Kevin Trudeau’s
Mega Memory™
H ow to Release Your
Superpower Memory in
30 Minutes or Less a Day
Kevin Trudeau
W illiam Morrow and Company, Inc.
T h is book is not intended to replace the services o f a trained health professional. All m atters reg ard in g your health require m edical supervision. You should
consult your physician before a d opting the procedures in this book. Any applications o f the treatm en ts set forth in this book are at the read e r’s discretion.
C opyright © 1995 by Kevin T ru d ea u
All rights reserved. N o p art o f this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any m eans, electronic or m echanical, including photocopying, re cording, or by any inform ation storage or retrieval system, w ithout perm ission in w ritin g from the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to Perm issions D e p artm en t, W illiam M orrow and C om pany, Inc., 1350 A venue o f the Americas, N ew Y ork, N .Y . 10019.
It is the policy o f W illiam M orrow and C om pany, Inc., and its im prints and affiliates, recognizing the im portance o f preserving w h at has been w ritten, to p rin t the books we publish on acid-free paper, a nd we exert o u r best efforts to th at end.
L ibrary o f C ongress C ataloging-in-Publication D ata T ru d e a u , Kevin.
[Mega M emory]
K evin T ru d e a u ’s M ega M em ory : how to release your superpow er m em ory in 30 m inutes o r less a day / Kevin T ru d eau ,
p. cm. ISB N 0-688-13582-X 1. M nem onics. I. T itle. BF385.T78 1995
153.1'4— dc20 95-16470
C IP Printed in the United States o f America
FIRST EDITION
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Michael Van Masters J. M a rk Dufner
Fred Van Liew Blaine Athorn Jeremy Haworth
Dave Coffill Matthew Goerke
It was their sharing and willingness to learn that helped me become better!
Acknowledgm ents
First, thanks go to Michael Van Masters for his determ i nation and courage in the pursuit o f Teaching Memory T raining across the nation. T o J. M ark D ufner, the m an w ith the best natural m em ory I have ever seen: His personal power has always been awe inspiring. T o Blaine A thorn, whose brilliance keeps am azing me day after day. T hanks also to Peter Tocci, whose work on this text was invaluable, M atthew Goerke, Andy Am braziejus, and Kathy Niemeyer: T h a n k you all for touching my life and m aking a last ing impact.
T o Ed Forem an, the first motivational speaker I ever heard, whose words have helped me motivate toward action every day.
And finally to Dexter Yager, the dream builder. If you didn’t plant seeds o f greatness in me, you certainly unearthed them! God bless you.
1 H ow to Use This B ook I
Part I:
Mega Memory
2 Learning Basic Association 15
3 Chaining: Putting the Power of Vivid Images 29
to W o rk
4 Creating Peg Lists: Mental File Folders 40
5 Using Y o u r Peg Lists 52
6 Playing Concentration 64
7 Pegging the Tree List 72
8 How Y o u r Body Affects Y o u r M em ory 84
9 Pegging the House List 100
10 Remembering Names: Part I 105
I I Remembering Names: Part 2 112
12 Rem em bering Names: Part 3 123
13 Basic Day-to-day Applications 137
14 Reading and M ega M em ory 154
15 Vocabulary, Spelling, and M ega M em ory 163
16 N um bers and Mega M em ory 169
Part II:
Advanced Mega Memory
17 Advanced Mega Memory: Review and Introduction 177
18 Body List Phonetics 186
19 Picture W o rd s 1-25 194
20 Picture W o rd s 26-50 210
21 Picture W o rd s 51-75 225
22 Picture W o rd s 76-100 237
23 Polishing Y o u r N am e Recognition 247
24 Rem em bering Longer N um bers 257
25 Rem em bering Playing Cards 274
26 Day-to-day Reminders: From Birthdays to 292
Presidents
27 Using A cronym s and Remembering W ritten 305
Passages
28 Breaking Bad Habits and Retrieving Lost 313
Mem ories
N am e Guide 325
Index 353
This Book
We are not given the world: we make our world through incessant experience, categorization, mem ory, reconnection.
— Oliver Sacks, An Anthropologist on Mars
How would you like to m ake m ore money, increase your intelligence, and impress everyone you meet? All this is possible, and m uch more, when you have a Mega Memory.
Imagine m eeting over fifty brand-new people at a party, and a few hours later being able to say good-bye using the first and last name of every single person you met! Im agine m aking a speech w ithout notes, or instantaneously recalling dates, appointm ents, things to do, directions, phone num bers, playing cards, verses o f the Bible, lines o f a play, poetry, facts, figures. Im agine being a student studying for exams and being able to recall instantly everything needed to earn great m arks, and even m ore im portant, studying about one third the norm al tim e to get those trem endous results. Imagine feeling totally confident in your own natural abilities be cause of your powerful memory.
2 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
just like another sales pitch? It isn’t— because you already have a perfect, instant-recall, better-than-photographic mem ory just waiting to be released. W hen you apply the techniques taught in Kevin
Trudeaus Mega Memory™, you will do just that— release this natural
ability to recall things you have heard, things you have seen, and even things you have thought about briefly and then forgotten— or thought you had forgotten. T he only problem is, you may not know you have a great m em ory, a mem ory that has the capacity and flexibility o f a high-pow ered computer. W ith the twenty-eight les sons in this book, you will be tapping that power.
T h e Mega Memory program will teach you how to organize and process new inform ation. You will be taught to take things that you see, hear, and experience and put them in a certain order so that this inform ation will be available in your m ind for recall in the future. T he key word is “ord er”— the cornerstone o f the Mega M em ory program . Your brain operates just like a file cabinet. T he more you place memos, letters, reports, notes, and documents into their proper files— the m ore organized you are— the easier it is to retrieve things when you need them . It’s a simple, powerful, and ultimately very practical concept.
Like so m any schoolchildren, I had some problems with my studies, especially w ith rem em bering things. T he situation became so bad in high school, several teachers told me I m ight have a learning disability. T his w arning pushed me to educate myself about m em ory and the way the m ind works. And w hat I discovered was that I d id n’t have a learning disability, I just had an untrained memory.
In showing you how to “file” away inform ation, I’m going to be teaching you to train your memory. W e w on’t spend a trem en dous am ount o f tim e on the theories o f how the brain and memory w ork. T he actual process o f reading this book will constitute training because Mega M emory is a technique that you learn as you read. Learning to use your m em ory is just like learning how to ride a bike or jog or swim properly— you have to actually participate in the sport to achieve the best results. But it’s also im portant that you be well prepared before you hop on that bike, run a m arathon, or
swim long distances. T h a t’s why Mega Memory consists o f both exercises and techniques. T he exercises will lim ber up your brain and prepare it for the techniques you will be applying in real-life situations. If you follow the instructions for the exercises precisely as given, you will reap the benefits and gain your desired results.
