1 – Secrets of Mental Math

Full title: Secrets of Mental Math: The Mathemagician’s Guide to Lightning Calculation and Amazing Math Tricks
by Arthur Benjamin and Michael Shermer

Actual comments from readers at Amazon.com:

• “It gets right to the point. It’s very well written. It’s fun. It’s practical. And as long as you take your time to mentally practice what you’re learning along the way, you can and should be able to master the techniques in this book.”
• “I recommend this book for those who never felt they got the hang of math as well as people who love it like I do. It is clearly written, very encouraging and has lots of drills.”
• “As a trained scientist and a professional magician I was interested in the contents, and was not disappointed. Great stuff here for impressing people, and useful techniques for making maths fun.”
• “This book teaches you a few principles to do arithmetics in your head but they are contained in the first two chapters on addition/subtraction and multiplication. Most of the rest of the books are about the same principles but applying to bigger numbers. Doing this requires keeping track of partial results in your head and combine them in the end. I don’t see a point of training my short term memory for this because I am not paid to perform such mathematical tricks daily, not to mention my answers will not be as reliable as a $5.00 calculator. In a nutshell, the author might as well explain the principles in 3 pages. The readers’ interest and motivation to improve short term memory will determine how much you can do mental math.”
• “It’s worth purchasing because the shortcuts aren’t anywhere else on the Internet. (I think the author actually discovered some of the mathematical shortcuts, himself). One word of caution: make sure you feel comfortable with each technique before moving on. I didn’t do this the first run through, and had to go back.”

Conclusion: the most popular book on mental math. Practical, well written and fun.


Buy Secrets of Mental Math at Amazon.com

2 – Speed Mathematics

Full title: Speed Mathematic: Secret Skills for Quick Calculation
by Bill Handley

Actual comments of readers at Amazon.com:

• “The book is very good in teaching what Handley calls the reference number method for multiplication. But I think the average reader would have difficulty following some of the explanations for both division methods.”
• “I found the topics enjoyable to read and the explanations quite clearly presented.”

Conclusion: one of the most popular books on speed mathematics. The skills may not be so secret, but this seems like a great book to learn techniques for mental math and speed mathematics.


Buy Speed Mathematics at Amazon.com

3 – Short-Cut Math

by Gerard W. Kelly

Actual comments of readers at Amazon.com:

• “Its simple, clean-cut approach to finding easy solutions to everyday math problems should be a tremendous help to everyone who reads it.”
• “This book is exceptionally well written. Each problem is worked out or resolved completely.”
• “Being slightly math phobic, I have always tried to find easier ways to solve math problems. This book gave my current methods credibility and gave me new ideas and methods to try.”
• “I liked this book because it showed me how to approach simple math problems in flexible ways. In short, the techniques were like many algebra problems I had dealt with; if you don’t like the form or layout of a problem, change it to something simpler or nicer or else think of it in a different way.”

Conclusion: more about shortcuts than mental math, but full of techniques to solve math problems in flexible ways.


Buy Short-Cut Math at Amazon.com

4 – Arithmetricks

Full title: Arithmetricks: 50 Easy Ways to Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide Without a Calculator
by Edward H. Julius

Actual comments of readers at Amazon.com:

• “I plan on using this book to enhance my students mental math abilities. This book is a great way to do the mental math and focus on that higher order thinking. This book is organized well, and is well-suited for classroom use. There were many tricks that I didn’t even know existed and everything is still based on basic math. This can work from the slowest to the most advanced learner.”
• “The math tricks are very cool and easy to understand. This book is awesome for people of all ages.”

Conclusion: a good book for beginners and advanced.


Buy Arithmetricks at Amazon.com

5 – Speed Mathematics Simplified

by Edward Stoddard

Actual comments of readers at Amazon.com:

• “It is the first unified speed math concept book that teaches a fast way to do mental calculations without memorizing a multitude of various rules for specific mathematical situations. After reading this, I have stopped searching for any further speed math books because i doubt any could compare.”
• “I, as a math teacher, wish more students were taught this way. The simplicity of the methods, once mastered, generates an ease and accuracy of computation that is simply amazing to behold.”
• “I found this book fun reading but a more practical book covering the same ground is Handley’s SPEED MATHEMATICS.”

