SPEED READING
In the last part of this series, I will be talking about memory techniques that can be used to memorize large amounts of information. In Part 1 of My Best Takeaways from Jim Kwik's Limitless, I talked about picking up the skill of speed reading. This was probably my favorite part of the book because of how quickly you could learn the skill by doing the simple exercise detailed in the book. I've written my own account of the speed reading exercise and you can check it out in Part 1.
My good friend 
Read Faster, Memorize Better: My Best Takeaways from Jim Kwik's LIMITLESS
CONNECTED STORY TECHNIQUE
For part 2 of the series, I shared some memory techniques, still from the book, that will let you easily memorize long lists of words and names of people. I also like the section on "Memory" of the book because of how quickly I was able to pick up the techniques by doing the exercises. Check out the Connected Story Technique in Part 2 of my series.
I listed 15 words in that post to be memorized using the technique and honestly, I can still memorize each one of them in the correct order, forward and backward.
Incredible Memory Techniques: Part 2 of My Best Takeaways from Jim Kwik's LIMITLESS
MIND PALACE TECHNIQUE
For this 3rd and last part, I will still be sharing some memory techniques but focused on memorizing large amounts of information. In my previous posts, I talked about how we become so reliant on technology to do the thinking and storing of memory for us. While that is not entirely a bad thing, under-utilizing the potential of our brains can become a problem.
The book talks about the brain as a muscle that needs to be exercised to stay in top shape so that it can perform well during the times we need it. Some of these exercises are memory techniques that can help us improve our memory. The author of the book has an advocacy on helping people fight degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
The book does not use the term Mind Palace. It's a term I've picked from the BBC series, Sherlock where the same technique is used by the famous detective to memorize a lot of important details. The book recommends using this when delivering long speeches or talks.
The Mind Palace technique is still based on the Connected Story technique but with the addition of an image or map of a familiar location. All you need to do is imagine a certain place that's big enough for you to walk around. It can be your house or as big as a "palace" as long as you can picture yourself walking around the place and recall certain details of the location such as furniture or fixtures.
The basic idea of this technique is to assign chunks of information to different parts of your "Mind Palace" and access those information by going through those certain parts in your mind. The book gives the example of memorizing a speech. The first step is, of course, to write the speech. And the speech should then be condensed into chunks of ideas.
The most important step is to picture out your chosen location or your "Mind Palace" and plant those ideas on certain parts. It's good to start at the door. You "plant" your idea by associating it with the door or something that you might see or you put on your door. Then, you walk through your "palace" and choose the next area to associate your idea. When memorizing ideas in a certain order, it's best to plant them in certain places where you are likely to encounter them in the same order as your ideas. A good order can be from your door to your living room chair, your TV, kitchen table, your fridge, your sink, etc.
Recalling your prepared speech will now be about going through your mind palace and recognizing your ideas on the different areas that you'll encounter in your mind.
BONUS: SPACED REPETITION & MIND MAPS
As a bonus to the last part of this series, I will be adding two more memory techniques that I have personally used for the essay exams in my Intellectual Property course. I discovered these techniques from a YouTube video that I have added below. Unsurprisingly, the book also talked about these techniques.
I was amazed at how the guy from the YouTube video explained his techniques. He was studying to be a doctor but I found that his techniques could be used for any subject.
The video talks about other things but what I will be sharing with you are Spaced Repetition and Mind Maps. The book discusses the importance of Spaced Repetition. It's basically rote memorization but you upgrade it by performing the memorization and recollection in a spaced manner. What you do is spend a session recalling the things that you need to memorize. The session can be less than an hour. Then, you space your sessions by doing it again after a few hours or the next day.
It's quite simple, actually. It's the exact opposite of cramming. You memorize different parts of your study material for days. This way, your brain is able to retain longer the things you need to memorize.
The next technique is making use of Mind Maps. The YouTube video calls it Spider Diagrams. It's a modified version of the Mind Palace technique. Instead of a palace, you make use of a diagram. The most common mind maps start at the center containing the main topic. Then, it branches out to different words or ideas that are connected to the main topic. The result is a map of different ideas showing how each idea connects with the other ideas or with the main topic. In the video, each idea or group of words written in the spider diagram has a corresponding discussion or description that also has to be memorized.
Using spaced repetition, you will memorize the Mind Maps and the discussions or descriptions contained in them for a session of less than an hour. You study different mind maps or different areas of the mind maps for days and that will ensure that your brain will store as much information that you will need, say for an exam.
I aced my final exam using these techniques and I was quite dismayed that I did not use them during my undergraduate days.
And that's it! I have finally finished this series. I know this post is not something you'd want to read for the sake of reading. I suggest you bookmark this for a time that you might need it or share it with someone who you think will find this really useful.
I really enjoyed reading Limitless and I know I can't force people to read it but at least I get to share some of the most useful parts in the book here in Hive. I will be starting a book review series for the books I've read in 2021. It's not going to be the same as what I did for Limitless. Writing this in 3 parts was a lot of work, to be honest. This will be my first post in the Hive Book Club Community and I am looking forward to posting more.
I am glad that I still get to continue blogging here in Hive. I am always grateful for the support of my friends here and of the people who discover my posts. See you in the next post. Cheers!