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Remember a Long List of Items

Having a good memory is an important skill in business. Notice I referred to memory as a skill not simply as an ability. Being able to recall lists of items quickly, accurately and reliably improves both your productivity and creativity. Often we are left with the impression that some people are simply blessed have a good memory and while others or not. For example, my wife has a great memory. And I always had difficulty remembering things, anything. The problem was, I had never been taught how to remember. I had never been shown how to develop the memory skill. When I asked Patricia, my wife, how she was able to remember so many items, she told me. She said she simply has a picture in her head. The process she used was completely foreign to me. I simply assumed that you either had it or you did not. I really did not understand what she was saying. But having done a lot of research on the mind and memory, I now have a better understanding of how to remember details. Today, I demonstrate my mental skills in my mentalism show by learning a list of 20 random items is a few seconds. I memorize a current popular magazine. Then have someone randomly turns to a page and I can tell them what is on that page. The average person today can only remember a list of 3 to 4 items. And that is actually down from 7 items only 40 years.

How do I do it? How do I memorize so much in such a short period of time? Well it has been through years of rigorous training and sacrifice, through deep mediation and careful study, I have been able to develop my mental powers to into something only few can achieve. Ok, that is not true. I use a technique that only takes a few minutes to learn. And as with any skill, the more you practice the better you become.

Here is how I do it. I use what are called memory pegs and memory associations. I first memorize a list of words. This list never changes. Then I make an association between the items I am trying to remember with an items in the list I have already learned. There are several peg lists you can use. I use different lists based on the type of things I am trying to remember.

Yesterday, I was out and stopped by the grocery store. As I pulled into the parking lot, I called my wife to ask her if there was anything she would like me to pick up. She raddled of several items. I did not have a pen to write them down plus I was looking for a parking place at the time. So here is real life example on how the process works.

Here is a peg list I am sure you already know.

  1. Thumb
  2. Shoe
  3. Knee
  4. Door
  5. Hive
  6. Sticks
  7. Heaven
  8. Gate
  9. Spine
  10. Hen

In case you do not recognize it, this list is from the children’s song “This Old Man” It goes: “This old man he played one. He played nick knack on my thumb. With a nick knack paddy whack throw the dog a bone. This old man came rolling home.” and so on. The list is easy to remember because all the items rhythm with the number they are associated with. So let’s give the process a try.

Here is a grocery list or 10 random items

  1. Milk
  2. Potato Chips
  3. Bread
  4. Lunch Meat
  5. Eggs
  6. Bell Peppers
  7. Onion
  8. Ketchup
  9. Cheese
  10. Nuts

Now associate each item in the grocery list with the corresponding item in the list from the song “This Old Man” The grocery list # 1 item is milk and the #1 item in the “This Old Man” list is thumb. You could imagine yourself making a fist with your thumb sticking straight up in the air then as you squeeze your fist milk spurts out your thumb. And adding detail to the mental imagine makes it more memorable. So instead of just milk this is 1% white milk as opposed to 2% or chocolate. Now think about little 1 shaped capsules filled with white milk popping out of your thumb as you squeeze your fist. Boop! Boop! Boop! The more ridiculous the image the easier it is to remember. What that means is remembering details about an item should now be easier. Now, instead if milk coming out of your thumb when you squeezed your fist, you could imagine a baby sucking on a thumb and milk coming out of the thumb as the baby sucked. But that almost makes sense. Well, in my world it makes sense. Anyway generally the more ridiculous the image is, the easier it is to remember. But you can obviously customize this to your own personality.

Let’s do one more together. The second item on the grocery list is Potato Chips. The #2 item in the “This Old Man” song is shoe. You can imagine wearing a bag of potato chips on your feet as shoes. And as you step, the potato chip bag shoes make loud crunching sounds.

Go through the grocery list using this process with every item on the list. And you will be able to remember 10 random items. Plus you will be able to recall them randomly so that if you are asked, “What is item #6,” you will remember the peg word or image for 6 is stick. Then you will see a small boy with a stick playing a song by hitting the peppers with a stick. Why a song? Well because these are bell peppers and they ring every time the boy hits one with his stick. You just got a peek inside how my mind works. I know it is a little scary but I bet you can use this technique to remember long list of items as well.

Remember the average person today can only remember a list of 3 to 4 items. You know how to remember 10 items. You are already well above average. Your productivity and therefore your value will increase as well.

If you are interested in having me help improve the productivity and creativity of your team, or demonstrate amazing feats of memory. Send me an email at contact @ jd-stewart.com.

Leave a comment Innovation, Leadership, Marketing, Sales and Sales Training, Training

The Law of Category

I would like to thank everyone who joined in on the conversation on twitter and Facebook this past week regarding the Law of Leadership. If you would like to join in on the conversations I can be found on twitter at @jdstewart and of course I you can friend me on Facebook as well. The conversations centered around is there any sense in being the market if you are not the first mover or innovator. The short answer is yes but since it requires more than 140 characters to explain. That is the subject of this weeks cast.