Conclusion: good book, but perhaps a bit dated.


Buy Speed Mathematics Simplified at Amazon.com

6 – Speed Mathematics Using the Vedic System

by Vali Nasser

Actual comments of readers at Amazon.com:

• “A good resource for teachers and parents. Smart children with an interest in speedy number crunching will find it beneficial too. A good book which is relatively easy to follow. However, be prepared to spend a few weeks to master the different techniques before you start showing off your new mental arithmetical skills!”
• “It compares well with other books on speed mathematics. Its main concentration is on arithmetic and algebra and is suitable for children from 11- 16 years of age. Easy to understand and well written.”

Conclusion: not for the advanced, but you could definitely pick up some techniques with this book.


Buy Speed Mathematics Using the Vedic System at Amazon.com

7 – Rapid Math Tricks & Tips

Full title: Rapid Math Tricks & Tips: 30 Days to Number Power
by Edward H. Julius

Actual comments of readers at Amazon.com:

• “The various methods are interesting but most of them are not very practical for everyday calculation since most are special cases rather than general applications. For successful use they also require instant recall of the basic number facts and there is no hint as to how this can be accomplished.”
• “Once you start reading this book, you will be hooked with it, and with your recent ability to make fast simple calculations. But lets keep it real, this is just a collection of tricks and shortcuts for arithmetic operations (+, -, x, /) you won’t become an expert mathematician, but you will enjoy math a lot more.”

Conclusion: this book will not make you a mathematical wizard in 30 days, but could be useful to learn some new methods in speed mathematics.


Buy Rapid Math Tricks & Tips at Amazon.com

Bonus: Fun With Figures

• “I was up until 2 o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t put the book down, it is compulsive!”
• “Fun with Figures is the most informative and fun math program I’ve ever had. In a short time I had much improvement after a lifetime of poor math skills. I’m fifty one years old and didn’t expect to be learning so much and having fun doing it!”

Conclusion: for this price of a single book, you get a full course in mental math. Looks promising.


Buy Fun With Figures

Most people think that being creative is something you are born with. Although to some people it can come more easily, creativity is something you can develop. Here are 7 ways to become more creative.

1. Think Like A Child
As adults we tend to think in a conditioned way aimed at showing how clever we are. Yet, as children, we were simply spontaneous and far more creative in our thinking. To re-capture your childhood curiosity, allow yourself to just wonder at things, to be completely present in the here and now, and to detach yourself from what you thought was real.

2. Make New Connections
To be innovative does not require a university degree; it simply requires making a connection between existing ideas. For instance, did you know that ice cream was invented in 2000 BC yet it took another 3900 years for someone to come up with the idea of a cone? It is when you take two seemingly unrelated items and use the spark of creativity that genius happens.

3. Be A Little Illogical
It is a peculiarly Western trait to want to tie things up in neat bundles. We prefer solutions to problems, and answers to questions. To be creative, you need to be comfortable with things that don’t fit. The Eastern tradition is more in tune with incongruence. As in this Zen koan, or problem: what is the sound of one hand clapping?

4. Laugh More
Tom Peters says that the creativity of a workplace can be measured by a laughometer, ie how much it laughs. Humor is one of the greatest creative devices. It gets us out of our normal patterns and puts ideas together that shouldn’t go together. It has been found that after listening to comedy tapes, the ability of students ability to solve problems rises by 60%.

5. Think Outside Your Limits
Many of the products we take for granted today are the result of people thinking outside their limits. A good example of this is science fiction. Science fiction writers came up with things like sliding doors before we all took it for granted.

6. Adopt and Adapt
To be creative doesn’t require blue-sky thinking. You can still be creative by adapting what works elsewhere. An American airline that wanted quicker turnarounds on their flights adopted the techniques of Formula One pit crews. Another source of ideas is nature. Georges de Mestral adapted the way certain seeds stick to clothing and invented Velcro.

