Last issue I started a short series on the 3 main ways to remember a list of information.

The first method was Paired Associates.

THE SECOND METHOD is a Linked List:

Did you know that if you have a long list of items to remember, for each item, you're simply linking one thing you know to another thing that you want to remember?Think about it. To remember a list of 5 items, you start with the first item and mentally associate it to yourself, or in some way you make a mental association so that you remember the first item.

Once you know the first item, then you can make a mental link to associate the FIRST item that you now know, to the NEW item that you want to know.

So you link the first item to the second item. You link something that you KNOW to something NEW.

Now that you KNOW the second item, you can make a mental link to the third item. And you don't even need to think about the first item. You link the KNOWN second item to the NEW third item.

You're still just linking one thing to one thing. No matter how long the chain of items is, you're always only linking two items in sequence. You are making a 'serial connection.' To find out what the 4th item is on the list, you have to start by thinking of the first item which will remind you of the second item. Then the second item will remind you of the third, which will remind you of the fourth. 

The only way to recall the fourth item is to think through the list up to that point. So, that means you probably don't want to use this method to remember a very long sequence which you need to use often because it will take a few seconds to recall an item near the end of the list.

Another limitation of a linked list is that if you forget one item in the list, you may have lost all of the other items after it. I'm not saying a linked list is bad - I use them all the time. But you should just understand the limitations. 

Uses for linked lists: 

•Shopping list; 

• Buy meals at the fast food restaurant for the family 

• Errands to do 

• All the parts in a presentation of speech.

I use this all the time to remember all of my magic tricks in a new show.

Salesmen, you can use a linked list to remember a number of facts about a prospect. You can link his spouse's name to his. Then link his children's names to his spouse, etc. 

Here's what a student said at the last Memory Magic Super-Memory Power workshop I did: 'I was amazed to learn that I could remember a list of 10 items!' 

So, two main ways to remember a list of items are: 1. Paired Associates 2. Linked List   

Next week: Method 3 for remembering lists of information: A Journey List.

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