C'mon, admit it. You think that learning how to increase memory skill and ability is going to be a drag. You've seen all those pictures of memory champions with their sound cancelling headphones and nothing could seem more boring.
But the truth is that you can improve memory ability simply by using something you already do almost every week, if not every day.
That's right: Merely by watching a movie and thinking about it in a few deliberate ways afterwards, you can exercise and improve memory by an impressive margin.
Here's how:
Use The Power Of IntentionBut intend to do what, exactly?
Intend to pay attention for the sake of your memory. Harry Lorayne makes the point again and again in his books that memory ability begins and ends with our attention. After all, you simply cannot remember anything to which you haven't consciously attended.
Pay attention to the next movie you watch with the intent to remember more and you'll already give yourself a cutting edge memory increase beyond belief.
Reconstruct The StoryYou probably haven't done this since you were a kid. You watch a movie and then immediately get on the phone and retell the entire story to a friend.
At least, I remember doing this as a kid and I loved hearing my friends recount what they had seen. Back then, after all, if you missed a movie at the theatre, it could be six months to a year before it appeared on videocassette. And even then, there was no guarantee that a video store in your town would carry it for rental.
"A Story Told Is A Story Shared"The exercise here is to watch a movie and retell the story to someone. If you cannot find someone to relate the narrative to, tell it to a pet. Speak it into a recording device. Or even just write it down. Who knows? You could wind up becoming a great film reviewer and critic and memorizing what happens in movies for a living.
For bonus points, do both: verbally recount the film and write your description down. This will exercise more parts of your memory and improve recall in a deeper way, especially of you make this a regular affair.
And keep in mind, this description doesn't have to be super-lengthy. When I recall the plot points of a movie in writing, I can usually squeeze it all on to a mid-sized index card, the kind that is about half the size of a sheet of paper. If you're interested in more about memorizing plot points, you can check out this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast on memorizing plot points.
For extra extra bonus points, listen to someone else tell back the story of a movie they've seen. There will probably be some back and forth as they revisit the story from memory, but just let them talk it through. Commit to memorizing at least three major pieces of information.
Hold On To The Names Of CharactersMy girlfriend at the time and I had been watching Deadwood. If you like Westerns, this is a great series.
Anyhow, in season two a new character showed up and we both immediately recognized the actress. "What was her name in Breaking Bad?" my girlfriend asked. "Skyler," I said immediately, "Skyler White."
How did I remember this character's name so easily and my girlfriend did not – even though we had watched the entire series together, episode by episode?
I deliberately paid attention to character names, that's how.
Now, to be fair to this former girlfriend, she never liked Skyler much and doesn't have the same ten year plus track record that I do as a Film Studies professor.
Plus, she didn'
Published on 10 years, 10 months ago
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