7. Remember Your Dreams
Dreaming and day-dreaming can create a rich stream of ideas, because that’s when we relax and let the subconscious mind work by itself. Most flashes of inspiration come when we are walking the dog, taking a shower, or cleaning around the house. A great book related to this subject is The Einstein Factor by Win Wenger.

Apply these 7 creative thinking techniques and make them part of your daily thinking. New solutions to your problems will open up to you with ease and speed.

In the next few weeks I will post a series of articles on the subject of conversational hypnosis. The previous article was about Derren Brown and Conversational Hypnosis. Now you can learn more about what conversational hypnosis is and how you can use it.

Misconceptions about Hypnosis
You have probably seen or heard stories of people making a fool of themselves on stage after someone hypnotized them. They seem to be completely under the control of the stage hypnotist. This can be scary to some. What if someone has the power to completely control or dominate other people? This huge misconception of power has been created by films, the media, books and articles, but fortunately this kind of power is not possible.

In hypnosis you are negotiating with someone’s subconscious mind. And the subconscious mind is the place where people’s ethics and moral code is stored. A stage hypnotist’s job is to create the illusion of control, but the volunteers on the show never do anything conflicting with their moral code.

What is Hypnosis?
Normal everyday hypnosis is happening all around you. Have you ever driven in your car and all of a sudden you wonder what happened the last fifteen minutes or so? You know you were driving your car, because you are not in the same place where you were fifteen minutes ago. But you can’t recall the journey. This is an example of your subconscious mind taking over, making your life easier. You could say that you have entered an hypnotic trance. Another example of everyday hypnosis is when you are reading a book and you are so involved in the story that you forget about everything else and just don’t pick up signals from the world outside anymore.

There are different kinds of hypnosis – self-hypnosis, stage hypnosis and there is also Ericksonian hypnosis. The last one is also known as covert hypnosis or conversational hypnosis. With conversational hypnosis you can hypnotize and manipulate people just by talking to them. They don’t even realize that they are being hypnotized.

How Does Conversational Hypnosis Work?
First you need to know about one of the basic rules you hear quite often in the personal development field. Before something manifests itself in the real world, you first thought about it in your inner world (your mind). That means that if you want to help someone change their behavior, you should help them change their inner world first. Eventually that will influence the way that behavior manifests itself in the outer world (the real world).

Most people have a guard around their inner world that protects their beliefs and how they think and feel about certain things. Normally you can’t simply walk up to someone and tell them to change their behavior and their beliefs. A lot of people will become defensive and come up with all kinds of reasons about why you are wrong and they are right. You need a more subtle approach for this. This is where conversational hypnosis comes in. Conversational hypnosis is all about planting seeds of action in someone’s inner world. By carefully influencing how someone views his or her inner world, you begin to influence how someone thinks or feels about certain things and how they will act on this.

The 4 Steps to Hypnotizing Someone
There are four steps to hypnotizing someone using conversational hypnosis.

1. Absorb attention. You want to make sure that you have the attention of the other person, so that they are not distracted by other signals and their own thoughts.
2. Bypass the critical factor. If you have ever given someone good advice, you know the kind of responses you can get. Good advice that would actually have helped them, gets discarded with remarks like “No, this isn’t possible” or “Oh, I thought of that already. That won’t work“. Their ‘critical factor’ is getting in the way. Once you bypass this critical factor, then you can present your advice.
3. Activate an unconscious response. Any response will do. An example is an emotional response. You don’t choose to have an emotional response to something – it just happens at an unconscious level and they are the results of your subconscious mind responding to the suggestions that you present to yourself.
4. Lead the unconscious to desired outcome. And this is where you lead those unconscious responses to the outcome you are looking for.

There are several ways to absorb someone’s attention and there are numerous ways to bypass the critical factor. I will go into those in the next articles. If you can’t wait, you can check out this great course called The Power of Conversational Hypnosis. I’ve been reading and listening to the material the last few weeks and simply can’t put it away. I’ve already noticed the difference in my conversations with other people. The course contains great exercises to learn this material quickly, but just by reading the material or listening to the audio files you pick up some of these techniques and work with it on an unconscious level.