T h e G ro u n d Rules
In order to get the most out o f the Mega M emory program , it is very im portant that you follow these ground rules for using the book:
1. You must go through the lessons in order. Each chapter builds upon previous chapters, so that you use w hat you have learned in new and exciting ways. But just like the jogger who risks injury if she hasn’t done some exercises to loosen her muscles, or the swim m er who can’t quite get his strokes together because he hasn’t learned to feel comfortable in the water, you w on’t be able to release that Mega Memory if you haven’t built the right foundation o f skills. So do n’t skim the table o f contents to find a chapter that may be of interest to you. T h at approach w on’t work. You m ust start at the beginning and complete one lesson after the other, m astering each one before you continue.
2. Each chapter in this boo\ should be completed in about twenty
to thirty minutes. Every lesson is designed to present a certain
am ount o f m aterial that does not take a large am ount of time to absorb. If you read along and do the exercises and apply the techniques as they are presented, you will not be spending m ore than a h alf hour on each chapter. I’ve orga nized the book this way for a reason. People can concentrate on something only for so long before their attention starts to flag. (Just look at the short attention span required for television program s these days!) So do n’t overdo it. Many people find that w orking on one chapter a day is ideal.
3. I f you read more than one lesson per day, tat^e a ten- or fifteen-
infor-Kevin Trudeau's Mega Mem ory™
m ation at the same rate. If you find yourself absorbing this inform ation at a fast pace and w ant to keep going, that’s okay, too. You can study m ore than one lesson per day. But take a break after each lesson. T h a t allows the m ind to relax and subconsciously review the material you have just learned. A fter that, you can go on to the next lesson. O ther wise, you will begin to feel overloaded and burn out.
4. Do your studying when there is no distraction. This book is intended to be fun to use, but you do need to pay full attention to w hat you’re doing and be directly “tuned in” to the m aterial. U nlike other courses, in which you must review repeatedly to have the m aterial sink in, you’ll only have to read this book once. But you m ust m ake sure that you’re focused durin g study time. So find a place where you can sit dow n and not be interrupted. Relax and be comfortable— and go to it.
5. Set aside a time and a specific place to study. Each lesson is short enough to fit into various parts o f your day. W hatever works for you— the m orning, after school or work, the eve nings— is fine. And the only additional material needed to apply the lessons is a piece o f paper and pencil. But once you’ve decided w here and when you will study, try to stick with it. W hen you w ork out a routine for yourself, it is much easier to follow through and not find excuses to put things off.
6. Before you do a lesson, refrain from eating a big meal. If you m ust eat, have som ething light. I recom mend that you wait a few hours after eating before you work on the program . Why? If you eat a lot o f food or have just finished a meal, your body will rush blood to your stomach for digestion. T h a t deprives the brain o f the blood it needs to do its w ork most efficiently; therefore, your thinking and concentration are not sharp.
T here are some foods in particular you should stay away from. First o f all, o f course, no drugs or alcohol before your lessons. Also, nothing heavy or greasy. A nd— this may surprise some o f you— you should especially stay away from sugar and white flour for at least a couple o f hours before
you begin a lesson. W e will learn m ore about certain foods and their effect on your m emory in a later chapter, but as you begin the book you should know that sugar and white flour dull the senses. They m ake you foggy, unable to concen trate well. Stay away from them if you are serious about im proving your memory. Rem ember that this includes sodas and tonics as well. A lot o f people drink such things as they are reading. It’s one o f the worst things you can do. All that sugar and gook and syrup are going to negatively affect your concentration.
7. Do not take any notes while you are reading. W e’ve been taught that if you really w ant to learn something, write it down. N othing could be further from the truth. As you read through this book, you will see that w hen you write some thing down, you create the opposite effect. W riting some thing down frequently signals to the unconscious that it doesn’t have to be rem em bered— after all, it’s already w rit ten down. You should write only if I specifically ask you to do so or give an excercise that involves w riting. Otherwise, don’t even have a pen or pencil in your hand while reading.
Y o u r T eachability In d e x
There are several other things we need to consider in preparation for reading this book. T h e first is these involves the spirit, or atti tude, with which you approach these lessons. It’s w hat I call your teachability index.
W e all have an index, a rating, which determ ines how easily we can be taught anything. T h at index has two variables:
1. willingness to learn
2. willingness to accept change
You can m easure each o f these variables on a scale o f 0 to 10. T o find your overall index, you m ultiply these two variables together. Your score can be anywhere from 0 to 100.
6 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
As far as the first variable is concerned, I believe that when people invest tim e and money in books, cassettes, and other self- im provem ent program s, they have a very high willingness to learn. I f you w eren’t m otivated to learn these memory techniques, you w ouldn’t have invested your money in this book, and you certainly w ouldn’t be investing your valuable tim e reading it. So on a scale o f 1 to 10, give yourself a 10.
But w hat is your willingness to accept change? Some people are very set in their ways and have a very hard tim e changing anything they do. A perfect example involves the current computer revolution. Com puters are taking over in many areas o f life and have been shown to be very efficient and effective. Yet many people still say no to computers, not w anting to have anything to do with them either out o f fear o f something new or because they don’t w ant to be bothered with the initial difficulty o f learning how to use this new tool.
If you’re similar to the people described above, rate yourself 0 on the willingness-to-accept-change scale. If your rating is 0, think w hat it means for your teachability index. Even if your willingness- to-learn rating is a 10, w hat is 10 times 0? A big fat 0. Your teach ability index will be a 0 if you’re unw illing to change.
N ow , w hat if you’re one o f those people who have said yes to computers. Even though you may have had some fear initially or had to go through a period o f frustration while learning how to use an IBM or a Mac, you were willing to do so. Perhaps initially you felt as though you had to take a few steps backward in order to go forward; but now that you’ve completed this process, how do you feel about it? W ould you ever go back to using typewriters? Your willingness to change is a 10, and your teachability index is closer to 100.
I use the analogy o f computers because the same thing happens in acquiring a Mega Memory. T his book is going to be exposing you to different ways o f thinking. T ho ug h they’ll always be fun, the exercises m ight not m ake m uch sense in the beginning. At first glance some o f the techniques m ight also seem difficult or compli cated. I’m not saying that there w on’t be any learning curve at all, but believe me, it will be painless as far as learning curves go. You
m ight be scratching your head for the first few days, but then you’ll get more and m ore excited as you see your m emory power increas ing dramatically.
