Sublime

What distinguishes a great mnemonist, I was learning, is the ability to create these sorts of lavish images on the fly, to paint in the mind a scene so unlike any that has been seen before that it cannot be forgotten. And to do it quickly.

So basically, if you repeat something over and over, eventually you will wear a groove into your long-term memory, but there are some limitations to that approach. • It’s only on one shelf (basically the “stuff I memorized” shelf), which gives you only one place to look when you are trying to retrieve the information. • You don’t have experience us

This sequence is so important it’s worth committing to memory—the untrained mind produces distractions that lead to forgetting, which results in mind-wandering

If your story has no set, unique background, how will you keep this list mentally separated from any further ones you come to memorise?

Creativity arises from making new connections—contemplate unexpected things together. Don’t wait for moments of inspiration to strike. Creativity is a muscle; exercise it. There’s a logic to creativity: find what works for you, break it down, and you have a process that can serve you forever. Unstructured freedom is the enemy of true creative achie

In most of our technology, physical and digital, the process of consuming and the process of creating are treated totally differently.

You read in a book full of words. You write in a notebook devoid of them.

You search in a bar at the top of the page. You type in a blank page in a different window, in a different app.

You’d think, given the wa

Your Second Brain gives you a place to corral the jumble of thoughts tumbling through your head and park them in a waiting area for safekeeping. Not only does this allow you to preserve them for the long term; there are multiple other profound benefits that come from the simple act of writing something down. First, you are much more likely to remem

So if you want to remember something, convert it into an image and store it in a familiar place in your mind.

The most effective method is one that uses imagination and association.