Have fun and see you at the next article in the series!

Gerber

Conversational Hypnosis
Much of what we know about conversational hypnosis is based upon the works of one man – Milton Erickson. He was one of the great influences for Richard Bandler and John Grinder when they started with NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). He basically used language as a tool to reach people on a subconscious level. Most people will reject certain advice on how to change straight away. But if you for instance embed a suggestion in a story you are telling, this suggestion will embed itself into the other person’s mind like a seed in fertile ground. I will go into this subject in more detail in another post. First I want to show you some entertaining examples on how people can be influenced with subtle suggestions.

Derren Brown
I’m a big fan of Derren Brown and have seen most of his tv shows. What intrigues me the most is how he gets people to do what he wants them to do. Conversational hypnosis does play a role here, but it isn’t the only tool he uses. He uses, as he says so himself, a mix of magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship.

Here are a couple of videos where Derren uses suggestion to influence how the other people react. Apparently it isn’t allowed anymore to embed these videos into this blog post, but here are the links so you can still watch them.

YouTube – Derren Brown – Subliminal Advertising

YouTube – Derren Brown – How to Influence Someone’s Selection of a Gift

Want To Learn More?
If you want to learn more about conversational hypnosis, check out the The Power of Conversational Hypnosis. It might not be cheap, but it’s highly recommended.

Have fun with the Derren Brown videos and take a look at The Power of Conversational Hypnosis. There is no risk in buying this as there is a 60 day guarantee. You can always ask for a refund if you feel the material is not worth your money.

Gerber

The articles about increasing mind power seem to be quite popular on this blog. Here are some more ways to increase your mind power. I will link to other articles on this blog if the subject has already been explained in more detail.

