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Dear Memorizers,
As you learned about back in the post, What If I Wanted To Memorize 3000 Words?, there's really no memorization challenge that cannot be overcome.
That said, there are a number of "painful truths" about memorizing that many people let get in the way of their progress.
Let's look at some of these.
1. You will make mistakes. It's a basic fact that not only will we make mistakes when memorizing material such as foreign language vocabulary, names, faces and even our dreams, but we need to make mistakes in order to identify problem areas and grow.
It's an old cliche but a stubbornly correct one: we learn by failing. Or better put, it's only failure if you refuse to learn from the mistakes. I think we've all probably had that experience of knowing that we're doing something wrong, but going ahead and doing it anyway.
The trick is to stop, correct and then proceed along the newly corrected basis. And in doing so, we make the practice artful.
And, of course, I'm always talking about projects for memorizing stuff that's important to you, like foreign language vocabulary, names and faces and poetry. But the same principles apply even if you're into competition and feats of extreme memory. And yes, even memory champions make mistakes when their skills are on display.
2. You will be tempted to show off. Showing off is not such a bad thing, but the reason that it's a painful truth when it comes to memory skills is that … you're going to make mistakes. For many people, this is enough to turn them off of using memory skills or a dedicated Memory Palace network forever.
This is a shame because failure, slip-ups and all kinds of foibles happen all the time. And you can learn from them, simply by grabbing hold of yourself, letting yourself relax, apologize if necessary and then start again at a convenient place.
Just like Alica Crosby did in the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast episode, Tap the Mind of a 10-year Old Memory Palace Master. She made a tiny little error, caught herself and then corrected.
Like it was nothing.
Which it was.
So if you are showing off (and I hope that you do), don't let a tiny little mistake shame you out of continuing with memory development.
And here's a tip: demonstrate your skills to others in low stress environments. For example, do card drills in front of your dog or cat. Your pets don't care if you get it wrong, but you will have the feeling that you're demonstrating your memory skills in front of a sentient being.
Then scale it up to your mom, your dad or a friend you know will be chill if you slip up. You can even tell them that you're a bit nervous about making a mistake, which is a cool trick because when you don't make any mistakes
Published on 11 years, 5 months ago
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