We learn the idea of being better early in life and it is continually re-enforced. Getting to the top by not doing something better but doing something new goes against so many core beliefs that is is difficult to except. We learn competition through sports. And the way you reach the championship is by being the best. So we try to reach the top by simply being better than everyone else. When we try to bring that understanding of competition to business and human nature it has limited success. We offer higher quality, faster deliver, greater variety, lower price. I mean, who would not want those things. But it is the first to market who grabs the mind share of the customer. That’s the law of leadership. But you can modify that law by defining a category or sector you are first in. You can gain a sizable market share by following the leader. And you can make a profit. There are companies who business plan is to always be a close follower. But if your goal is number 1 you need to innovate.

All of this begs the question what is creativity Creativity is seeing old things in a new ways. It is putting things or ideas together in a way they had not be put together before. As Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. But we can re-arrange the old things in new ways. That leads us to our next law. The law of Categories.

The law of leadership is modified by the law of category or as some refer to is a the niche. Let’s start off by re-examining a question I asked last week. Do you know who was first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic ocean? Most people do. Charles Lindberg. And the second question is, do you know the name of the second person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? You probably do not unless you listened to the last podcast. That person was Bert Hinkler. As you may remember Hinkler was a better pilot and navigator. He made the crossing in less time and used less fuel. But being better did not put him in the history books. No one knows who he is. Next question. Do you know who the third person was to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? I bet you do. But you don’t not them at the third person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. You know her as the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Amelia Earhart. Amelia Earhart was still a first. She was first in a category she created. Being first in a category can be just as good as being first over all. You are still an original. This works well even if it is a made up category. For example Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Tito did not invent vodka. But prior to Titos there was no such category as handmade vodka. It simply did not exist! It was a made up category. They made it up simply to be number one in that category. Marketing genius! Any one who wants to compete with Titos in that category will be an also ran.

Innovation is not simply creating a new product or service. It is creating a new way to look at that new product or service. When Apple came out with the iPod, it created great stir in the electronics community. Why? It was simply a mp3 player. Mp3 players had been around for a long time. Apple created a new category itunes. None of the technology was new. The technologies of e-commerce and downloading content had been around a long time. Apple was not first in any of those technologies. Apple created a new category. A category that provided secure, trusted, legal method to distribution music and other mp3 content. While today mp3 stores are all over the internet. No one has even comes close to what Apple is doing. Apple owns the mp3 player market because the created a category of mp3 distribution. Of course there are other laws at play here but those are for another time.

Leave a comment Innovation, Marketing, Uncategorized

The Law of Leadership

If you are like most business people you believe that in order to succeed, you have to convince your prospects that you offer a better service, or product. In other words you are competing in a me-too world. You are offering the same thing only your’s is better.

But if you really want to be successful offering a better product than your competitors does, is simply going about it the wrong way. Your prospects need to think of you, not simply as one of many, but in a class all by yourself. You have to be in a category where you are first. Simply being first, will usually make you number 1. The truth is, it is better to be first than to be better. Innovation will make you number 1. If all you are doing is implementing someone else’s idea, you have an up hill climb. Because no one remembers number 2.

Here is a quick example. Who was the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? Charles Lindbergh. Now, who was the second person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean? That one is a little harder. It was Bert Hinkler. Hinkler was the better pilot. He made the crossing in less time and expended less fuel. But no one remembers Bert Hinkler. Being better did not make him number 1. It only made him another one.

The law of leadership applies to any product, any service any brand. Do you know the name of the first College in America. You can substitute the most well know and make a good guess. Most people would say Harvard, which is also the name of the first College in America. Do you know the name of the second College in America? William and Mary, which is only slightly better known than Bert Hinkler.

Which came first Coca-Cola or Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola was the first and is still the leader in the cola wars.

Growing up almost every soft drink was a coke. The only question was did you want a grape coke or an orange coke. Everything was a Coke because Coca-Cola was the first. In fact it wasn’t until the last few years that I stopped calling all soda pop cokes. But I still call all cola’s Cokes. I don’t care if it is a Pepsi, a RC or the generic anything else it is a Coke. Coke has become the generic name for all colas.

My mother claims Pepsi-Cola is the superior product. Even if that is true (a point we disagree upon) Coke was first and remains the leader.

In spite of all the evidence to the contrary businesses continue to try to be a better followers than innovators. The leading brand in any category is almost always the first. People tend to stick with what they’ve got. You don’t change spouses simply because you come across someone a little better. (Thank goodness or my wife would have left me long ago.) It is just easier to stay with the familiar. The law of leadership applies to everything. Chrysler was the first to come out with the mini-van. Almost every manufacturer of automobiles make min vans. Yet over half of all minivans sold in the United States are built by Chrysler.

One reason the first brand tends to maintain it leadership is the name often becomes generic. I make a Xerox copy. I do not make a Sharp or a Kodak copy. People ask for Scotch Tape not cellophane tape, a Kleenex not a facial tissue, a Band-aid rather than a … Well I don’t know what the generic of a band aid would even be.

If you think simply being better will take you to the top, you are ignoring both history and human nature. Innovation is the fastest and quickest way to succeed. You can not lead by following.

Leave a comment Innovation, Leadership, Marketing