1. Deep breathing. More air in means more oxygen in the blood and therefore in the brain. Several deep breaths can also help you to relax, which helps you to think more clearly.
2. Meditation. Meditation is a great way to relax and lower your level of stress. Right after a meditation session you will usually find it much easier to solve a problem or a difficult puzzle.
3. Good posture. Posture affects your thinking process. Try sitting up straight. Do a simple math exercise in your head while slouching, looking at the floor and letting your mouth hang open. Then do the mental math while sitting up straight, keeping your mouth closed and looking forward or slightly upwards. You’ll notice that it’s easier to think with the latter posture. This will also allow you to read faster and improve comprehension.
4. Clear space. Clear space equals clear thinking. So clear up your office or home. If your office or home is to cluttered, go somewhere else. A change of surroundings can be great for creative thinking. Instead of spending a sunny afternoon working in a crowded office, try doing some of your work on a park bench in the clean open air.
5. Time. Make use of the time that is otherwise wasted or just under-utilized. Use audio books while driving to work or cleaning the house. You can even speed up the audio, so that you can learn more in the same time period.
6. Modeling and role playing. We can partly reproduce the characteristics and even talents of others by imitating them. This is something we often discover as a child, and then forget. Pretending to be superman or another hero really does give a child more courage temporarily. To experiment with this as an adult, imagine you are Einstein when you are working on a math or physics problem. Be your favorite businessman when you are working on a business situation. The key here is to think like that other person would, and even sit, stand and move like they would. In NLP this is called modeling. Even though you are making these things up, this is a powerful way to access more of your subconscious brainpower.
7. Problem solving. To develop a more powerful and creative mind, use a problem solving technique daily for several weeks. Become a problem solver. If you don’t have a problem to solve on some days, make them up. Redesign everything you see for a while. Regular use for at least 21 days will make this a habit. Many good thinking habits take some effort to develop, but from that point on you can use them anytime you like.
8. Mental math shortcuts. Although most people will use a calculator (nearly every cell phone has one), doing math in your head is a really useful skill. And this does not always have to be hard. There are several tricks and shortcuts available to make doing math a lot easier. Try to create your own math shortcuts, or try any of the tricks and shortcuts you read about and adopt the ones that seem to work best for you. When you find the shortcuts that work easiest, train your brain to use them habitually. For examples of mental math tricks, click here.
9. Learning a new language. Learning a language is a powerful way to increase your mind power. It can expand the range of your possible thoughts. There are concepts in some languages that don’t exist in others, and differing expressions that affect the way we think. In Spanish, for example, you “gain” money (the verb is ganar). In other languages you “take” it, “earn” it, and so on. Each of those affects the ways in which people think about money. English, for example, is one of the few languages that speaks of “making” money. That way you could see money as something created, rather than a static quantity to be divided up. In Spanish, you are not thirsty, cold or afraid. You have to say “I have thirst (tengo sed)”, “I have coldness (tengo frío)”, or “I have fear (tengo miedo)”. This can change how you experience things. You don’t associate yourself too much with the way you feel. You gain new perspectives when you learn a language, and more ability to understand things. Another benefit is the general improvement in memory that many people experience from studying a language.
10. Basic brain exercises. Find several brain exercises that you enjoy, and make them a habit. Crossword puzzles, sudoku puzzles , lateral thinking puzzles, and even good riddles are a great way to get brain exercise. You can increase your vocabulary and spelling skills by doing crosswords. The more games you do, the more brain capacity, the better you get with vocabulary and spelling. This will spill over into comprehension and understanding. It will also improve your ability to communicate. You can do brain exercises while waiting for a dentist appointment, or on the bus, if you are short on time. You can find all sorts of brain exercises online, in magazines and papers.
11. Asking good questions. Every now and then it’s good to question your beliefs and the things you do in life. For example, you might train yourself to always ask, “How does this advance me towards my important goals?” and “Is there a better alternative?”. Challenging certain assumptions you have will almost always increase the range and the creativity of your solutions.
12. Neurobics. With Neurobics you use your five physical senses and your emotional sense in unexpected ways to that encourage you to break out of your everyday routines. The aim of Neurobics and the specific exercises is to provide you with a balanced, comfortable, and enjoyable way to stimulate your brain. The exercises are designed to help the brain manufacture its own nutrients that strengthen, preserve and grow brain cells. An active brain is a healthy brain, while inaction leads to reduced brain fitness. For more information on Neurobics, click here.
13. Mind mapping. You can use mind mapping to visualize or structure your thoughts and ideas. It helps you when you’re brainstorming or if you have to recall things from your memory. Mind maps can be applied in learning, writing, organizing and decision making. Here is an article on how to use mind maps.
14. Reading. Reading books can be a great way to relax and pass time, but that’s not the only benefit. A good book can give you many new insights. History books and biographies can give you a shortcut in learning by studying the lessons other people have already learned the hard way. Fiction can give you an insight into other people’s thoughts, which you can blend into your own unique philosophy. If you want to get as much out of a book as possible, you might want to read this article.
15. Audio programs. There are several audio programs available that have been researched specifically to enhance and develop the mind. Most of them are really simple and you don’t really have to concentrate. With some of them you can even go to sleep. They are designed to increase your mind power automatically without very little effort on your part. A very good example of such a product is OptiMINDzation. There are cd’s for to improve your memory, energy boosting, brainstorming ideas, a. I’ve used the OptiMINDzation cd’s countless of times and they always leave me refreshed and full of energy. Another one that gets recommended a lot is Quantum Mind Power, so you can try that one out too. I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s definitely on my to do list.

Some of the ideas mentioned above were inspired by two great books by Steven Gillman, 100 Ways to Increase Your Mind Power and A Book of Secrets. You might want to check out his books for more ways to increase your mind power.

Have fun!

Gerber

Daniel Tammet is a British high-functioning autistic savant with a unique talent for mathematical and natural language learning. Experiencing numbers as colors or sensations is a well-documented form of synesthesia, but the detail and specificity of Tammet’s mental imagery of numbers is unusual. Furthermore, he appears to be doing mathematical calculations without actually thinking about it.

He is the author of two books, Embracing the Wide Sky and his first book Born On A Blue Day.

The Boy with the Incredible Brain
The following videos are part of the UK documentary The Boy with the Incredible Brain.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Late Show with David Letterman
And here’s one of Daniel at the Late Show with David Letterman (April 27th, 2005).

