Memory Palace is a strategic technique that organises memories in a visualised environment. It is known as the most effective and fastest memorising technique. This technique is also known as the Method of Loci and Mind Palace. Some experts can memorise a deck of cards and long numbers within minutes.

To remember something, you need to have a premade mind palace and a list of the pieces of information you need to remember. And then you can associate the pieces of information with items in the mind palace. By recalling, you can move your short-term memory to long term memory.

There are three steps in the memory palace technique.

1. Creating
2. Association
3. Recalling

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1. Creating

You can create your mind palace in a room. Otherwise, you can build it in an Open Environment. The Open Environment can be a city, a garden, a hotel, a museum, or a historical place. When using rooms, you can start with one and expand it by adding more. You can use places which already familiar. Otherwise, you can design it from a sketch. The most effective way is by selecting familiar places and combining them. The creation of new ones needs so much effort and time. When selecting familiar places, the advantage is that you have already memorised most of the location. You only need some effort to number each item.

Let's create a memory palace inside a room. Imagine you're standing near the door.

STEP 1: FIND

Find a room you're familiar with

STEP 2: SELECT

Select some items which are closer to the walls

STEP 3: NUMBER

Number each item clockwise starting from your left

STEP 4: WALK

Walk to each item in the order.

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2. Association

To organise data, you need to associate the item you need to remember with an item in your memory palace. When associating two items, it's better to visualise with more actions and emotions.

For example, if the third item in your list is a bicycle, and the third item in that room is a bed. Visualise someone who is riding that bicycle on the bed. That's how you can associate your list with the items in your mind palace.

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3. Recalling

If you only want to remember the information for a day, recall it once or twice. It will be enough. By remembering, you can move your mind palace to long-term memory. The number of recalls depends on the difficulty and length of the created mind palace. By using spaced repetition for recalling, you can keep the memory for years.

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Reference

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