{"id":115052,"date":"2023-10-16T11:37:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-16T15:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=115052"},"modified":"2023-10-16T14:08:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T18:08:33","slug":"unlimited-memory-kevin-horsley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/unlimited-memory-kevin-horsley\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley: Book Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you often feel frustrated by your tendency to forget things? What four habits will help you improve your memory<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Unlimited Memory<\/em>, Kevin Horsley says there’s no such thing as a bad memory. You just need to train your brain so you can retain information better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read below for a brief overview of Unlimited Memory<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Unlimited Memory <\/em>by Kevin Horsley<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Unlimited Memory<\/em><\/a>, Kevin Horsley explains that, using the right techniques, anyone can train their brain to learn and remember anything. He offers several techniques to help you remember everything by making associations between things you already know well\u2014like your car or your body\u2014and things you want to remember. He also describes strategies to help you remember things through story, art, and visualization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Horsley is a professional speaker and author of books such as The Happy Mind<\/em><\/a> and Remembering the Presidents of the USA<\/em><\/a>. He\u2019s also a World Memory Championship<\/a> medalist and has received the title of International Grandmaster of Memory\u2014a title held by only 22 people in the world<\/a>\u2014from the International Association of Memory<\/a>. This is an association devoted to connecting memory sport federations from different nations, and it governs and hosts memory competitions all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Memory: The Foundation of Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Horsley, your memory is one of your most important abilities as a human being<\/strong>. It underpins learning\u2014the process of gaining new knowledge\u2014because remembering information is the key to utilizing it. Memory is also foundational to gaining skills because all skills build on knowledge. For example, in order to gain the skill of speaking another language, you have to build the knowledge of that language\u2019s vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, and then you have to remember<\/em> that knowledge so you can apply it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving your memory will help you in many ways: For example, you\u2019ll be able to connect better with others by remembering meaningful details about their experiences and identities.<\/strong> You\u2019ll also be able to make better decisions<\/a> in the moment because you won\u2019t have to search for the information you need to base those decisions on\u2014you\u2019ll just have it waiting in your memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people think of memory as a capacity<\/em> you\u2019re born with\u2014they believe that some people simply have a better memory than others. However, Horsley asserts that this is a limiting belief: A self-fulfilling prophecy about your own limitations that keeps you from learning and tapping your mind\u2019s full potential. In other words, if you believe you have a poor memory, this belief will hold you back and ensure that you do<\/em> have a poor memory. The ability to remember information is a practice<\/em>, not an innate trait, which means you can improve it through training and using memory techniques.<\/strong> Thus, you can incorporate a memory practice into your daily life to help you remember anything you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horsley explains that you can use his techniques to achieve an unlimited memory. He uses this term literally: If you devote the necessary time and effort to it, there\u2019s no limit to the amount of information you can remember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horsley explains that having an unlimited memory is a matter of adopting four habits, which we\u2019ve condensed into three: attention, association, and practice. In the next sections we\u2019ll explore in more detail how to adopt each of these habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention: Stay Present While Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your ability to commit information to memory depends on how well you pay attention to it. Paying close attention to what you\u2019re learning requires you to be present in the moment<\/a><\/strong>\u2014focusing on the task at hand and blocking out irrelevant stimuli or interruptions. <\/strong>If your mind is cluttered with discouragement, distraction, or a lack of a clear goal, you can\u2019t be present. Below we\u2019ll explain how to manage these types of clutter to help you pay better attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing With Discouragement<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

According to Horsley, the way you talk to yourself determines how well you can pay attention. If you tell yourself you\u2019re bad at paying attention<\/a>, and you believe you\u2019re bad at it, you will be. He explains that people often have limiting beliefs that keep them from improving their abilities. These beliefs include things like \u201cI\u2019m unintelligent,\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t have enough help from others to do this,\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s too hard.