Embracing the Wide Sky
And finally one more video where he talks about his new book Embracing the Wide Sky.

Hope you enjoyed the videos. More videos on this subject are coming up in the following weeks.

Gerber

“I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid! Aoccdrnig to a rseaerch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?”

Laura

After the article on Neurobics this is the second article in the “Increase Your Mind Power” series. Although most people will use a calculator (nearly every cell phone has one), doing math in your head is a really useful skill. And this does not always have to be hard. There are several tricks and shortcuts available to make doing math a lot easier.

The general rule is to always look for the easiest way to do the math. One of the tips is to always look for the numbers that are close to 10 or 100 or 1000. Below are some examples of the tricks you can use.

Update 12/13/2009: if you need more information about mental math, I have made a list of the 7 most popular mental math and speed mathematics books.

Addition
One way to add lots of small numbers is to clump together the ones that add up to multiples of 10. For example, if you have to add 3 + 4 + 5 + 7 + 9 + 11 + 6, that can be arranged as (3 + 7) + (9 + 11) + (4 + 6) + 5 = 10 + 20 + 10 + 5 = 45. This can be really useful when playing dice games like Yahtzee.

Subtraction
A useful trick when subtracting numbers is to begin with the smaller value and mentally skip your way up the difference, with jumping points at recognizable boundaries, such as powers of 10. For example, to subtract 56 from 214 you would start with 56, then add 4 + 40 + 100 + 14 (= 158). Try this once and you see how easy it is.

Multiplying
Suppose you want to multiply 78 x 6. You might immediately think “70 x 6 = 420 and 8 x 6 = 48, and 420 + 48 = 468.” This is one way to quickly arrive at a solution without pen and paper. On paper it would look like this: (70 x 6) + (8 x 6) = 468.

Here is another shortcut for the same problem. See it as (80 x 6) – (2 x 6). The accompanying “internal dialog” might go like this: “80 x 6 = 480, but that is two ‘sixes’ too many, so take away two sixes (12) and I have 468.” There is always more than one way.

More tricks and shortcuts
Other great mental math tricks and shortcuts can be found at listverse.com and betterexplained.com.

Try to create your own math shortcuts, or try any of the tricks and shortcuts you read about and adopt the ones that seem to work best for you. When you find the shortcuts that work easiest, train your brain to use them habitually.

This article was inspired by two great books by Steven Gillman, 100 Ways to Increase Your Mind Power and A Book of Secrets.

Have fun!

Gerber

Neurobics?
The first in the series is on Neurobics. The term Neurobics was invented by Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin. It is fully explained in their book Keep Your Brain Alive: 83 Neurobic Exercise Although this books seems to be written for age 40+, I think anyone of any age can benefit from this information. If not for the promised benefits (prevent memory loss and increase mental fitness) than pure for the fun of it, especially when you do some of the exercises with friends or family members.

With Neurobics you use your five physical senses and your emotional sense in unexpected ways to that encourage you to break out of your everyday routines. The aim of Neurobics and the specific exercises is to provide you with a balanced, comfortable, and enjoyable way to stimulate your brain. The exercises are designed to help the brain manufacture its own nutrients that strengthen, preserve and grow brain cells. An active brain is a healthy brain, while inaction leads to reduced brain fitness.

Neurobic exercises
For an exercise to be Neurobic it should do one or more of the following:

1. Involve one or more of your senses in a new context. Don’t use the sense you normally use, but rely on other senses to do an ordinary task.  Here a few examples:
   • Get dressed for work or take a shower with your eyes closed.
   • Walk around your living room with the lights off.
   • Identify food on your plate only by smell, taste, and touch.
   • You can also combine two or more senses in unexpected ways, for example, listen to a specific piece of music while smelling a particular aroma.
2. Use your full attention. To do this an activity has to stand out from the background of everyday events and make your brain go into alert mode. This type of activity has to be unusual, fun, surprising, engage your emotions, or have meaning for you. Examples:
   • Turn the family pictures on your work desk upside down.
   • Take your family members to your office for the day.
3. Break your routine in a significant way. This is quite similar to what I described in 21 Ways to Expand Your Comfort Zone. Examples:
   • Take a completely different route to work.
   • Use your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, get dressed, etc.
   • Prepare a breakfast or dinner from another country. And if you eat Chinese or Japanese food, eat with chopsticks of course.

