Learning ability

Try to imagine or create an association or connection or reason for why these two words, “horse” and “volcano”, are directly related to each other. Make this association as ridiculous as you wish-it could be anything such as a story that features these two words or a mental image that involves these two things being in the same picture, or a poem you write using these words-anything that “bonds” these two words in your memory “forever.”

Your goal is to make the association “stick” and that a year from now, you will be easily able to remember this “set.” This means that if someone asks you about what other word belongs in the set with “horse,” you will immediately remember the word “volcano.”

Finally, hand a piece of paper with these two words on it to a friend, and ask the friend to ask you what the two words on the paper are-a year from now.

Ask yourself,Why am I certain that I will remember this after a year? How do I know when I have entered something into my permanent memory?

Can I use this method to connect other things that it would be beneficial for me to remember such as a person’s name being connected to their face, or a phone number with a name?

Why do I so rarely, “on purpose,” memorize items? Why, when I can consciously create a lasting and a retrievable memory of information, do I not do so and depend upon some hazy automatic process instead?

What is the long-term payoff for practicing this method?

How much could I memorize if I put my mind to it?

If someone paid me a million dollars to memorize a phone book in less than a year’s time, would I try it?

How much do I believe in my potential to learn?

Given that I have already learned a language including all its rules of grammar and how to spell 40,000 or more words almost perfectly, just where could I be a year from now?

Is there ANY limit, really, for me?