does the Hairy Son chase Dudley?

Up a Mountain = McKinley

Just as with the first 20 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.

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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Have you found that by retracing your steps and going back to the original place where the thought occurred, helps you to remember? This is called reintegration, by reinstating the original conditions of when the memory was formed; we are better able to recall the original thought. We tend to forget when trying to recall something in circumstances different from those in which we learned it. So retracing your steps to the original spot where the thought took place often enhances your memory.

(There is a school of thought; which recommend studying at the same time in the same location and at the same desk to help capitalize on this).

So these short memory lapses are normal and don’t take a lot to fix, however it could be a problem if this happened on a transatlantic flight, and also very expensive! All joking aside, it’s not a big deal to walk back to the original room where the memory was formed, but it’s a perfect time to practice crazy ridiculous nonsensical associations. As I’ve said many times before, all memory systems are based on forming ridiculous images between what you wish to remember and what you already know. This is why you probably know the shape of Italy and not the shape of Benin…just a wild guess. It’s because you have associated the shape of Italy to something you already know.

So in these simple instances, and to avoid retracing your steps, you need to form a crazy association between the thing we wish to remember, the book upstairs on the bedside table or the half finished apple pie, and the thing we already know, the stairs, which we know we will be walking up, or the refrigerator, which we know we will be opening. So we combine the two in a crazy union….simply imagine walking up the stairs and they are covered with gigantic beautifully leather bound tomes, perhaps tripping you up as you fight your way past them, or visualize opening the refrigerator door and a huge apple pie flies out and hits you in the face or see hundreds of apple pies doing the same thing.

Now you can go eat some apple pie and read your book knowing you have increased your memory power…don’t forget the ice cream?

Please share, below. You can also join me on Twitter, Facebook and or LinkedIn for more brain/memory information, links are at the top right of this page.

Cheers, Bob

Motivational Speaker

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