Social interactions
Activities involving social interactions are usually good Neurobic exercises. Social situations are generally unpredictable so they are more likely to result in non-routine activities. Most people have a strong, built-in need for these interactions, and in their absence, mental performance declines. Our modern way of living has reduced the number and intensity of our ordinary, day-to-day social interactions. You can shop for new stuff without ever leaving the house, you can get cash money without seeing a bank teller and you can buy fuel for your car by swiping a card at a gas pump, instead of talking to an attendant. Several studies have demonstrated that social interactions have positive effects on overall brain health, so find opportunities to interact with others. Being out in the real world, where you’re using all your senses, including the important emotional and social “senses”, is essential to a healthy brain and an active memory.

Try it yourself
These exercises can be done anywhere, anytime. Based on the criteria mentioned in this post, think of the exercises you can do when you are for example getting ready in the morning, going to work, shopping, having dinner, on vacation, etcetera.

Share your ideas for exercises in the comments.

Have fun with these exercises!

Gerber

Why is it difficult to remember names?
Usually the trouble isn’t with remembering the faces. Most people will recognize a face they’ve seen before, but then have trouble remembering the name to go with that face. Why is it difficult to remember names?

• A name says nothing about the description of a face. Try remembering hundreds of people named John, Bob or Mary. In fact, it’s easier to remember someone’s occupation than it is to remember his or her name. A name says little about a person. An occupation gives the person more depth, because it says something about the person and enables you to make an association.
• Maybe you hear the name of the person across from you only once, and then you can look at the face during the entire conversation.
• You can recognize a face, but you have to remember a name. Recognizing is usually easier than remembering.

The steps to remember names and faces
The system to remember names and faces consists of only four steps.

1. Attention. Mentally prepare, try to relax. Be interested. Be sure you hear the name when you’re introduced to someone. Many of us don’t even catch the other person’s name when they’re being introduced – we’re too focused on ourselves. How in the world are you going to remember the name if you haven’t even heard it? Also be sure you heard it right. Pay as much attention as possible to the sound and the pronunciation of the name.
2. Meaning. Make the name meaningful. You won’t have this problem with names that already mean something to you or names that remind you of something tangible. The problem is the meaningless names. A way to make these names meaningful is to substitute words for thoughts. Make up a word or phrase that sounds as close as possible to the name you wish to remember, and that has some meaning to you. It isn’t necessary to get the entire sound of the name into your substitute word or phrase. Remember the main element and the rest will fall into place. If you would like to remember the name Gordon, you can think of a garden. Or if you would like to remember the name Krakauer, you could picture a cracked clock (“crack hour”).
3. Observe. Look at the face and pick one outstanding feature. This could be the nose, the ears, the mouth or any other feature of the face.
4. Associate. When you’ve decided on the outstanding feature in the previous step, associate this feature to the name, or substitute for that name, in some ridiculous way.

Tips and alternatives
Here are a few tips and alternative ways to remember names and faces.