I can’t stress enough this m atter o f having a positive attitude. As I’ve already said, because o f the rather unique form at o f this book, it’s im portant to do the lessons in precise order, because each lesson builds on the last. You have to have a good grasp o f the material in one chapter before going on to the next. I will emphasize this over and over, because I w ant to m ake sure you have an appreci ation for how im portant the fundam entals are in acquiring a Mega Memory.
Keep in m ind that in the early lessons we are mainly going to be doing exercises, building a foundation. Consider this: As you walk past any construction site, you can estimate how high the building is going to be by seeing how deep the hole in the ground is. T he same principle applies to the Mega M emory technique. W e’re going to work on building a solid foundation for your memory. T he firmer it is, the m ore dram atic your m emory im provem ent will be.
Some o f the exercises we do will m ake you laugh. Some will seem intriguing, others crazy, and even foolish. Just like a baseball player in spring training, who has to start with push-ups and sit- ups before he can take the field, you will be doing m ental calisthenics to expand and focus your m ind. If you learn to accept change, allow yourself to be fully open to these exercises, and follow the instruc tions carefully, you will be preparing your unconscious in the best way possible to release the am azing memory that it is capable of.
M o tivatio n and T e ch n iq u e
I would like to say a few words about w hat I call a “training balance scale.” In any type o f training program or course o f learning, there must be a balance between two prim ary things:
1. motivation
8 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
If the two aren’t in balance, those who designed the program should take another look at it because som ething’s wrong. I f the students are given an overdose o f motivation and very little sub stance, then one ends up w ith excited fools. Such people may think they know a lot, but in fact they have learned very little, which becomes apparent in the long run. Salespeople are sometimes like that— very excited about their product or service, but having little knowledge o f it, a fact that very quickly becomes apparent to any buyer. Sometimes the situation is reversed. A program that overdoses on technique and provides little motivation results in very poor grad uates as well— if people are bored and unm otivated, they w on’t learn no m atter how valuable the m aterial is.
I have structured the Mega Memory program with this very m uch in m ind. Each chapter provides inform ation in small bits and shows you how to w ork through each exercise and apply each tech nique every step o f the way. T hu s you will learn and gain confidence in equal m easure. A nd as that happens, as each exercise becomes easier and the applications m ore exciting, your motivation will in crease as well, propelling you to the following chapters and further exercises and techniques.
T h e F o u r S te p s to a M e g a M e m o r y
T here are four steps you will see yourself advancing through as you study Mega Memory.
Level 1: unconscious incompetence Level 2: conscious incompetence Level 3: conscious competence Level 4: unconscious competence
T he first level is the one that you were at before you knew Mega Memory existed. W hat that means is that you simply d idn ’t know that you d id n ’t know. Perhaps you w eren’t too happy with your memory, or perhaps you thought your mem ory was pretty good, but in any case, you were willing to accept the status quo.
You d id n ’t know you had a m emory with am azing capability that was just waiting to be released. You had no appreciation o f how m uch that status quo could really be changed, so you were uncon sciously incompetent.
But because you have started reading this book and are begin ning to get an inkling o f w hat can be done to release the power o f one’s memory, you’re quickly approaching level two, conscious incompetence. You’re very quickly becoming aware o f w hat you can or cannot do regarding memory. You are searching for some help because you recognize there’s room for im provem ent. Perhaps you know someone else who has read this book or taken one of my seminars. O r maybe you’ve seen a dem onstration o f someone’s Mega Memory, and you’re thinking, “ Boy, if he can do it, I can, too!” And how right you are!
W ithin about a week o f starting to work with this book, you’ll reach level three, conscious competence. N ow things will become more exciting because you will know that you know. Mega Memory will have begun w orking for you. You will be doing the exercises with me and will begin to apply some o f the techniques to real-life situations. Things may not be happening smoothly yet, but they will be happening. A good analogy for this stage is that of someone learning to drive a car with a m anual transmission. A fter you’re taught the basics, you’re at the conscious competence level because you still have to think through each step o f the process. “L et’s see . . . I push in the clutch, put it into first, ease out on the clutch, give it a little gas— ” A nd perhaps you stall the car. But you keep going.
W ithin three or four weeks, you will be at level four— the unconscious competence stage. At this point, the techniques that you’ve been w orking at will be second nature. You will be applying them every day with hardly any effort, just like tying your shoe, breathing, walking, or, in the case o f our driver, zoom ing around using a stick shift. You’re shifting gears unconsciously, not thinking about it anymore.
This is the most exciting part of the book. These techniques will take you to the point where they are used unconsciously. I call it automatic pilot. Since I began teaching Mega Memory in 1981, I
10 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
have received many, many letters from around the country. For so many people, being at level four is a revelation. It’s like opening floodgates— knowledge and recall come to the fore, and people find themselves automatically recalling things they had no idea they had stored in their memory. If you do the lessons as they are presented, I guarantee that you will be at level four within a few short weeks as well.
One final thing. I m entioned that I’m flooded with letters from people who have benefited from the techniques they’ve learned in the Mega M emory program . It’s exciting for me to receive those letters, and I hope th at after you, the reader, have com pleted the book, follow ing its instructions, you will w rite me and tell me your success story. I w ant to hear how Mega M em ory has affected your life.
Maybe you won a job prom otion. Maybe your self-esteem has increased. Perhaps the book gave you a better outlook on life. Per haps you now draw the adm iration o f people because o f your super power memory. I w ant to hear these success stories. I’m waiting to see the letters, and someday, I hope to be in your city doing a Mega M emory seminar. I ’ll be looking forw ard to m eeting you then.
This is the end o f lesson one. I hope with all my heart this book will be everything you w ant it to be, and I know it will. It may be different from other books you’ve read because w e’re going to be interacting, in a sense. I’d like you to feel that I’m right there talking to you, and teaching you this breakthrough technology. I know you will benefit from the book beyond your wildest expecta tions. Apply the techniques, do the exercises with vigor, and enjoy this Mega Memory program .
C h a p te r I — Review
G ro u n d Rules fo r the M ega M e m o ry H o m e Study C o u r s e
1. You m ust study the lessons in order.
2. Each chapter in this book should be completed in about twenty to thirty minutes.
3. If you work on m ore than one lesson per day, take a ten- to fifteen-m inute break between lessons.
4. Do your studying when there is no distraction.
5. Set aside a tim e and a specific place to study.
6. Before you w ork on a lesson, refrain from eating a big meal.
7. Do not take any notes while you are reading.
Y o u r Teachability Index
Willingness to learn times willingness to accept change.
