Create a Memory Palace

How to Retain More of What You Learn

Bear This in Mind

Did you know that most people can remember as many as 10,000 faces? Or that memories are more likely to stick if you combine emotion and information?

Memory is tricky. It can be powerful and unreliable at the same time.

There’s everything from memory failures which are full of false memories and amnesia to the rare savant memory which delves deep but is often narrow in scope.

For the rest of us it’s hard to know sometimes if what we’re remembering is an actual memory, some version of the truth of that memory, or a combination of one or more memories.

Regardless, there are times when we can’t rely on memory. Instead we have to help our memories along, especially when we have a huge test coming up, an office presentation to ace, or a speech to deliver.

For times when your memory needs a boost, consider creating a memory palace.

The Memory Palace

This is a popular system that dates back to ancient Rome. It works because you create images of things you want to remember in places that are familiar to you.

Once you master this technique, retention will skyrocket!

A memory palace is a way of using images to store information in your mind. The most popular method requires the learner to make a journey in their mind through a well-known place like their home, a room in their home, or their hometown. Sometimes people use a familiar route to work or walk to school. Regardless, it should be familiar and simple.

The Basics

The palace should be a familiar place to you.
Plan the route: front door, foyer table, handrail, bottom of stairs, top of stairs.
Find the list you need to remember.
Take one or two items at a time and place the mental image at each location in your memory palace.
Make the images exaggerated and bigger than life. Use your senses to make the mnemonic images really stand out in your mind.

Here’s an example.

Types of insulin: Rapid-acting (Humalog and Novolog), Short-acting (regular), Intermediate-acting (NPH), and Long-acting (Lantus and Levemir)

Here’s how I would use this memory palace to learn the types of insulin.

I picture a bottle of Humalog laughing (because he thinks he’s HUMorous) and he’s rushing (rapid acting) through the FRONT DOOR (1). He’s going so fast he knocks over the log (NovoLOG) that was sitting on the FOYER TABLE (2). It crashes to the floor creating a blinding supernova (Nova sounds like Novo) and I have to shield my eyes for a moment.
In the commotion, I jump onto the BOTTOM STEP OF THE STAIR CASE (3). This place feels familiar and REGULAR to me compared to all that just happened and I take a deep breath. But as I look up the stair case, I realize this REGULAR feeling will be short-lived (reminds me of short-acting).
I place my hand on the RAILING (4) and realize I’m in the middle between the bottom and top of the stair case (Intermediate). Suddenly a giant NPH grows out of the railing under my hand. The letters smell like Nutmeg, Peppermint, and Hazelnut (NPH). I breathe in deeply enjoying the mixed aromas but feel like I’m stuck in the middle (Intermediate) of the twilight zone.
I ascend the staircase and land on the TOP LANDING (5) (LANtus) were things are shaking like an earthquake. I’m struggling to level (LEVEmir) myself out and get my balance but it takes me a very long time (long acting). Moving very slowly (because they’re long acting), Lantus and Levemir come up, one on either side of me, and help me balance.