\u201d Believing these things will make them true, but shedding these beliefs will unlock your potential. To get rid of your limiting beliefs, replace them with empowering beliefs<\/a><\/strong> like \u201cI have a natural aptitude for learning and remembering,\u201d and \u201cI can do anything I set my mind to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing With Distraction<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Another reason we struggle to pay attention and be present in the moment is that we try to do too many things at once<\/strong>. We often attempt to multitask when we\u2019re learning, but Horsley explains that multitasking is impossible because you can\u2019t direct your attention<\/a> to more than one thing at a time<\/a>. Research shows that multitasking slows you down and increases the number of mistakes you make. If you stop trying to multitask, you\u2019ll find you can pay attention more closely and for longer periods than if you continue to try to split your focus. To do this, Horsley recommends training yourself to focus only on one thing at any given moment and avoid the urge to constantly distract yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating a Clear Goal<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When trying to learn something, identify two aspects of your goal: 1) what you want to learn and 2) how you want to apply it. And the more specific these goals are, the better. According to Horsley, a lack of a clear, specific goal in what you\u2019re focusing on creates a disconnect in your mind between what you\u2019re trying to do and what you want to do: If you don\u2019t know what your goal is, you won\u2019t know how to go about achieving it, and you won\u2019t be able to tell when you have<\/em> achieved it. Establishing a clear goal requires you to be curious about what you\u2019re learning so you\u2019ll have a better idea of how you can apply the topic to your life. This will help you establish why<\/em> you\u2019re learning this information, which makes it easier to organize your ideas and retain knowledge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You also need to identify what about the topic interests you, because we naturally struggle to pay attention to anything that doesn\u2019t interest us. If your topic isn\u2019t immediately of interest to you, look for ways to connect it to things that do<\/em> interest you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Association: Connecting What You\u2019re Learning to What You Know <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Horsley\u2019s second memory principle<\/a> is association: According to Horsley, we learn everything by association<\/strong>. Association is when you make mental connections between knowledge you already have and the knowledge you\u2019re trying to learn. You\u2019re using your long-term memory (things you already know well) to latch onto items that are passing through your short-term memory. This allows you to store them in your medium-term memory (which ultimately becomes your long-term memory). This is how you make new information accessible to your brain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, when you meet someone for the first time, their name is new information. When they tell you their name, it will go into your short-term memory, and unless you make a deliberate effort to create an association between that name and some other information that\u2019s already in your long-term memory, it will fade from your short-term memory within seconds. If you meet someone named Julie, for example, you may look closely at her face and imagine her covered in jewels to help you remember the sound of her name. This will shift her name from your short-term memory to your medium-term memory, and revisiting that association will eventually push the information into your long-term memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more knowledge you have, the easier it is to take in new knowledge because there\u2019s more to connect it to. The techniques for memorization that Horsley describes are all based on associative learning. These techniques include the SEE method for remembering any information, as well as tips for organizing your memories and specific advice on how to remember lists<\/a> through pegging information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SEE Method<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To help you create such associations and make any piece of information easier to learn, Horsley recommends the SEE method. SEE stands for Senses, Exaggeration, and Energize. The SEE technique helps you make information more meaningful, and meaningful information is easier to remember than meaningless information<\/strong>. These three strategies can be used in any order, but Horsley recommends using all three for any piece of important information you want to remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senses<\/strong>: Your five senses are your means of perceiving\u2014and thus learning about\u2014the world. Creating an association between information and your senses automatically makes it more memorable. You can use your senses to make sensory images in your mind that will make information more real and accessible to your brain. For example, say you\u2019re trying to memorize musical terms like forte<\/em>, allegro<\/em>, and octave<\/em>. Forte<\/em> means strong and loud, and a fort is a strong structure, so create a sensory image by picturing someone standing on top of a fort<\/strong> (visual image) yelling loudly<\/strong> (auditory image) to be heard from the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exaggeration<\/strong>: As you\u2019re creating your sensory associations, make them ridiculous or illogical to make them stick in your memory better. It\u2019s easier to remember a cat the size of a thimble than a regular-sized cat, for example, or to remember a man with a neon-green mustache than a man with a mustache of a regular color. Returning to our musical terms example: Allegro<\/em> means fast and lively and sounds like \u201cleg,\u201d so imagine a pair of legs<\/strong> growing<\/strong> comically long, like the size of skyscrapers, so they walk faster<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energize<\/strong>: Once you have your exaggerated sensory images, animate them. Creating action in your images helps you turn them into a narrative, and it\u2019s easier to remember action than nonaction. To illustrate this, consider our final musical term: octave. Octave<\/em> means a range of eight notes, and an octopus has eight tentacles, so imagine an octopus<\/strong> animatedly playing a piano and hitting eight notes at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating Organized Memories<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Another associative technique that Horsley describes is organizing your memories so they\u2019re easier to retain. He recommends strategies in which you associate new pieces of information with things you already know well. For example, imagine you\u2019re trying to memorize the eight primary emotions<\/a> according to Robert Plutchik: joy, sadness, fear, anger, anticipation, surprise, disgust, and trust. We\u2019ll use a home as our reference point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since there are eight things we\u2019re trying to remember, we\u2019ll identify eight places in a typical home that we can associate each word with: the computer, television, closet, dryer, oven, refrigerator, trash can, and thermostat. Now you\u2019ll use the SEE method to create a clear image you can associate with each emotion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n