Ch arting Y o u r Progress: T h e Four Steps to a M e ga M e m o ry Level 1: unconscious incompetence. You don’t know w hat you
don’t know.
Level 2: conscious incompetence. You know w hat can be done,
but you can’t do it.
Level 3: conscious competence. You consciously think your way
through any Mega Memory technique or exercise.
Level 4: unconscious competence. You apply the techniques
The first thing we’re going to do on our way to a Mega Memory is a little mem ory test. I’m going to give you a list of words, and I w ant you to try to rem em ber the words in order. T h a t’s all I w ant you to do. Once you’ve read the list, you’re going to close the book, attem pt to write dow n the words, and see how many you recalled. You may not do very well, but th at’s okay be cause in just about fifteen m inutes, you are going to improve your memory dramatically. You’ll be astounded by your rapid progress.
Have a pencil and paper handy. Sit back and relax. N ow read through the list below once and try to rem em ber it as best you can. W hen you have finished, close the book, num ber from 1 through
20 down on the left-hand side o f a sheet o f paper, and try to write the words in the order in which they appeared. Give yourself about five m inutes, then open the book and check yourself. H ere’s the list:
tree light switch stool car glove 15
16 Kevin Trudeau's Mega M em ory™ gun dice skate cat bowling ball goalpost eggs witch ring paycheck candy magazine voting booth golf club cigarettes
N ow close the book and w rite down the w o rd s.^
Com pare your list with the one in the book. Put a check m ark next to any correct answer. Remember, your words have to be in the same order as those in the book, so if you have “cigarettes” as the first word on your list, that doesn’t count. Check the ones that you had in the correct order. T h at point is very im portant because I don ’t believe in reinforcing people’s weaknesses but rather in build ing up their strengths. In other words, I w ant you to be concerned with w hat you did right, not w hat you did wrong. (Unlike school, w here so m any children are told w hat they did badly, as I was, instead o f w hat they did well.) T h a t doesn’t help build confidence, which is one o f the hallm arks o f the Mega Memory program .
Tally the num ber o f correct answers, put the total at the top o f your paper, and circle it. Most people, about 90 percent, have fewer than five words in the correct order. So if you had less than five, you’re am ong the vast m ajority o f people. I f you had more than five, you should be proud o f your memory. It’s in the top 10 percent. Either way, however, by the end o f this chapter you’ll see how fast you can improve your performance.
Basic A sso c ia tio n
Before starting our first exercise, we need to discuss basic association a bit. This memory technique is emphasized by virtually every m em ory expert and is the foundation o f many m em ory im provem ent programs. W hen you use basic association, you take som ething you know, like a letter o f the alphabet, and associate it with something you’re trying to rem em ber, like a name. T h in k o f H O M ES, the tried-and-true acronym for rem em bering the G reat Lakes (H uron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior).
Many people in my workshops have a negative response when I m ention basic association. They feel it’s aw kw ard, ineffective, a tired old way o f doing things. A nd they’re right— up to a point. I feel that basic association has both positive and negative aspects to it. It works well enough in certain cases, like rem em bering the G reat Lakes. But in many fast-paced real-life situations, like a party or a business meeting, when it’s simply too cumbersome to create acro nyms, basic association isn’t practical. T h ere’s just no tim e for it.
For all o f you basic-association haters, the good news is that Mega Memory is not a program o f basic association. A lthough we do some exercises using this technique, we will be going way beyond what basic association can do for us. “T hen why am I discussing it in the first place?” is another question I am asked very often at this point. T here are three m ain reasons:
1. U nderstanding basic association will help you to stop a bad habit from the very beginning.
2. It will increase your m ind’s speed.
3. It will also help you understand a fundam ental concept of how the m inds works.
First, because basic association is so universal, I ’m assum ing that’s how you understand m emory im provem ent techniques, too. Banish that thought right now. As I said earlier, basic association is too limiting. This book is not about lim iting the m ind, but ex panding it.
18 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
Second, even though basic association is lim iting, it is useful as a tool for m ental gymnastics. A nd m ental gymnastics increase the flexibility o f the m ind, which m akes mem ory recall faster. So even though it’s not a big part o f the Mega M emory program , you will see it occasionally as an exercise.
T h ird , and most im portant, I am going to use basic association to explain a very im portant concept o f how the m ind works.
W hat do all the words on the list above— tree, light switch, stool, car, glove, and so on— have in common? H ow do you associate them ? If you said they are all objects that you can picture, you are 100 percent correct. Every word creates a picture in your mind. Every one (as long as the word is fam iliar to you). W hy is that im portant? It is im portant because the most fundam ental concept in the Mega Memory program that you m ust completely understand is this: Your mind things in pictures.
Your m ind thinks in pictures. Pictures are its vocabulary, what it understands best. It’s like an instant camera, clicking away, taking pictures and reproducing them in all o f sorts o f combinations.
You may be asking, as many o f my workshop participants do: Are you sure, Kevin? Are you sure I don’t think in words? Are you sure I do n ’t think in abstracts or thoughts or concepts? No. You think in pictures.
Let me give you an example. As you are reading along here, do not— do not— think o f an elephant. Let me ask you what’s the first thing that popped into your m ind? It was a picture o f a big, gray beast with a trunk, wasn’t it? It wasn’t the letters E-L-E-P -H -A-N -T spelling the word. It was a picture o f an elephant because on seeing the word “elephant,” you simply created a picture o f an actual ele phant in your m ind.
Let me give you another example. I f I were to ask you right now to describe your couch to me, you m ight start by telling me, “It’s blue w ith stripes and has a rip in the left corner.” As you are describing that couch to me, do the words “couch,” “blue, with rip in corner” appear in your m ind? O r does the picture o f the couch appear in your m ind? O f course, it’s the picture.
Macintosh machine. N ow the IBM com puters have begun using the same feature that the “Mac” started w ith— the icon. W hat are icons? Icons are pictures on the screen that help the user choose various functions. For exmaple, there’s a picture o f a trash can on the screen. If you w ant to delete a file from the Mac, you simply put the file (which is, by the way, indicated by a picture o f a file folder), in the trash can. Putting something in the trash can means you’ve throw n it away, doesn’t it? This m ethod o f operating is called being user- friendly, because people understand pictures. Apple C om puter’s ge nius was first in recognizing this.
