Master of Memory: Accelerated learning, education, memorization - MMem 0323: Hesitation in starting a memorization project

Episode Date: June 3, 2015

Tyler asks about the hesitations that he has in starting a memorization project. Is it better to plan for perfection, or is it better just to get started? What do you want to learn? Leave your question at http://MasterOfMemory.com/. Music credit: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet, 2nd movement, performed by the US Army Band.

Master of Memory, episode 323. Welcome to Master of Memory. I'm Timothy, and I'm here to answer your accelerated learning questions every day and to inspire and empower you to learn anything you want to learn faster than ever. Tyler submitted a written question at masterofmemory.com slash question. Tyler says, Hi, Timothy. I find myself hesitating at times to start memory projects out of fear of going about it in a less effective way than is possible. My question is this,

is it better to just start a project and then make changes and additions later, or are there downsides to doing this, and if so, should I spend more time organizing my project beforehand? My overall goal is to stop procrastinating and start and complete memory projects at a faster rate, but I don't want to waste a lot of time being ineffective. So Tyler, I can definitely sympathize with this problem because there are many projects and many things that I'd like to learn that I just don't start either. Well, for two reasons, really, it's the combination of the two. A, there are big projects that I have organized well that I'm trying to focus on. And B, I don't want to learn things in a way that doesn't really scale. So let's say

it's history facts or something like that. I can easily, for the short term, memorize a few dates of history and things like that. But what sort of palace do I term, memorize a few dates of history and things like that. But what sort of palace do I store them in? Do I just pick a palace at random and choose the closest thing to me when I memorize those dates? So where do I store those things long term? And it's just this kind of thing that I fight with in my mind that makes me really just sympathize with your situation and tell you that you're not alone in this. I want to do things right the first time as well. I think the answer is really between the two. If you have something that you want to learn, I would say go ahead and start. So do start your project. That's the answer.

Start your project, figure out a way to do it, but just start memorizing facts. It's easier than you might think to reorganize your thoughts and your memories and things like that a little bit later. You do have to redo a little bit of work, but it's really better to start and get some experience now and get some of that knowledge into your head. And I think that the best way to start

is through exclusivity. So to get started actually helps you with your problem, with your issue, because if you start the right way, you'll help to solve this issue. So first of all, start with exclusivity. Choose the few things that are the most important or that will help you learn the rest of the material. So with history, for example, which is just one of those general examples I keep returning to, I would suggest memorizing major dates or facts about certain wars or something like that. Anything that you think

will help you memorize the rest of the information later. And what you can do is just create some pegs that you aren't really placing in specific locations. Just, you know, memorize dates through the major system, and then you can place those wherever you want when you organize your palace later. But then I would suggest as soon as possible mind mapping the ideas through whatever topics that you're doing. Maybe boil your subject down to three topics and organize your palace based on that and draw a mind map. So you've drawn a mind map, and then you're going to organize your palace based on that mind map, or you might organize it based on one topic within that mind map, and then another dimension is the other topics on your mind map. So it's very subject-specific. It depends on exactly what you're wanting to learn. But my answer is really don't focus too much on perfection. Go ahead and get started, And then based on the way that things are looking, you can organize your palace and then put things in that palace, organizing them in a fairly ideal way after you've started learning.

I hope that helps you to some extent, Tyler. Just get started and send me an email also about the projects that you're working on because I may be able to help you in more detail that way. Now, listeners have asked about how they can support Master of Memory and keep this show free for the world, particularly if you don't have a lot of time or any money to spend. So right now, I'm going to tell you that, believe it or not, right now at this moment, the number one way that you can support the show doesn't require any money of you, is very easy, and will only take a few seconds, and it requires nothing but your smartphone in your hand right now. So listen, if you've enjoyed listening to this show, and you have a smartphone right now with an internet connection, there's no excuse for you not to do this. Here's how you can give this show immense support without even having to type more than two words in your phone. So, guys, this is really easy.

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