• When you observe, look people straight in the eye. Notice features. You will notice how much faces differ. Your brain is well equipped to recognize faces. Try this out: walk down your street and notice all the familiar faces (even if you don’t know their names). See from how far you can still recognize them. Notice the details that make these persons recognizable. First focus for instance on the nose, the ears, the brows.
• Ask again. When you’re introduced to someone, ask their name again – even if you probably heard it right the first time.
• Verify it. Unless the person has introduced him- or herself to you, verify what he or she wishes to be called. At a conference or seminar, for example, the name tag may have been typed incorrectly or it may be a more formal or informal version of the name they like to go by. Or someone else may have introduced you who doesn’t know the person well. Asking what they prefer (e.g. “Jeff introduced you as Debbie, is that what you prefer to be called?”) will not only cement the name in your mind, but ensures you are using the name that pleases them.
• Check the pronunciation. Ask if you pronounce it right. Again, repetition.
• Ask how you spell it, politely or by making a little joke. Repetition.
• Your new hobby – the origins of names. Ask if they know the origin of their name. Make sure you know the origin and background of your own name first, of course. You again take interest in the other person and again open up the way for repetition of the name.
• Find out something personal and unique about the person. Take your time to get introduced. Notice what people tell about themselves, about their background. Ask open questions and avoid closed questions, so they get the chance to give you more information about themselves. We all like it if someone remembers not only our name, but something more about us.
• Mention their name during the conversation. Don’t repeat it over and over again, but use it a couple of times and especially when saying goodbye.
• Repeat the name to yourself, when you’re not actively taking part in the conversation.
• Check names during longer pauses. Look around the room and check if you can remember any information about the person like the correct name, correct spelling, and all other background information you got about their name, plus all other important things from the conversation.
• If you want to become a master in remembering names, you can make a mind map for every person you met (time, place and date).
• Use the steps and tips mentioned here to introduce yourself, if you want your name to be remembered.
• Notice all the details surrounding the person. Remembering their name can be easier if you can remember what you felt or what you did, when you met this person.
• Picture the name written on their forehead. Franklin Roosevelt continually amazed his staff by remembering the names of nearly everyone he met. His secret? He used to imagine seeing the name written across the person’s forehead. This is a particularly powerful technique if you visualize the name written in your favorite color of Magic Marker.
• Imagine writing the name. To take the previous step further, NLP experts suggest getting a feel for what it would be like to write the name by moving your finger in micro-muscle movements as you are seeing the name and saying it to yourself.
• When you look for outstanding features, remember that color and style of hair can change. So look for the eyes, mouth, shape of the face, etc. If you would make a caricature, which details would you exaggerate?
• Exchange business cards.
• Remember the name before you meet someone. Before you go into a meeting, remember the names of the people attending this meeting (see if there is an agenda that lists all the people that are invited).
• If you like, you can use a magazine or a newspaper for practice. Cut out pictures of faces and use them as practice cards. Either make up names or use their real ones. Even though a picture is a one-dimensional thing, it will still prove the system’s effectiveness.
• Associate the person with someone you know really well with the same name (could be a good friend or a celebrity). Imagine the “new” person doing something with the “associated” person or letting the “new” person do something the “associated” person is famous for. If someone is named Arnold, you could picture him as The Terminator (Schwarzenegger). Keep in mind that all this is really a means to an end. Once a name is fixed in your memory, you can forget the associations.
• How important is this person to you? You remember information better if this information is relevant and important to you. The same goes for remembering people. If you think the person is important to you, you are more likely to remember this person. If you think the person you’re introduced to might not be very important, find out more about him or her. Or else just make up a reason why he or she is important to you and you will notice that it will be easier to remember this person.

Can’t remember?
These techniques will dramatically increase your ability to recall names, but it is inevitable that at one time or another you run into someone you met before and can’t remember his or her name. What to do if you can’t remember someone’s name? Here are some tips.

• Begin the conversation in a way that they give you their name by giving the example yourself. Introduce yourself (again) with your name, like “Hi, I’m Bob. We spoke at last year’s seminar.” If you’re lucky they will reply by telling their name too.
• Try and get them to show you something which has their name printed upon it.
• Introduce them to someone else.
• Ask them their name and when they say their first name, just say “I already knew that, of course. I meant your last name.”
• Look delighted to see the person, lock eyes and extend a warm “Good to see you again,” and then find out the name from a friend or a guest list later.
• Or, with the same warmth, try the more direct: “I remember you well, but your name has slipped my mind.” This might not be appropriate to mention after you have had a conversation of an hour.
• Under no circumstance use the line “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”.

Some of the tips and techniques mentioned above are from Tony Buzan’s Use Your Memory and Harry Lorayne’s Secrets Of Mind Power . These are great books if you want to learn more about memory techniques.

Just practice with these tips and most of all – have fun!

Gerber