As children, we were taught by pictures. O ur m other or father, would look at us, hold a glass in their hand, and say, “Glass.” W e’d look at the glass and repeat the w ord, learning to associate the sound “glass” with the picture o f the object. T h e sound produced the picture in our minds. Imagine if our parents had tried to teach us what a glass was by describing it only and not showing us the object?
T h a t’s why H O M ES is such a popular m em ory technique. Every schoolchild knows his or her home. W hen they are taught to associate H O M ES with the G reat Lakes, they are actually being taught to create a picture o f their home in their m ind’s eye. It’s an easy picture to rem em ber, and then they can sound out each letter and come up with the five G reat Lakes.
Let me ask you, do you dream at night in words? You’re probably laughing, “Kevin, o f course, I do n ’t dream in words; I dream in pictures.” Exactly right. You dream in pictures. T h a t’s how your unconscious m ind communicates to you. Basic-association techniques m ake use o f these pictures in the unconscious. But they only skim the surface o f its vast power.
T h e T re e List
N ow that you understand the importance o f visual images, it’s time to start releasing some o f their power. For your first exercise, you will learn how to replace the num bers 1 through 20 with pictures that represent those num bers. T he pictures that I’m going to use for this exercise will be the list o f twenty words you just tested your
20 Kevin Trudeau's Mega Mem ory™
selves on. I will show you why I chose to link each picture with each num ber, why there’s an association between the two in my m ind. As you begin reading, I hope that you too will begin thinking o f similar associations.
I chose “tree” for num ber 1. If you picture a tree in your m ind, the tru n k looks like the shape o f the num ber 1, doesn’t it? T h a t’s an association that helps us rem em ber that “tree” is 1.
I decided on “light switch” for num ber 2 because there are several associations that can help us rem em ber that light switch is 2. It m ight be the two words. O r the fact that those two words are also two syllables, or that a light switch has two positions— on/off, up/dow n. O r it m ight be because there are two screws attaching the plate housing o f a light switch to the wall. Also, current flows in two directions through a light switch. All these things come to my m ind when I think o f a light switch. They all rem ind me that the num ber 2 and “light switch” go together.
H ow about “stool” and the num ber 3? H ow do you think I decided on that one? T hree legs. W hen I picture three legs, that rem inds me o f a stool.
H ere’s an easy one. T h e num ber 4 and “car.” H ow do you think I arrived at 4 for “car” ? T ry to think o f some ideas o f your ow n right now. Maybe you’re thinking four wheels, four doors, four cylinders, four speeds, four passengers, four-barrel carburetor, four on the floor, four-wheel drive. T here are a whole bunch o f associa tions that will help you rem em ber that “car” goes with 4.
I’m going to repeat the images now, and I w ant you to think o f w hat num ber is associated with each. T ree is w hat number? W hy? Because the trunk o f a tree looks like the num ber 1. Light switch is w hat num ber? W hy? Because we think o f two words, two syllables, up/dow n, on/off, light/dark. Stool is w hat num ber? Why? T hree legs. Car is w hat num ber? W hy? Four wheels, four doors, four-cylinder, four-barrel carburetor, for sale. (W hen I hear the words “for sale,” I always think o f cars!)
H ere are m ore num bers. Five goes with “glove.” W hy? Five fingers, o f course. Six goes with “g u n .” W hy? Six-cylinder,
six-shooter, six-inch barrel, six bullets, six chambers, six-gun. Someone once said, “Six feet under if you get shot by one.” A lot o f associa tions help us rem em ber that 6 goes w ith “gun.”
H ow about 7 and “dice” ? Lucky num ber seven or “seven come eleven.” H ow about 8 and “skate” ? They rhyme. H ow about a figure eight? Maybe eight wheels.
L et’s go back. W hat num ber is glove? W hy? Five fingers. W hat num ber is gun? W hy? Six-gun, six-shooter, six cylinder, six-inch barrel, six feet under. Dice is w hat num ber? Seven come eleven, lucky num ber seven. W hat num ber is skate? W hy? Because they rhyme, eight wheels, figure eight.
N ow 9. T h a t’s easy: 9 goes with “cat.” W hy? N ine lives. O r maybe cat-o’-nine-tails. H ow about 10 and “bowling ball” ? T en frames, ten-pound ball, a strike, tenpins.
Let’s review again. W hat num ber is tree? W hy? T he tru n k of a tree looks like the num ber 1. W hat num ber is light switch? W hy? Tw o words, two syllables, on/off, light/dark, up/dow n. W hat n u m ber is stool? W hy? T hree legs. W hat num ber is gun? W hy? Six- gun, six-shooter, six bullets, six cylinders, six-inch barrel, six feet under? W hat num ber is car? W hy? Four-door, four-cylinder, four- speed. W hat num ber is glove? W hy? Five fingers. W hat num ber is skate? Eight. W hy? Figure eight, eight wheels, they rhyme.
W hat num ber is bowling ball? W hy? T en frames, ten-pound ball, a strike, tenpins. W hat num ber is cat? W hy? N ine lives, cat- o’-nine-tails. W hat num ber is dice? Seven come eleven, lucky n u m ber seven.
I hope at this point you are coming up w ith associations o f your own. Can you see w hat we are doing here? These associations are the link that holds w hat you w ant to rem em ber (the list of twenty words) with something you already know (the num bers 1
through 20). It’s the associations that will allow you to rem em ber these words.
L et’s continue. For 11, I selected “goalpost.” W hy? A goalpost looks like the num ber 11. Someone else may be thinking o f eleven men on a football field. Twelve goes with “eggs.” W hy? One dozen.
22 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
T h irteen goes w ith “w itch.” W hy? I’m rem inded o f something u n lucky, Friday the thirteenth. Fourteen is “ring.” W hy? Maybe 14- carat, or how about Valentine’s Day, February fourteenth.
L et’s review once more. W hat num ber is “bowling ball” ? Why? T en frames, tenpins, ten-pound ball, strike. W hat num ber is eggs? W hy? A dozen eggs, a dozen equals twelve. W hat num ber is goal post? W hy? A goalpost looks like an 11. W hat num ber is ring? W hy? Fourteen-carat. W hat num ber is cat? W hy? N ine lives. W hat num ber is glove? W hy? Five fingers. W hat num ber is car? Why? Four-door, four-cylinder.
