Use the Systems

A violin virtuoso living in" America truly believed that he could play so well that he could actually charm a savage beast. Despite the warnings and pleas of his friends, he decided he would go to darkest Africa, unarmed, with only his violin.

He stood in a clearing in the dense jungle and began to play. An elephant received his scent, and came charging towards him; but, when he came within hearing distance, he sat down to listen to the beautiful music.

A panther sprang from a tree with fangs bared, but also succumbed to the music. Soon a lion appeared to join the others. Before long, many wild animals were seated near the virtuoso; he played on, unharmed.

Just then a leopard leaped from a nearby tree, onto the violinist, and devoured him! As he stood licking his chops, the other animals approached, and asked, "Why did you do that? The man was playing such lovely music!"

The leopard, cupping his ear, said, "Eh, what did you say?"

So you see, no matter how beautiful music is, unfortunately, if you can't hear it, it doesn't mean a thing. Similarly, no matter how useful and helpful the systems in this book are, they won't do you a bit of good if you don't use them. I do hope that most of you have given some time and thought to them. If you have, you should be pleased with the progress you've made. The flexibility of the systems, I believe, is their greatest asset. I, personally, have yet to

212 come across anything, pertaining to memory, to which the systems were not applicable.

Take the time necessary to learn how to make conscious associations and once you've mastered it, it will take care of itself. Every once in awhile you may come across some piece of information that you want to remember, that is made to order for an association. If you wanted to remember that a certain item sold for $17.76, you could, of course, use peg words as you've been taught. However, you have all heard of the "Spirit of '76." That phrase will create a picture for most of us of the famous portrayal of the "Spirit of "76"; a man with a drum, a man with a fife, and the third holding our flag. If you were to associate the item in question, with this picture, you would recall that $17.76 was the price.

The Japanese volcano, Fujiyama, is 12,365 feet high. Again, you could use peg words to remember this, or you could associate Fujiyama to "calendar." The reason for "calendar" is that the number of feet is the amount of months in a year (12), and the amount of days in a year (365). You would associate calendar either to volcano, or a substitute word for Fujiyama.

I'm not suggesting that you do this with all numbers; the Peg system is the only infallible one. However, looking for numbers that fall into this category, is good for your imagination and observation, and it helps create an interest in numbers.

In an early chapter I told you that you could remember the names of the Dionne quintuplets by remembering the word "macey." Now you know that in order to remember the word, you would have to associate the quints to "macey." You might "see" Macy's Department Store completely packed with quints, etc. If you want to know the names of the four living quints, drop the odd e, for Emilie, and you'll remember, Marie, Annette, Cecile and Yvonne.

This idea would aid you in recalling the names of the five Great Lakes. If you made a picture in your mind of a lot of "homes" on a great lake, you would always remember that the Lakes are Lake Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior!

If you've learned to make up substitute words quickly and easily, this will become your greatest move towards a better memory. Actually, I should say substitute thoughts or pictures; you know by now that it is the picture created in your mind that's important, not the word itself.

Did you know that the capital of New Mexico is Santa Fe? Well, make a picture of Santa. Claus wearing a Mexican

sombrero, and you'll probably never forget it. If you "see" yourself throwing little rocks at an ark, you'll have no trouble recalling that Little Rock is the capital city of Arkansas. Do you know a girl whose name is Helen or
Helena? Picture her climbing a mountain, to help you remember that Helena is the capital of Montana. If you picture boys eating raw potatoes, you'll remember that Boise is the capital of Idaho (Idaho potatoes). Of course, you could picture Ida hoeing boys, and get the same result. You can easily memorize the capitals of all the forty-eight states with this idea.

You understand, I'm sure, that it would have been impossible for me to give direct examples of how my systems are applicable to all businesses. Be assured that they are applicable to just about anything where memory is involved. Your own particular problem may require a certain twist or change of one of the systems, but you would know that better than I.

Nowadays, most of us are diet conscious, and I've noticed people carrying around little calorie counters to tell them what not to eat. Well, this is fine, but you could use the Peg system to help you memorize the amount of calories contained in the foods you usually eat. If you made a ridiculous picture between a fried egg and "disease," you'd know that a fried egg contained 100 calories. Did you know that one tablespoon of mayonnaise contained 92 calories? Well, if you associate it to "bone," you won't forget it. If you keep gaining weight, and you drink lots of bock beer, you ought to associate "tackle" to the beer, and you'll remember that an 8 ounce glass contains 175 calories.

If any of you still feel that it is too much trouble to use my methods, let me repeat that I call this the "lazy man's" way of remembering. It is the so-called "natural" or rote method of memory that is difficult. Not only is it difficult, but not as efficient, not as retentive, not as rewarding, and not as much fun. Most important, my methods are unlimited. At the risk of seeming repetitious—"you are limited only by your own imagination."

I just used the word "repetitious," which reminded me to mention the fact that many students have trouble remembering that this word is spelled with an e, not an i. If you would print the word on a piece of paper, making that e extra large, make it stand out (repEtitious) and look at it for awhile, you won't misspell it again. If you want to catch your friends, ask them to spell the word, "liquefy." I think nine out of ten people will put an i before the f, instead of an e. Print the word like this:—liqu E fy; look at it and concentrate on it for a moment, and the chances are you'll spell it correctly from here on in. Try this with any word that you are not sure of, and you'll certainly improve your spelling.

Many of the ideas that were taught to you, were taught as memory feats. I've done this for a variety of reasons. First, I believe that it makes it much easier to learn, because you can actually see your goal. I've seen too many people start to try to learn something, and then give it up midway because they couldn't see the use or benefit of it right in front of their eyes. Seeing the goal gives you an added incentive to learn. The fact that you can use the feats to entertain your friends, is an extra added incentive.

When you can do or understand the stunts, you've grasped the idea, and that's all I care about. Once you've got the idea, you will be able to apply it when you need it. This is where you must put your imagination to work. Any memory problem that may present itself, can be solved by using one or more of the methods and systems; whether they were taught to you in the form of a memory demonstration or otherwise.

My purpose in writing this book has been to give you the basis and groundwork of a trained memory. The systems
are more far reaching and more applicable than the space allowed me could possibly show. I do hope, however, that I have given you an inkling of what can be done with my systems. The rest is up to you!