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- If humor works for you, exaggerate anything that will help you remember the person, such as Cathy who maybe wearing a safari scarf can be remembered as Tiger Cathy. Or if Samantha is wearing pink that day, then make a mental picture of Samantha as a Flamingo.
- Ask as much information about the person as you can. If from a different state, then use the State abbreviation to correlate with their first name. Hannah from California can be remembered as Hannah CA, or Aaron from Arizona can be remembered as AA from AZ.
- What are their interests? What sport do they play? What is their job? In answering any of those questions, one of the replies will stand out and will make yourself be more familiar with the person in front of you.
- If you have access to a digital camera or a mobile phone with a digital camera, then snap one with your new friend. The picture need not be the most photogenic for both of you, just a sure way to keep a remembrance of the meeting.
- When ending the conversation, make sure to repeat the name of the new friend for as often as possible. Recall one or two points in the conversation that you will never forget and make a testament about him or her on those points, before you part.
- Immediately after meeting the person, try to jot down whatever transpired through the concluded conversation: where you met, how, why and the specifics of your conversation. Try to keep that note in a scrapbook of small notes about acquaintances.
- Better still, at the end of each day, jot down specific highlights of your day in a journal, especially when meeting someone and you are sure to keep the acquaintance forever.
The next time you attend a high school re-union, or bump into an old friend at the mall, don’t be at a loss … snappily call them out and rekindle friendships that were almost lost but are now found and remembered, forever!
What about memorizing long numbers?
Memorizing Long Numbers is as easy as One, Two, and Three.
Did you fail Math because you forgot to memorize the consonant pi? Did you ever cause a long line at the “New Accounts” lane looking for your Social Security Number? If you think that your memory needs major work, don’t lose hope. Just remember these three ways you can use to memorize long numbers.
One: Major System
The first and most common way to memorize long numbers is called the Major System. The system works by memorizing words and phrases instead of the numbers themselves. As such, words and phrases are easier to remember and recalled.
The words or phrases are formed by combining vowels and consonants that stand-in for each digit in the number series. Each number, from 0 – 10 is assigned a consonant. It is not an exact letter-to-number correspondence but more of letter-to-consonant sound correspondence (phonetic). Below is the mapping:
0 is substituted with “s, z”
1 is substituted with “d, t or th”
2 is substituted with “n, ing”
3 is substituted with “m”
4 is substituted with “r”
5 is substituted with “l”
6 is substituted with “j, sh, ch, zh”
7 is substituted with “k, hard g”
8 is substituted with “f, v”
9 is substituted with “b, p”
After substituting each number with the consonant, fill in between with vowels to create a familiar word or phrase that makes sense and thus can be easily remembered.
For example, in remembering when the Gettysburg Address was delivered (11-19-1863), substitute the numbers with consonants as suggested by the Major System:
1 is substituted with “t” or “th”, so 11 is substituted the word “that”
9 is substituted with “b”, so 19 is “t” & “p” or form the word “top”
8 is substitued with “v”, 6 with “g” and 3 with “m”, so 1863 is “t”, “v”, “g” & “m” or form the phrase “tv gem”
So, to remember the date, just remember the phrase “That top TV gem” and recall 11-19-1863.
Now practice using your Social Security Number and create words and phrases that are significant to you, ones that you can easily recall, the next time you fill up that form.
Such a system is also very useful for memorizing phone numbers or zip codes. Just create word sequences that are relevant to the area being remembered.
Two: Edwards System
Not entirely different from the Major System, the Edwards system also substitutes digits with words, but more with famous people, who are easier to recall. Instead of single digits, the Edwards system uses double digits for association with people’s initials or famous characters.
To use the system, map the numbers 00 through 99. Correlate famous characters or initials to each pair like associate 07 for James Bond (007), 08 for Kobe Bryant (8), 23 for Michael Jordan, 33 for Larry Bird. If you are lost for famous people associated with numbers, use the Major system to come up with initials for the number pair, like GB for 79, so remember George Bush; SD (Saddam) for 01; SN (Hussein) for 02.
After mapping, break the number series to be remembered into pairs and memorize a series of famous characters or make them interact for a lasting and entertaining memorization.
Three: Grouping System
For mathematical consonants like pi and the Euler’s consonants (e), using the Major system or Edwards’s system may not work. The word and phrase combination for the number series may not make perfect sense, thus maybe difficult to remember. Instead, some Mathematicians have devised a way to group the numbers into shorter series and to associate them with whatever can help remember the sequence.
For example, first 16 digits of Euler’s consonant are 2.718281828459045. By using the Major System, one can come up with a phrase for it such as "NeGaTiVe iNnoVaTiVe uNFuRL BiZaRreLy ". The capitalized letters would represent consonants substituted for the digits, as per the number system, but the whole phrase may not make such perfect sense.
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