Okay, let’s go on. Fifteen is “paycheck.” W hy do you think we can link “paycheck” with 15? Many people are paid on the fifteenth o f the m onth. Some people say April fifteenth because th at’s when you have to pay taxes and give away part o f your paycheck. H ow about 16 and “candy” ? Sixteen ounces to a pound, sweet sixteen, or sixteen candles. W e put “m agazine” with 17. W hy? Seventeen is the nam e o f a m agazine. H ow about 18 and “voting booth.” T h a t’s obvious— at eighteen years old you can vote. H ow about 19 and “golf club” ? T he nineteenth hole. A nd how about 20 and “ciga rettes” ? T w enty are in a pack.
L et’s review once again. W hat num ber is paycheck? W hy? T he fifteenth o f the m onth when you get a paycheck or April fifteenth when you give away part o f your paycheck in taxes. W hat number is cigarettes? W hy? Tw enty in a pack. W hat num ber is voting booth? W hy? At eighteen years old you can vote. W hat num ber is golf club? Why? Nineteenth hole. W hat number is witch? Why? Friday the thirteenth, something unlucky. W hat num ber is ring? Why? February fourteenth, 14-carat. W hat num ber is magazine? W hy? Seventeen is the nam e o f a magazine. W hat num ber is candy? W hy? Sweet sixteen or sixteen ounces to a pound.
N ow I’m going to give the associations, and you are going to think o f the num ber and the word. W hen I m ention the association, you’ll notice that your m ind instantly throw s out the num ber and the word. H ere we go. T h e association is legs. Instantly, you should have thought o f 3 and “stool.” T h e association is doors, wheels, or carburetor or “on the floor.” Obviously, you know it’s 4 and “car.”
T he association is the num ber in a pack. T h a t gives you 20 and “cigarettes.” H ow about the age to vote? T h at gives you 18 and “voting booth.” H ow about ounces to a pound, or sweet? T h a t gives “candy” and 16. H ow about up/dow n, on/off, light/dark? You’ve got it, 2 and “light switch.” H ow about the trunk? One and “tree.” How about fingers? Five and “glove.” H ow about the figure eight, eight wheels, or w hat rhymes with “skate?” H ow about lives or tails? T h a t’s 9 and “cat.” H ow about pins or frames? T h a t’s right, 10 and “bowling ball.” H ow about the num bers o f players on a field? “Goalpost” and 11. H ow about one dozen? Tw elve and “eggs.” H ow about something unlucky or Friday? “W itch” and 13. H ow about a certain carat or Valentine’s Day? “Ring” and 14. H ow about the time o f the m onth you get paid? Fifteen and “paycheck.” H ow about the name o f a m agazine? Seventeen is the nam e of a “m aga zine.” H ow about the num ber o f the hole? T h a t’s right, the nine teenth hole, which gives you nineteen and “golf club.” H ow about one num ber th at’s a name? Seventeen and “m agazine” again. H ow about a lucky num ber or something come eleven? Seven come eleven. Seven goes with “dice.” H ow about chambers, bullets? They call this num ber that many feet under. T h a t’s right, 6 and “gun.” Do you see how these associations help you rem em ber w hat num ber goes with w hat word?
I will next ask you to go to the T ree List below and read the associations out loud. Saying things out loud is another im portant part o f the Mega Memory program . W hy? Research shows that the body has w hat it called neurom uscular memory. W hen you say something out loud, you are using your vocal chords in addition to just thinking about something. You’re reinforcing your mem ory in a new way because now the brain not only has to think about the words, but also has to instruct your vocal chords to say them out loud. I will be asking you to say things out loud often. Better yet, if you can get a friend or colleague to w ork with you on these drills, one o f you can read the instructions while the other does the drills, and then you can switch roles. W hether you do these exercises with someone or alone, however, the im portant thing is saying things out loud.
N ow go to the T ree List. Read each num ber, the association, and each word out loud. T hen close your eyes and create a picture in your m ind o f each item, each w ord, and review in your m ind the associations. Do this exercise n o w .4
T r e e List
24 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
Num ber Association W o rd
1 looks like the trunk of a tree tree 2 two words, two positions, up/down, on/off,
light/dark
light switch
3 three legs stool
4 four doors, four-speed, four-wheel drive car
5 five fingers glove
6 six-shooter, six feet under gun 7 lucky number seven, seven come eleven dice 8 figure eight, eight wheels, rhymes with eight skate 9 nine lives, cat-o’-nine-tails cat
10 tenpins, ten frames, ten-pound ball, a strike bowling bail 11 looks like an I I, eleven players on a football
team
goalpost
12 one dozen eggs
13 unlucky, Friday the thirteenth witch 14 14-carat, February fourteenth (Valentine’s Day) ring 15 get paid on the fifteenth of every month,
April fifteenth is when you pay taxes
paycheck
16 sweet sixteen, sixteen ounces to a pound candy 17 Seventeen is the name of one of these magazine 18 old enough to do this at eighteen voting booth
19 nineteenth hole golf club
20 twenty in a pack cigarettes
I w ant to review an im portant concept in the exercise you just completed. The most important thing you need to remember is not the
exam-pie, you aren’t trying to focus on “glove.” T he only thing you w ant the num ber 5 to give you is fingers. W hat you w ant your brain to picture when you read 5 is fingers. Five gives you fingers, because they are associated, they go together. And then fingers will give you what? “Glove.” W hen you see the num ber 13, I don’t w ant you to rem ember “witch.” All I want you to rem em ber is unlucky or Friday the thirteenth, because 13 goes with unlucky or Friday. And what do unlucky and Friday the thirteenth give you? “W itch.”
These associations are an im portant link between w hat you know and w hat you do n’t know. You know num bers 1 through 20 already. You don’t know “tree,” “light switch,” “stool,” etc. H ow do you rem ember them? By the association— it links the num ber and the word together. If the associations are still hazy in your m ind, do the above exercise a few m ore times until the associations are clear to you.
N ow I’m going to drill you one m ore time. I’m going to give you the num bers, and you are to say the word out loud. Make sure you can do it w ithout hesitation. N um ber 3. N um ber 5. N um ber 20. N um ber 19. N um ber 10. N um ber 11.
N ow for some words, and you call out the num bers. H ow about witch? Cigarettes. Goalpost. Paycheck. Light switch. Tree. Stool. Car. Cat. Bowling ball. Glove. G un. Dice. Skate. Eggs. W itch. Magazine. Voting Booth. G olf Club. Cigarettes.
N ext I w ant you to close the book and again review the Tree List. In your m ind, repeat this list. Say, “One is tree, two is light switch, three is stool, four is car, five is glove,” and so on. Go through the entire list. If you get stuck on one, ask yourself the right question: “W hat is my association?” For example, if you are on num ber 6 and you don’t rem em ber the word, ask yourself, “W hat does six give me? W h at’s the association?” It should pop into your mind. Six-gun, six-shooter, six feet under . . . which will give you, what? G un. So think about the association if you feel the word doesn’t come into your m ind quickly.
