It's All In The Cards
OK now we get to the really hardcore stuff, this next technique has been scientifically studied, and it has been shown that people who teach themselves this next trick, have a significantly increased ability to concentrate.
The trick is remembering a pack of 52 cards in the order they were drawn.
SAY WHA - ?!
Yeah, me too, I used to think that those things were something you had or didn't. Apparently not, there is a technique to learning a deck of cards, and what's more, learning the trick will develop your concentration skills.
Memory Techniques
I have split up the techniques, but really the thing to remember is that they're all variations of the same thing, you just have to find what works for you and maybe tweak it to your own sensibilities.
52 People for 52 Cards
The first technique, and if you search online you'll see this is the most popular, and there are all sorts of tips on how to make this list, however I will leave you to discover them, and just talk about the one I have used.
So you simply match each card to famous people and or members of your family. For instance
A Diamonds = Donald Trump
K Clubs = Barak Obama
Q Hearts = Hilary Clinton
and so on. The second part of the technique is that you view the cards in groups of three and then imagine those people in a location you know well (I have written about the loci memory method before, to find out more view here).
So when you see the ace of diamonds, King of clubs and Queen of hearts, you might imagine Donald Trump trying to sell a Mexican hat to Barak Obama who is kissing Hilary Clinton in the living room of your house.
If you do this for seventeen locations you will have three cards in each and four in the last one ((3 x 17) + 1 = 51).
Problems:
The main problems with this technique are; reliably fixing a celebrity with a card, and also finding somewhere big enough in your mind, that everything doesn't get jumbled up.
For instance, unless you live in Windsor Castle, then using your house is a non-starter, unless of course you already are an adept loci-memory ninja (in which case you'll no doubt be able to do this trick already).
Plus it might be easy to remember Don King is the King of clubs, but how do you fix somebody to the seven of spades, or the 3 of diamonds?
13 People 4 Actions
This is whereby you assign a person to the cards ace through to King, and then for the suits you have different actions.
So for example:
Ace = Donald Trump
King = Barack Obama
Queen = Hilary Clinton
Hearts = Playing The Drums
Clubs = Eating An Apple
Diamonds = Firing A Gun
Spades = Pole Dancing
So this time you get the Ace of spades, the Queen of diamonds, and the King of clubs, and you imagine Donald Trump pole dancing whilst Hilary Clinton fires a gun at him with Obama watching eating an apple.
Problems: Too many duplicates, if you end up with two or even three of the same card, it can be difficult to remember different actions for the same person.
Slow Learning Matchup Combo
This is what I have gone for in the end, this is whereby I you take time to learn each card and try and make the match ups meaningful, use a very spread out, outdoor loci, and start to use combinations to drop the number of things you have to remember.
Step 1
Test yourself to see how many cards you can remember without any training.
Step 2
Take the number you achieved and go up to the next multiple of four, so if you managed ten cards, take out 12 cards from the deck. Make sure the cards are in sequence, so take out all of the aces, twos, and threes. Or it might be the picture cards, just make sure they're sequential.
Step 3
This is the hard part, and it will require concentration, but hey, that's why you're doing it!
Try and find meaningful match ups, they can be direct associations, like for instance the four of diamonds to me is Sean Connery, because of the film Diamonds Are Forever (It may have been Roger Moore in that film I don't know, I associate Connery with Bond).
Or it could be be a little more abstract, like the 3 of clubs is Tiger Woods to me, because a 3 wood is a golf club, and he is a famous golfer I can easily picture.
It doesn't matter how random and abstract the associations are, as long as they mean something to you.
You may have to experiment and change the people around a few times, but once you have someone that sticks, you won't forget them.
Step 4
Give them props, so obviously when I think of Sean Connery he is holding a Walther PPK, Bond's signature gun. If I think of David Beckham he has a football, and so on, this is very important for when you try the more advanced technique down the road.
Step 5
Choose an outdoor route that you know really well; if you have a dog and you take it for regular walks in the same places, then that is ideal.
Step 6
Make sure your loci (positions that you'll place your famous people/cards) are distinct from one another. So if you walk your dog in a park, don't make one loci that big oak tree and another that little willow tree.
It is much better if there are really distinct landmarks that are not too far apart (50 metres max) and can be brought to memory easily.
Step 7
Shuffle your 12 cards (or however many you've chosen) and try and remember them by placing one down after another, pausing after each three and try and imagine the people you have matched with the cards, in funny situations.
Always place them in the same way, so maybe it's left to right, or top to bottom, but make sure you know which ones are meant to be first, second and third.
Step 8
Once you can do this error free, and you have 12 strong unforgettable names, add four more cards in order, so if you have chosen ace to four, add the fives and repeat Step 7. Keep doing this everyday until you have 52 people matched with 52 cards.
Step 9*
Combining actions, props and people is an advanced technique which I've only dabbled with. It's pretty hard because you have to remember props, so it will probably be something that happens once you have all 52 locked down.
Combining is simply like so; in our Trump, Obama, Clinton example earlier, you might imagine Donald Trump, riding a missile into a swamp (I'm sure you can think of something better).
That way the person always represents the first card, the thing they are on, or doing is the second card, and the thing they are moving towards is the third.
PHEW!
Personal Experience
I have been trying this for a week now, and I have gone from seven cards to eighteen. I started off at ten minutes a day, and yesterday managed almost forty minutes.
My concentration does seem to be improving, and I don't have the urge to check mails and messages in the same way I did just a short week ago.
Although my disclaimer should be, that I was heading in this direction anyway, so perhaps somebody who doesn't think about distraction usually would not get such great results so quickly.
So there it is folks, you can retrain your concentration, and that is so worth it, because people who can concentrate for long periods of time are becoming a very rare commodity,
and people tend to pay through the nose for rare commodities . . .
Incredible You! - A Superpower You Can Learn
Incredible You! - A Superpower You Can Learn - Part 2 Beating Distraction
Incredible You! - A Superpower You Can Learn - Part 3 - Mind Training
WILL YOU TRY THIS TECHNIQUE? DO YOU WANT TO IMPROVE YOUR CONCENTRATION? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Photo by Jack Hamilton on Unsplash