If you become stuck on a particular num ber, keep reviewing it. I have found in my seminars that some o f these are easier than others to rem ember depending on people’s backgrounds and inter
26 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega M em ory™
ests. An im portant thing to keep in m ind, too, is that I’m the one who m ade up the associations. You may have chosen something else for each word. Keep reviewing the associations if you feel stuck and you will soon see that they do really “lock in” the words. N ow close the book and review the T ree List out loud, saying the num ber, the association, and the w o rd .^
N ext I w ant you to take a piece o f paper, num ber 1 through
20 down the left-hand side, and write the words associated with each num ber. Close the book and do it n o w .^
W e’re back again. Check your sheet against the Tree List and see how well you did. T his is your first test. If you d id n’t get twenty out o f twenty, that means you need a little w ork on the assocations. Keep reviewing them . You need to get twenty out o f twenty before you go on to the next lesson. A nd you should know this list back ward and forw ard. Every num ber should spring the association in your m ind, which will give you the word, and every word should spring the assocation that will give you the num ber.
C h a p t e r 2— Review
W o r d A sso ciatio n
L inking together in logical fashion som ething you know and some thing you don’t know.
T h ree R easons fo r Studying W o r d A sso ca tio n
1. Stop a bad habit from the beginning.
2. Increase your m ind’s speed with a form of mental gymnastics.
Y o u r M ind Thinks in Pictures
T re e List
Number Association W o rd
1 looks like the trunk of a tree tree 2 two words, two positions, up/down, on/off,
light/dark
light switch
3 three legs stool
4 four doors, four-speed, four-wheel drive car
5 five fingers glove
6 six-shooter, six feet under gun 7 lucky number seven, seven come eleven dice 8 figure eight, eight wheels, rhymes with eight skate 9 nine lives, cat-o’-nine-tails cat
10 tenpins, ten frames, ten-pound ball, a strike bowling ball 11 looks like an 11, eleven players on a football
team
goalpost
12 one dozen eggs
13 unlucky, Friday the thirteenth witch 14 14-carat, February fourteenth (Valentine’s
Day)
ring
15 get paid on the fifteenth of every month, April fifteenth is when you pay taxes
paycheck
16 sweet sixteen, sixteen ounces to a pound candy 17 Seventeen is the name of one of these magazine 18 old enough to do this at eighteen voting booth
19 nineteenth hole golf club
28 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
C h a p te r 2— R e q u ire d M e n tal Ex ercise
Exercise
If you’re com pleting the course alone, review the T ree List in your m ind— while you are doing something else: listening to music, cook ing, as you drive.
Say to yourself, for example, “One looks like the trunk o f a tree. A six-shooter, which puts me six feet under, gives me a gun. Tenpins, ten frames, and a ten-pound ball rem ind me o f a bowling ball.” You m ust know why the num ber and the w ord go together. Focus on the association.
If you’re com pleting this course with a partner, quiz one an other by having one person call out num bers and the other call out items from the T ree List throughout the day.
of Vivid Images to W o rk
In this chapter, we are going to learn a technique called chaining or linking. I will explain it first, and then w e’ll do a fun exercise that will show you how it works. If you can find a partner for this exercise, it will be helpful.
But first I w ant to repeat how im portant it is that you have the Tree List from C hapter 2 m em orized before you go on to chain ing. If you think o f a num ber between 1 and 20, the word associated with it should pop into your m ind immediately. I f you think o f the word first, its corresponding num ber should come to your m ind. As you do m ore exercises in the book, your m ind will w ork m ore and m ore quickly and smoothly. In order to get there, though, you have to do the work that has come before.
And now on to chaining, which is simply creating a picture in your m ind o f one thing, then a second thing, and putting both pictures together in some crazy way. For example, a m ountain lion is one picture, and a fur coat is another. P ut both o f those pictures together, and maybe you have a m ountain lion w earing a fur coat. W hat you’ve done is put two very dissimilar pictures together in a ludicrous way. T his is slightly different from the basic-association
30 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
exercises in Chapter 2, in which we were putting together one thing we knew (a num ber) with something we d id n’t know (a word). In chaining, both things we are putting together are new to us.
W hen you are chaining, the pictures you create m ust be very vivid. A nd when I say vivid, I m ean crystal clear and as.detailed as possible. If you’re picturing a car, you m ust know w hether it’s a Cadillac, a Lincoln limousine, or a H onda. You need to be able to “see” w hether the windows are blacked out. You have to be able to tell w hether it has an antenna at the back, w hat the wheels look like, and how the car company nam e is w ritten on the body.
If you’re picturing an envelope, you need to know the color of the paper. Is it stamped or m etered? Is the address printed or w rit ten? Is the return address on the front or the back? T he more details you have, the m ore vivid your picture is. A nd the more vivid your picture, the better exercise it is for your memory.
T o dem onstrate the power o f vivid images, let me give you an example. Read the following description o f a lemon, and as you’re reading, picture it in your m ind. Even better, if you have a partner, close your eyes and picture w hat is being read to you.
I w ant you to vividly imagine a lemon in your right hand. T he lemon is bright yellow. You can feel the hard, slightly nubby texture, and the harder knobs at either end. N ow , in your m in d’s eye, put that lemon down on a table in front o f you, and pick up a black, shiny knife. Picture the handle o f the knife, how the lemon is lying on the table, where your hands are. N ow begin to slice that lemon slowly with the shiny knife. As you do, watch the knife penetrate the skin and cut the lemon in two halves. Pick up one o f those lemon halves in your right hand and squeeze lightly. Feel the juices ooze through and dow n your fingers and into your hand. Feel the texture o f the skin and the juices. Is it sticky or slippery? Hold that lemon up to your nose. Smell that lemon arom a. N ow I w ant you to open your m outh and bite into that lemon.
You probably have a locked jaw right about now. W hen I do this exercise in a large group, it’s funny to see the expressions on all the faces o f the participants. Everyone is grim acing, swallowing
a m outhful o f saliva in an effort to wash away the sour taste. Vivid images are very powerful. If you create a vivid picture, the body does not know the difference between w hat is im agined and w hat’s real. T h at imagined lemon m ade you salivate as if you had bitten into a real lemon. Your body reacted to an im agined picture as if it were real.
W hy is this im portant? It’s another way o f reinforcing your memory. Everything that you have seen with your “real” eyes has been photographed and stored in your m ind. T h a t’s why I said at the very beginning of the book that you already have a photographic memory. W hen you re-create some o f those pictures in your m ind, it’s as if you are seeing them again for real. W hen you call back— or recall— w hat’s already in your memory, you’re giving it a great workout!
P ictu rin g a S to r y
N ow it’s time for an exercise to help you practice chaining. You will read a story. A fter you read each sentence o f the passage below, I’d like you to sit back, close your eyes, and spend about five or ten seconds vividly seeing the action in your m in d ’s eye. If you’re having trouble visualizing a particular image, go on to the next one. If you have a partner, let him or her read the story while you rem ain with eyes closed, creating the vivid images. If your partner is also going through the Mega M emory program , take turns w ith the reading.
A final rem inder: As you re-create the images, be as vivid and as detailed as you can. At one point, I’ll m ention a padlock. You need to have a picture so clear, so vivid (just like that lemon) that you can see the color o f the padlock. You m ust know if it’s a Master or a Yale lock, if it’s a combination or a key lock. Is it old and rusty or new and shiny? H ow big is it? H ow heavy? In another part o f the story, I’m going to m ention a house trailer. You’ll have to know the color o f the house trailer. H ow it’s shaped, how large it is. You need to see all these things in that powerful m in d’s eye that you have.
32 Kevin Trudeau's Mega Mem ory™
Okay, let’s begin:
Im agine the Statue o f Liberty with its torch and its book. O n top o f the Statue o f Liberty is a big fat man. In his right hand is an electric power drill. In his left hand is a bar o f soap. H e drills into the soap, and out of the soap come tum bling purple pennies. They fall into a padlock on the back o f a long house trailer being pulled by a big black limousine. T he limousine is being driven by John Travolta, who is w earing a black Stetson hat, a black vest, and black leather boots. Sitting next to John Travolta is Cathy Lee Crosby. She’s wearing a pink polka- dot bikini. On her lap is a letter to her agent.
In the backseat o f the limousine is a big Saint Ber nard who is w earing a big fur coat and a diam ond collar. In his m outh is a ham bone. A m ountain lion jumps into the backseat, grabs the ham bone, jumps out the other side, runs up a palm tree, and the palm tree falls on the Statue o f Liberty.
Let me ask you some questions to m ake sure you are doing this exercise correctly. Are your m ental pictures in color? They should be. Are they descriptive? For example, w hat type o f soap did you picture? Is it a very clear picture? Do you know exactly how big the bar is? W hat did Travolta have on his feet? W hat do the black leather boots look like? T h e reason I ask these questions is this: W hen you picture som ething vividly, you know exactly what it is. W hen you’re not sure, you see it in a rather half-baked way, sort o f fuzzy or foggy. In answ ering w hat John Travolta had on his feet, you may have said black shoes. If you said black shoes or anything except black leather boots, it means one thing. Your picture wasn’t vivid enough.
If you had some trouble w ith your pictures (maybe you had difficulty picturing purple pennies because you haven’t seen them in real life; or maybe you feel you know very little about house trailers, so you couldn’t develop a vivid picture o f one), th at’s okay. W e’re
going to read the story again, and this tim e you’ll see that your m ind will w ork a little faster. T he pictures will come m ore easily, and they will also be a little m ore detailed, m ore colorful. A nd if you are doing this exercise with a partner, you may find that you actually get ahead o f him or her. You will recall the picture o f the next scene before it is read to you. W atch for this phenom enon; it means your brain is already picking up speed.
N ow sit back, relax, and vividly see the images from the story in as much detail as possible. A nd do n ’t forget to get all your senses involved, feeling the feelings, smelling smells, and hearing any sounds. Make believe you are really there.
Imagine the Statue o f Liberty with its torch and its book. O n top o f the Statue o f Liberty is a big fat man. In his right hand is an electric power drill. In his left hand is a bar o f soap. H e drills into the soap, and out of the soap come tum bling purple pennies. They fall into a padlock on the back o f a long house trailer being pulled by a big black limousine. T h e limousine is being driven by John Travolta, who is w earing a black Stetson hat, a black vest, and black leather boots. Sitting next to John Travolta is Cathy Lee Crosby. She’s w earing a pink polka- dot bikini. O n her lap is a letter to her agent.
In the backseat o f the limousine is a big Saint Ber nard who is w earing a big fur coat and a diam ond collar. In his m outh is a ham bone. A m ountain lion jum ps into the backseat, grabs the ham bone, jumps out the other side, runs up a palm tree, and the palm tree falls on the Statue o f Liberty.
H ow did you do this time? D id the images come a little m ore easily? Did you get ahead o f the story, as some people do? Your memory is being strengthened pretty quickly, isn’t it? W e’re going to review the story one m ore time. This time, try to go even faster. And again, close your eyes to help you focus on the images.
34 Kevin Trudeau’s Mega Mem ory™
Imagine the Statue o f Liberty with its torch and its book. O n top o f the Statue o f Liberty is a big fat man. In his right hand is an electric power drill. In his left hand is a bar o f soap. H e drills into the soap, and out of the soap come tum bling purple pennies. They fall into a padlock on the back o f a long house trailer being pulled by a big black limousine. T h e limousine is being driven by John T ravolta, who is w earing a black Stetson hat, a black vest, and black leather boots. Sitting next to John Travolta is Cathy Lee Crosby. She’s w earing a pink polka- dot bikini. O n her lap is a letter to her agent.
In the backseat o f the limousine is a big Saint Ber nard who is w earing a big fur coat and a diam ond collar. In his m outh is a ham bone. A m ountain lion jumps into the backseat, grabs the ham bone, jumps out the other side, and runs up a cherry tree.
W as it a cherry tree? No. It was what, a palm tree? W hen you read “cherry tree,” I bet you realized that was wrong. And th at’s good because you knew that it was a palm tree. W hy? Tw o separate pictures. D id I m ake any other mistakes during that story? O f course, I d id n ’t finish it. W hat happens to the palm tree? It falls on the Statue o f Liberty.
F o c u sin g
W e’re going to do som ething a little different now. Remember, early in this chapter we m entioned that when we put two pictures together in chaining, this has to be done in a crazy, illogical way? W hen you have to create som ething that doesn’t really m ake any sense, a scene that couldn’t happen in “real” life, you have to think about it a little harder, a little longer. You have to focus on it. T he ability to focus on something is another im portant part not only o f chaining but of all mem ory w ork. Have you ever searched for your house keys frantically because you couldn’t rem em ber where you put them the night before? Most o f us have been in that predicam ent, and it
